The investment conversation in women’s sport often defaults to the same two places. The elite level, where the spotlight is. And grassroots, where the story is easy to tell.
Both matter. But focusing only on those two ends risks overlooking where sport is actually built. And that’s a problem.
The space in between
Between them sits semi-professional competition. This is where clubs, leagues and athletes are building something more sustainable, often without the consistent investment, visibility or commercial foundations they need.
It is also where the consequences of underinvestment are most immediate. And where the gap between potential and resource is most visible.
Why this matters
Without a properly resourced domestic pathway, there is no consistent place to develop – not just for athletes, but for coaches, referees and administrators too. This is also where the system either connects, or doesn’t.
When this layer is weak, the effects run through the whole system. Talent struggles to progress. Growth at the top becomes harder to sustain at the base. And sport becomes more reliant on isolated moments to maintain what should be regular engagement.
Still emerging, and unevenly so
In more established parts of the sports ecosystem, this middle layer is well-supported: media, commercial infrastructure and development pathways are embedded and properly resourced. However, in women’s sport, we’re still building this middle layer. And while women’s sport continues to grow, that growth is uneven, making it difficult to build this layer consistently across sports and contexts.
Responsibility for it tends to sit across multiple stakeholders with different priorities and timelines. The space in between is therefore the part of the system that now needs deliberate focus to ensure the whole puzzle moves forward together. And that includes rightsholders themselves who need to do more to make this tier investable, with better data, clearer audience profiles and stronger commercial packaging.
Long-term, system-level investment
Our 2025 Consumer Review found that 68% of people say investment in the long-term future of women’s sport is important, and that includes youth pathways, talent progression and strengthening the ecosystem at every level, not just the top of it.
That appetite for long‑term, system‑level investment is there. But too often investment conversations skip straight past the semi-professional tier, where structured competition exists but the value being created isn’t yet fully recognised or realised commercially. This is where purposeful investment can make a real and visible difference. And the organisations that see that early will build something far more meaningful than a sponsorship deal.
We’ve shown women’s sport deserves a platform. We’ve shown the audiences are there. The next step is building the system that sustains at every level.
At Women’s Sport Trust, a core part of our work is providing the evidence to understand how visibility translates into sustained growth and, crucially, where it doesn’t, and why.
If these conversations resonate with how you think about women’s sport, Inside Track is where the real conversations are happening. Join us at womenssporttrust.com/insidetrack
