The Women’s Super League has been frustrated in attempts to play and broadcast games during the 3pm Saturday blackout, the executive who oversees the top two divisions of women’s football in England has revealed.
Nikki Doucet, the chief executive of Women’s Professional Leagues Limited, which runs the WSL and Championship, said inquiries had been made about ending the blackout, which was introduced in the 1960s to protect attendances.
“We have explored that a lot and, at the moment, it is not an option,” Doucet said. The blackout exists because article 48 of the Uefa statutes gives European leagues the opportunity to designate a broadcast blackout period. In the UK, that is from 2.45pm until 5.15pm on Saturdays.
Finding a dedicated broadcast slot for women’s football in a schedule saturated by men’s football has proved extremely difficult. The Karen Carney-led review of the women’s game suggested 3pm on Saturday be considered and the failure to find a slot has affected the value of broadcast rights for the women’s professional game.
The rights for the 2024-25 season have been rolled over from last season, shared by Sky and the BBC, and WPLL is in the market for a deal for the 2025‑26 season onward.
“The sooner the better,” Doucet said. “We’re in the market at the moment, so [it will be done] once we feel like we’ve got the right deal. We have incredible partners right now with BBC and Sky. I think they’ve made significant investments.”
As part of the launch in August of the WPLL, the body has agreed a £20m interest-free loan from the Premier League, which is “on favourable terms”, Doucet said. “We have to meet certain revenue thresholds to pay it off or there’s a timeframe, but it’s a longer-term timeframe to enable us to have space to grow.”
The loan forms part of a cooperation agreement between WPLL and the Premier League, which includes the Premier League having a representative on the WPLL board.
The Football Association has a seat on the board, which is important, Doucet said, because it strengthens dialogue at a time when “in governance, the women’s professional game isn’t always represented yet”.
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WPLL does not have a seat on the FA board or the professional game board. The latter, which can allocate funding and plays an advisory role in talks with stakeholders such as Fifa and Uefa on issues such as scheduling, has four representatives each from the Premier League and the Football League.
“We’re thinking about how that works going forward but, when I think about the FA board and the professional game board, making sure we stay connected is really really important.”