With the biggest date in Britain’s annual cycling calendar around the corner, rEvolution’s Gayle Jenkins looks at the state of women’s cycling
The Tour de France is one of the biggest sporting occasions of the year, receives seven figure sums in sponsorship deals annually and is shown on mainstream TV around the world. Efforts to create a women’s Tour have been made, but there has not been an official women’s Tour de France in 30 years, with the last such event held in 1989. Is this due to low interest or to a lack of sponsorship?
There is no denying there has been a paradigm shift in attitudes towards women’s sport in recent years and the figures certainly back this up. It was widely reported that a record-breaking 11.7 million people tuned in to see the England Lionesses battle it out against the USA in the semi-final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™. This statistic is made all the more impressive when considered alongside the UEFA Champions League Final, which attracted less viewers at 11.3 million. Inevitably, as these audiences grow, brand sponsorship increases, with more investment being pumped into women’s football from heavyweight suitors, including VISA and adidas. Of course, this is a mutually beneficial relationship – the sponsorship has had a huge impact on the sport, while also generating positive PR for the brands involved. But why has this change not been seen in other women’s sports?
It’s comparable with the analogy of the chicken and the egg; sponsors need a product which offers them a lucrative return (either financial or through brand recognition), but the product needs the sponsorship for growth. Would women’s football have become so prominent this summer without the substantial brand backing it garnered? And how can this be transferred across other sports?
Indeed, there is no shortage of public interest in the sport of cycling itself. In the UK alone, 1.7 million people cycle every day and 25 million people own a bike, offering a huge potential audience to tap into. The sport of cycling also enjoys the unique selling point of being free to attend, offering an accessibility that many other sports simply cannot compete with. One point to note, however, is the ratio of male to female cyclists, which is currently at 3:1 in the UK. Could it be argued that the little exposure to the women’s sport leads to a lack of women’s cycling idols for young girls to aspire to be? If we are unable to watch the sport on our screens at home, it is almost impossible for the sport to reach new audiences and build profiles within it. Every sport needs heroes and idols to inspire the next generation, in the same way that Team GB winning gold in the ladies hockey at the 2019 Olympic Games in Rio increased participation by more than 10,000 additional players in clubs. Sponsors can provide the platforms for this to happen in women’s road cycling.
Some brands have begun to realise the opportunity this gap in sponsorship presents and are reaping the benefits. ŠKODA is a prime example of this, and in a bid to change the landscape of women’s cycling, has teamed up with Dame Sarah Story, to fly the flag for gender equality within the sport, together creating the ŠKODA DSI Cycling Academy. Using #ThisIsOurTime alongside the creation of an emotive video highlighting the lack of Women’s Tour de France, the brand has actively catapulted women’s cycling into the mainstream consciousness, generating unprecedented media coverage and breaking the stereotypes within the sport.
Also leading by example is the team behind the Tour of Britain, whose title sponsor OVO Energy supports both men’s and women’s races, as well as being instrumental in ensuring there is parity in the prize money awarded. The Women’s Tour now has six stages, a roadside audience of 300,000 spectators and a cumulative TV audience of 2.5 million, opening up a new realm of opportunity for sponsors. However, when speaking to Jonathan Durling, Partnerships Director of the Men and Women’s Tour of Britain, it soon becomes clear that there is one element that is missing from the Women’s Tour: live TV broadcast.
“Live TV [of the Women’s Tour] is the one thing missing from achieving absolute parity with the Tour of Britain. We currently have daily highlights on ITV4 and Eurosport, but live TV would be transformative – not just to our event, but to the sport as a whole.”
Referring back to the chicken and the egg analogy, to make a change in the sport, a bold move must be made for the rewards to be realised. More brands need to follow the example set by ŠKODA and invest in women’s road cycling to propel it into the public spotlight. However, as Durling says: “there is also a danger of ‘box ticking’ just to say the brand is supporting women. If you’re going to do it right, it’s not about gender, it’s about the sport as a whole.”
There should be little doubt that if the right brands get on board, they will not only reap the financial return but will also be a key part of the changing movement that will shape the future for women’s road cycling.
By Gayle Jenkins, Account Director at ESA member rEvolution