Scaling women’s sport — lessons from the Women’s Six Nations 2026 & beyond

The 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations offered a clear snapshot of a broader shift across women’s sport. While the tournament sparked important discussion around venue strategy, it also raised a bigger question: how should women’s sport scale sustainably as interest, investment and visibility accelerate?

That question sat at the heart of discussions at State of Play 2026 where industry leaders explored how to deliver world-class sporting events in the UK, from commercial strategy and technology to operational delivery and long-term growth.

Across sports including football, cricket and motorsport, a similar challenge is emerging: balancing ambition with sustainability. Football has already shown how major tournaments can reset expectations, with Women’s EURO 2022 and 2025 both setting new benchmarks for attendance.

Here, Isobel Netherwood and Catherine Forshaw from our sports sector team explore how venue strategy has become a broader test of sustainable growth across women’s sport — and what governing bodies, clubs and rights holders can learn from rugby, football, cricket and motorsport.

Venue strategy: a shared challenge across women’s sport

The Women’s Six Nations highlighted both the opportunity and risk of moving into larger venues. Record crowds at headline fixtures demonstrated the appetite that exists when the conditions are right. However, lower attendances at other matches showed how quickly narrative and perception can shift when scale outpaces demand.

This tension isn’t unique to rugby:

• Women’s football has seen significant growth in attendance, with Arsenal confirming that all 11 of its 2025/26 WSL home matches would be played at the Emirates Stadium following sustained match-going growth. At the same time, cup and European fixtures continue to use smaller venues, illustrating the continued value of a mixed venue strategy.
• Women’s cricket, particularly through formats such as The Hundred, shows how accessible events formats can attract new audiences. The competition has reported 1.5m attendees for the women’s competition across its first five years, including 203,000 first-time cricket ticket buyers and a 2025 women’s attendance record of 349,401. The Hundred has embraced larger venues and double-headers but continues to refine how to convert casual attendees into repeat fans.
• Emerging platforms like F1 Academy demonstrate how women’s sport can scale through targeted commercial partnerships and audience development rather than venue expansion alone, with all ten F1 teams reaffirming support for F1 Academy liveries and drivers, races broadcast in over 170 territories and a growing global social audience.

Across each of these sports, the same principle applies: scale works best when it’s selective.

Full stadiums, not just bigger ones

One of the most consistent themes — both in the Women’s Six Nations and across other women’s competitions — is that experience drives growth.

For growing competitions, a packed 10,000–20,000-seat venue may create a stronger atmosphere and more commercial and broadcast value than a half-empty national stadium.

For sports still building habitual attendance, this matters. Fans are more likely to return where the experience feels vibrant and meaningful. Broadcasters and sponsors are equally influenced by what they see on screen, not just raw capacity.

The Hundred’s audience data illustrates why experience matters: in 2025, 41% of attendees were families, 23% were junior ticket holders and 30% of ticket buyers were women, highlighting the importance of designing events around new and repeat audiences rather than capacity alone.

This aligns closely with discussions at State of Play 2026 around fan engagement, media value and commercial strategy, where the focus is increasingly on quality of experience, not just scale of delivery.

Growth after the hype: what comes next?

UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 illustrates the catalytic effect of major events: the tournament attracted 574,875 spectators, reached a projected global live viewership of 365m and created more than 416,000 new opportunities for women and girls to engage in grassroots legacy football activities.

But these mega-events and standout tournaments also create a natural risk: mistaking peak interest for permanent demand. The challenge for governing bodies, leagues and investors is what happens next.

Key considerations include:

• How quickly to scale infrastructure and venues.
• How to maintain fan engagement between flagship moments.
• How to convert visibility into long-term commercial value.
• How to balance broadcast reach with matchday experience.

These questions reflect wider themes discussed at State of Play, particularly around commercial sustainability, partnerships and the use of data to inform decision-making.

Women’s sport is growing — but not uniformly. Demand varies by team, competition, geography and timing. A one-size-fits-all growth strategy risks undermining progress.

A hybrid model for sustainable growth

What’s emerging across women’s sport, including rugby, football and cricket, is a hybrid model: flagship events in major venues to showcase scale, attract sponsors and deliver breakthrough moments, along with consistent fixtures in right-sized venues to build atmosphere, loyalty and repeat attendance. This approach allows organisations to balance visibility with reliability — a key theme in delivering world-class events.

It also reflects a more mature view of growth. Bigger isn’t always better — instead, the focus is shifting to when and why scale is deployed.

The bigger picture: delivering world-class women’s sport

Ultimately, the evolution of venue strategy is just one part of a wider transformation.

As highlighted at the State of Play, delivering world-class sport today requires robust operational planning and safety frameworks, innovative use of technology and data, strong commercial partnerships and media strategies and clear governance and long-term vision.

Women’s sport sits at the intersection of all of these factors. Its growth is one of the most significant opportunities in the sports industry but also one of its most complex challenges.

The Women’s Six Nations has shown what is possible when ambition and demand align. The challenge for women’s sport now is ensuring that growth remains sustainable long after the headline records have been broken. Sustainable growth is not about scaling as quickly as possible — it’s about scaling at the right time, in the right way and for the right reasons.

Talk to us

If you’d like to explore how venue strategy, commercial partnerships or media rights can support growth in women’s sport, our award-winning sports team can help.

We work closely with clubs, governing bodies, rights holders and investors to provide practical, commercially focused advice, including:

• Sports law and governance: advising on competition structuring, venue strategy and long-term growth models.
• Commercial and IP: supporting sponsorship, broadcasting and partnership arrangements, and aligning strategy with brand and ESG objectives.
• Real estate and construction: advising on stadium use, venue agreements and infrastructure planning.
• Employment: supporting staffing, player arrangements and operational planning as competitions scale, including workforce planning for increased matchday demand and delivery.
• Dispute resolution and risk management: managing commercial challenges and reputational risks linked to growth and delivery.

Talk to us by calling 0333 004 4488, emailing hello@brabners.com or completing our contact form.