milestone 3

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Milestone 3: Financial Analysis

Lea Maxwell

Southern New Hampshire University

SPT 700: Sport Management Capstone

Mr. Michael Newhouse-Bailey

December 18, 2022

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Financial/ Economic Feasibility

Financial Overview The NWSL and their counterpart MLS do not disclose their annual revenues so there are

no financial statements available to the public. On the other hand, there are other resources and

ways in which to explain how the NWSL is doing financially. The NWSL had a great deal with

CBS and Twitch that they agreed to in 2020, with that contract coming to an end they have a

great case to aid them in a boost in the coming bargaining table for a new deal. “While streaming

figures are confidential and a majority of the league’s games streamed on Paramount+ and

Twitch, its games on CBS drew audiences ranging from 349,000 to 461,000. That’s right on pace

with the MLS, which drew an average of 343,000 viewers on ABC and ESPN” (Hruby, 2022).

The women’s soccer is gaining viewership and in big amounts, the fact that it is already

matching and exceeding some of the men’s numbers showcases that the women’s game is

gaining and quick. “The NWSL struck a reported $4.5 million, three-year media rights deal with

CBS in 2020 — a huge jump from its early days on YouTube, which only brought in a few

thousand viewers. With the league’s next set of rights up for grabs in 2023, NWSL commissioner

Jessica Berman said she expects significant growth” (Gentrup, 2022). The most recent

championships of the NWSL also reached a milestone. “On Saturday, 915,000 people pointed

remotes at TVs and sat down to watch the NWSL Championship. It stands as the most-watched

match in league history, with a viewership increase of 71% from last year’s final. But numbers

like this aren’t confined to one game or one league. The increased viewership in the NWSL

shows a larger trend: If more people can watch women’s sports, more people will watch

women’s sports” (Laase, 2022). With this being a championship game, it expected for that to be a

highly watched game, but the regular season more and more are chiming in and it’s not just on

the league level. The national teams are starting to be highly watched games. “Both attendance

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and viewership in women’s soccer has skyrocketed since the 2019 World Cup, which drew 1.12

billion viewers combined. ‘Audience figures show that the Women’s World Cup 2019 in France

was a catalyst for change in terms of TV audience,’ Romy Gai, FIFA’s chief partnerships and

media officer, told Bloomberg. ‘We know the opportunity for women’s football is there. Now,

together, we need to capture it.’ NWSL team valuations appear to be on the rise as well” (Hruby,

2022). This is great for the organization as they will be able to expand to a broader reach of

demographics as they are working to expand. “Expansion changed the game for the NWSL in a

lot of ways, including attendance. Los Angeles-based Angel City FC led the league in attendance

in 2022, its first year in the league, drawing a per-game average of 19,105 fans over 11 regular-

season games at Banc of California Stadium…The L.A. market has higher-than-average price

points -- an average ticket price of $42 per game -- but exclusive suites run in the tens of

thousands for the season, meaning a higher potential revenue from games. Angel City's largest

single-game gate revenue was over $1 million, a club spokesperson told ESPN” (Kassouf, 2022).

Since it seems that the majority of NWSL is based on sponsorship and viewership the example of

Angle city has showcased that the viewers are large but so is the sponsorship they have. “Angel

City will record sponsorship revenue of over $10 million this year and has $45 million in total

sponsorship commitments — and sold more than 16,000 season tickets. The club is averaging

more than 19,000 fans per game this season at Banc of California Stadium, according to Soccer

Stadium Digest, nearly 5,000 more than the next best-drawing team, the Portland Thorns”

(Silverman & Smith, 2022). This growth has showcased that NWSL is heading in a great

direction and the expansion of just here in the U.S is not only possible but really helps the

organization grow.

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NWSL in Africa will have to focus on creating some recreation camps to help gain a

foundation in the country and help bring talent up. This can help increase revenues, with the

expansion of these camps and programs can enhance and able to stretch across many cities.

Capital Requirements For the expansion there are capital costs that will have to be added to what is already

established, when the NWSL arrive in Africa. There needs to be office space located in a city

something major like Johannesburg or even Accura. Johannesburg and Accura are major cities in

which many people go to for the game. Since the rental value per square feet per month in South

African Rands is 16,372 which equates to $927.85 USD (n.d.). Africa does have some of the

lowest prices around and cost of living is fairly affordable. Based on the cost of interscholastic

sports, and the fact that soccer equipment is one of the less expensive of most sports, the average

cost can range anywhere from $10 and above per athlete depending on brand, equipment, and

price point. If a program has around 100-200 kids, the total amount for equipment would range

from $1000-$2000 per program. To construct and maintain a field would cost anywhere between

$40,000-$100,000. There will be variables that will change depending on what is actual needed

for the programs and learning how to play the sport. Depending on how demanding the programs

will be there could be need for more fields.

Project Expansion Success

Based on what is found about the finances of the NWSL and the capital requirements, the

project of the expansion would be successful. It has been hard from the pandemic but with

women’s sports growing and the potential of strong broadcasting deals and sponsorships coming

up showcases some strong movement for women’s soccer. With programs that already exist in

Africa, the NWSL will need to have an established plan to help expand off those and in major

cities to reach as many girls as they can. Looking into some of those major cities like

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Johannesburg, or Accura to be in the city central will cost a bit more to rent a space for an office

but rest of cost should remain the same and cheap. In creating partnerships in Africa there are

many opportunities to help increase the revenue for the organization and help create the success

of the incoming programs.

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References

Cost of living in South Africa. Expatistan, cost of living comparisons. (n.d.). Retrieved December

18, 2022, from https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/country/south-africa

Gentrup, A. (2022, July 13). Rights deals could boost women's sports into $1B industry. Front

Office Sports. Retrieved November 20, 2022, from https://frontofficesports.com/womens-

sports-media-rights-surge-toward-1b-in-value/

Hruby, E. (2022, October 26). NWSL can use growing audience as 'ammo' for new TV deal. Just

Women's Sports. Retrieved December 17, 2022, from https://justwomenssports.com/nwsl-

broadcast-tv-rights-audience-viewership-alexis-ohani/#:~:text=Its%20current%20deal

%20with%20Fox,great%20numbers%2C%E2%80%9D%20Ohanian%20said.

Kassouf, J. (2022, October 26). NWSL attendance varies wildly from city to city. how much does

it really matter? ESPN. Retrieved December 17, 2022, from

https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-nwsl/story/4781129/nwsl-needs-higher-

attendance-to-make-money-how-to-do-it

Laase, E. (2022, December 5). NWSL sets TV rating, Attendance Milestones during 2022 season.

Just Women's Sports. Retrieved December 17, 2022, from

https://justwomenssports.com/nwsl-attendance-tv-viewership-2022-season-increase-

record/#:~:text=In%20total%2C%20the%20season%20saw,viewership%20thanks%20to

%20better%20accessibility

Silverman, A., & Smith, C. (2022, August 15). NWSL: Value proposition. Record-setting

investments are part of a trend that shows the growing strength of the NWSL. Retrieved

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December 17, 2022, from

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2022/08/15/Upfront/NWSL.aspx

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