Brighton manager Hope Powell says ambitions to treble Women’s Super League crowds in three years is a “realistic” target that the game should “aim towards”.
Despite attendances dropping from pre-pandemic levels, a new broadcast deal has seen viewing figures grow hugely.
The Football Association now hopes to see average crowds increase to 6,000 by 2024.
Former England boss Powell says the league is “definitely on the rise”.
After two seasons interrupted by Covid-19, the average attendance across the league has dropped from “around 3,000” in 2020-21 to 2,282 this season.
Asked whether she thought the FA’s ambitions were obtainable, Powell said: “Why can’t it be achieved? The rise of the women’s game has proved more and more popular – attendances are there.
“Is it realistic? Absolutely. Is it going to take time? Yes, I think so. If you look back five years and where we’ve come it’s possible.
“Women’s football and women’s sport is definitely on the rise. More people are talking about it, commercial deals are being done that weren’t before. I think it’s absolutely the right time to be aiming towards something like this three-year plan.”
In the 2018-19 season average attendances in the WSL were 833, with Brighton drawing a then WSL-record crowd of 5,265 against Arsenal at the end of the campaign.
On the opening weekend of the following season a combined total of nearly 63,000 people attended fixtures.
A crowd of 31,213 watched as Manchester City beat Manchester United at Etihad Stadium, while 24,564 watched Chelsea beat Tottenham at Stamford Bridge. The WSL attendance record set at City was broken later that season as 38,262 watched Arsenal win the north London derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Like Powell, Chelsea boss Emma Hayes feels the FA’s aims for attendances “is doable”, but adds that “Covid has got in the way” after previous improvements.
“It might just be temporary that there is a decrease,” she said. “As long as we are front and centre that visibility I think, over the longer term, will pay dividends.
“We have to respect that some people are not quite ready to go out to big events and we have to be patient with that. It won’t be permanent.
“We might not see that big turnaround this season, but I think as consumer confidence grows and the public feel that they want to put themselves in those situations in more numbers, I’m sure it will grow.”