Chelsea Women boss Emma Hayes believes the Women’s Super League’s broadcast deal with the BBC and Sky Sports is a “big watershed moment”.
The Football Association have signed a three-year deal - thought be worth around £7million - with the BBC and Sky Sports for the broadcast rights to the WSL.
The three-year agreement will see matches next season shown on terrestrial television for the first time and is believed to be the biggest broadcast deal of any professional women’s football league in the world.
The FA’s director of the women’s professional game, Kelly Simmons, has labelled it as a “landmark moment” and now Hayes has echoed her praise.
“I think it is a day everybody has worked really hard towards,” said Hayes.
“This isn’t any one person, or any one club, or the Football Association alone, this is the sport and everybody involved with the sport - both on the pitch and off the pitch - have driven a new standard.
“The fact that it is a record deal worldwide, just shows how much we are putting our money where our mouth is and valuing a women’s game that has demonstrated time and time again that it’s a product people want to watch.
“So, I am delighted that we are with both Sky and BBC - two amazing spaces for us to get primetime, regular slots.
“This is the first, I think, really big watershed moment where there is a trickledown effect, where the clubs are actually going to prosper from that.
“So, I think it is something that everybody is excited about.”
