The Women In Sport Special: WSL enters a new era; Barbara Slater on her 10 years running BBC Sport; Women’s competitions gain more prominence

Screenshot 2021-10-01 at 16.53.32

You can read Issue #9 of Broadcast Sport magazine – the Women In Sport special –  by clicking on the image above.

Things have settled down a lot since Broadcast Sport’s first issue of 2021, published in April. Back then, we were looking forward to the summer of sport, while also wary of the potential for Covid to ruin even the best laid plans. Thankfully, the summer of sport happened largely without disruption, and the crowd-free stadiums in Tokyo didn’t lessen the enjoyment of an outstanding Olympic and Paralympic games.

With the sports timetable now back to where it was pre-pandemic, the focus of this issue turns to how women’s sport can continue to capitalise on the huge growth in interest it was witnessing before Covid shut down live sport.

Rights deals for the FA’s Women’s Super League were sold for the first time this year as a separate product to the men’s competitions. We talk to Sky Sports (p28-30) about how it is giving its coverage the full bells and whistles treatment. Picking up on this theme, our feature on p20-24 explores how women’s competitions are finally being given the prominence they deserve.

In our interview on p6-8, BBC director of sport Barbara Slater reveals her commitment to women’s sport, while on p26-27, Sue Anstiss outlines practical measures that can be taken by broadcasters and rights holders to enable women’s sport to continue its upwards trajectory.

In this issue, you’ll also find the programme for the Broadcast Sport Content Summit, which takes place at Dock 10 Studios on 30 September. It’s our first post-pandemic physical event and a great line-up. I hope to see you there.