Things are heading in the right direction. WSL average attendance in August 2020 was 3,092; in November 2022 it is 5,099. The aim is for 6,000 by 2024.
There are growing pains, however. Chelsea’s regular home, Kingsmeadow, only has a capacity of 4,850. Arsenal usually play at Meadow Park, which can hold 4,500 at most.
Women’s football in England, super-charged by the success of the Lionesses at Euro 2022, is starting to outgrow its usual surroundings. Which raises the question of what comes next.
Reading boss Kelly Chambers believes it is an opportunity the women’s game needs to seize.
Speaking before their 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa, played at Villa Park, she said: “Off the back of the Euros, we knew the biggest change we wanted to see happen this year was getting more fans in the door, watching the games, but not only that, grow the fanbase too.
“It’s all well and good having fans turn up to the stadium every so often, but what we want to is ensure they are embedded into our experience, and leave them wanting more.”
Chelsea manager Emma Hayes wants more games at Stamford Bridge, but feels there also has to be a middle ground found between the Champions League arena and the stadium they used to share with AFC Wimbledon.
At her post-match press conference on Sunday, she said: “I’d like to be here [at Stamford Bridge] more. I think we all know that solving the conundrum in the women’s game around what do we do from small stadia, is there a medium-term plan to go to medium-size stadiums before eventually everyone comes home to the large stadium?
“I don’t know, but I’m absolutely certain we’re all outgrowing our small stadiums, that I’m sure of.”
Hayes feels the domestic women’s game needs to be braver, starting with raising ticket prices to capitalise on its sky-high popularity – albeit without reaching the often exorbitant prices of the men’s game.
Adult tickets for Chelsea v Tottenham cost as little as £9, external, with under-20s and over-65s able to attend for as little as a pound.
When the Blues host Paris St-Germain in the Champions League in December – a meeting between two titans of women’s European football – everyone will again be able to go for less than a tenner., external