#152 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Women’s Sports in 2024 and What’s Next for 2025

Hi, I'm Karen, founder and skipper of Sporting Shiros, an organization that helps women in sport raise their profile and develop great sponsorship packages. This is the Data Talks Sports CDP Crash Course Podcast. Data Talks makes it easy for sports organisations to sell more tickets and merchandise and negotiate sponsorship agreements of higher value. Our community, Women in Sport Beyond the Hashtag, is for everyone involved in women's sports space.

And we'd love you to join us, whatever your sport, whatever your level and whatever your role. So let's get started. Welcome to my December guest host slot. It's my last episode of 2024.

You can see I've got my Christmas jumper on. So let's take a look back at 2024, at the good, the bad and the ugly of women's sport over the past year and look forward with anticipation and positivity to 2025. five. 2024 really has been another year of historic wins, some tough love lessons to learn and unforgettable social and sponsorship worthy moments.

Let's get started and we'll begin with the good because 2024 really gave us plenty to celebrate. At the Paris Olympics provision for women, including women with babies, was improved and women athletes shone bright. The US women's soccer team won their fifth Olympic gold defeating Brazil, which is a resounding endorsement for the newly appointed British manager Emma Hayes. And sprinter Julianne Alfred brought joy to her homeland of St Lucia by not only winning the country's first medal, but making it a gold in the 100 metres.

In tennis, Irina Sabalenka owned the season. She won both the US Open and the Australian Open amongst others, ending the year as world number one. Meanwhile, Barbara Krejcikova's Wimbledon win gave us one of the most thrilling matches in recent memory, cementing her place amongst the sports elite. And in rugby, the women's Six Nations drew record-breaking crowds, with England taking home their third successive win after a dramatic final against France.

Women's rugby continues to grow rapidly and its momentum is undeniable. Alongside the teams and athletes themselves, there is an army of officials, marketers, communications agencies sponsors regulators and many many others who are working tirelessly to ensure this rise in women sport goes smoothly goes professionally and is consistent I've seen a wealth of new organisations, movements and courses set up to deliver exactly this. Women in Boxing was set up in 2023, I think, with the mantra of In Her Corner.

This year it ran its first training programs for corner women, teaching skills like hand wrapping, injury management and fight preparation. These efforts are breaking barriers and empowering more women to step into critical support roles in boxing. I've also seen courses and summits run to ensure diversity continues an upward trajectory. So, for example, a day run at Liverpool for umpires and the third include summit in London.

Now, of course, not everything was smooth sailing in 2024. So we'll have a look at some of the less good or slightly maybe even say bad. Pay disparity remains a thorny issue, especially in football. Calls for transparency and financial equality are growing louder.

But change has been slow. And there is currently substantial controversy over the bid to give both the next women's and men's World Cups to Saudi Arabia. Alongside this, other issues such as parity, media coverage, facilities and primetime scheduling are all being called out. and honestly when it comes to studies that find women are twice as likely as men to be asked to wear revealing outfits honestly on that one I just don't even know where to begin.

One thing however that has been heartening is the number of athletes willing to talk about and protect their mental health. The pressure of competitions, tournaments, delivering for managers, coaches, sponsors and teams is real, but we do seem to be having much healthier conversations around mental health and slowly but surely recognising that this is a critical element to high performance as well. Now for the ugly, and there's always an ugly, isn't there? The moments that have left us angry, frustrated or just plain disheartened.

One of the most significant controversies of 2023 was the fallout from this unsolicited kiss by the then RFEF president on one of the Spanish players when Spain won the Women's World Cup. It tainted their win and the documentary Se Acabó Diario de las Campeones or It's All Over, the kiss that changed Spanish football, was released on Netflix in November 2024 It sheds light on a system that supported sexism and cronyism in a toxic environment that started well before the tournament It features interviews with players who shared harrowing accounts of worrying behaviours and sadly, I feel sure that women in and beyond sport will be able to empathise with their experiences.

The documentary reignited conversations about accountability and the urgent need for structural reform in sports governance. The other thing that I feel we really need is an expansion of the number and strength of male allies to support us, unashamedly, publicly, and in spite of any lads banter that may prevail around it. But now let's look forward because actually 2025 promises to be another pivotal year for women's sports. The Women's Rugby World Cup will take centre stage in the UK and promises to be a thriller with over 220,000 tickets already sold far outstripping ticket sales in 2021.

So my home country will look to defend its turf against fierce competition from old foes such as New Zealand, France and others. This tournament is shaping up to be one of the most exciting rugby events in recent memory. In tennis the four grand slams are always hotly anticipated over the summer but keep an eye on young talents like Coco Goff and Leila Fernandez as they challenge the dominance of seasoned players such as Arinya Sabalenka and Barbara Krejcikova. Basketball fans can look forward to the expansion of the WNBA with new teams joining the league marking a major milestone for women's basketball and reflecting the growing popularity of the sport.

And very close to home and excitingly for me as a local girl, rugby star Elona Meyer has just landed in the UK. She's fueling up with a few traditional English Sunday roasts and debuts with Bristol Bears for a three month stint in January. Now, Elona is known not only for her rugby, but also for appearing on the US show Dancing with the Stars. and her phenomenal behind-the-scenes social media posts and body positivity are making waves.

She's been criticised for her focus on socials by some in the sporting world, but unashamedly states that she won't make the big bucks playing sport as a woman and so her social media is part of her funding. Her presence is expected to draw record crowds and Bristol Bears have already had to move to a bigger stadium to cope with ticket demand just days after the announcement. So how do we keep rising? Here's the thing.

We've made incredible progress, but we cannot afford to lose focus. The strides we've taken, record breaking crowds, greater visibility and a growing roster of role models are proof of what possible But these gains are fragile Without continued investment representation and advocacy we risk stalling the momentum Why does it matter It matters because sport is more than competition. It's a platform for empowerment, equity and change. When women succeed in sports, it inspires the next generation to dream bigger and aim higher.

It creates opportunities, shifts societal norms and challenges long-standing inequities. Fans also have an essential role to play. Filling stadiums, engaging with content and celebrating women athletes sends a powerful message. Their efforts matter and their achievements are valued.

2024 was an incredible year of achievements but also a reminder of the work that remains from the triumphs of the Paris Olympics to the lessons of Siakabong this year showcased the resilience and determination of female athletes you will know if you've listened to me before that I'm a big advocate of culture first This was highlighted just in the past week when at my own club, our outstanding women's coach was headhunted for too much higher level teams. Whilst I can't go into details, his message afterwards to me was, this is a brilliant outcome.

Thank you. You have made me feel valued. There's a lesson here. Morals over money every time.

Our teams are progressing up the league. We have more players at training than ever, and we have a regular flow of inquirers. In the words of the great Maya Angelou, I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Get this right, along with the hard work to make positive change, and the money will follow.

The future of women in sport is bright, but we all have a personal responsibility to celebrate, advocate, challenge and take action to ensure it happens. 2025, we are ready for you. Let's go. So that's a wrap for this month.

I'm Karen founder and skipper of Sporting Shiro's guest hosting this podcast for Data Talks come and connect with me and the awesome Data Talks team on social media and don't forget to join our fantastic community women in sport beyond the hashtag all the links are in the episode description Three, two, one.