What's going on with falling WSL attendances?

Average attendances successful the Women's Super League dropped by 10% past play compared with the erstwhile campaign.

According to Deloitte's Sports Business Group, which highlighted the driblet successful a study released connected Monday, "this has been enactment down to a deficiency of planetary shot drafting attraction to the home game".

BBC probe recovered the 12 WSL clubs successful full averaged 7,366 successful 2023-24, compared with 6,662 successful 2024-25 - an mean alteration of 704.

So which clubs person been affected the most, which clubs are bucking the inclination and and what other could beryllium down the numbers? BBC Sport has taken a person look.

One of the main reasons down the autumn successful attendances past play was the relegation of Bristol City successful 2023-24.

Despite losing each their homes games arsenic they made an contiguous instrumentality to the Championship, they were backed by an awesome location enactment astatine Ashton Gate, which they shared with the men's team.

They had the fifth-highest mean location attendance successful the WSL - 6,974 - down the large 4 of Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United.

A assemblage of 8,749 watched their relegation-confirming nonaccomplishment to Manchester City, portion a bumper 14,138 attendance saw a 2-0 decision by Manchester United successful November.

Bristol City were replaced successful 2024-25 by top-flight newcomers Crystal Palace, who averaged 1,779 crossed the play - 5,195 less than the nine they replaced.

Palace played the bulk of their games astatine the VBS Community Stadium, which they shared with men's National League nine Sutton United.

They played 2 matches astatine Selhurst Park, location of the men's team, and had a season-high attendance of 5,003 for their opening location crippled with Chelsea, which they mislaid 7-0. Their lowest fig of the run was 502 for the 1-1 gully with Everton successful November.

Of the 11 remaining WSL clubs, 5 had their mean attendance driblet betwixt 2023-24 and 2024-25 - Arsenal, Aston Villa, Everton, Manchester City and Manchester United, which includes 3 of the apical four.

Aston Villa and Manchester United had by acold the biggest drop-offs, with some clubs' attendances falling by 33%.

For Villa, the determination to playing each their WSL games astatine Villa Park - compared with lone 5 the play earlier - does not look to person paid off, though they besides spent the bulk of the caller run successful a relegation battle.

Manchester United played the aforesaid fig of WSL games astatine Old Trafford successful some seasons - 2 - and successful 2023-24 those games attracted attendances of 43,615 and 28,737. In 2024-25 it was 8,761 and 31,465, with the erstwhile successful their opening crippled against West Ham.

However, they besides had a autumn successful attendances astatine their main stadium, Leigh Sports Village, with an mean of 4,562 past play compared with 5,353 the play before.

Manchester City had the adjacent biggest alteration of 8% - contempt going from 1 to 3 matches astatine their bigger Etihad Stadium - followed by Everton astatine 5.5% and Arsenal astatine 4%.

Arsenal, considered a occurrence communicative successful the league for the mode they person managed to pull grounds numbers to Emirates Stadium, played 9 of their 11 location games determination past play compared with six the erstwhile one.

Yet portion they did not deed the heights of the erstwhile run erstwhile they broke the WSL attendance record and had 2 sell-outs astatine the Emirates, the figures were inactive impressive, with 5 matches attracting much than 35,000.

All but 1 of their matches surpassed 20,000 - that was the 5,539 who turned retired for their midweek lucifer with Leicester successful April, which was rescheduled for an evening kick-off astatine abbreviated announcement due to the fact that of their Champions League involvement.

Liverpool showed singular maturation from the erstwhile season, with their attendance expanding by 54%, boosted by holding 3 games astatine Anfield compared with 1 the erstwhile year.

Building connected their awesome fourth-place WSL decorativeness successful 2023-24, their mean gross grew from 4,550 to 7,023 past season, with a season-high 17,484 turning retired for their lucifer with Manchester City successful October.

The lone different nine to deed treble figures for percent maturation were Tottenham, who contempt finishing 2nd from bottommost past season, had their mean attendance summation by 24% - from 4,317 to 5,332. They took their tally of matches astatine Tottenham Hotspur Stadium from 2 to three.

The different clubs to spot maturation were Leicester (6%), who played each their games astatine King Power Stadium which they stock with the men's team, Brighton (3%), West Ham (1%) and WSL winners Chelsea (1%).

All WSL clubs experienced a important attendance boost successful 2022-23 disconnected the backmost of Euro 2022, wherever England lifted their archetypal large women's trophy successful beforehand of grounds crowds.

The bulk of clubs besides had increases successful 2023-24, which followed England's tally to the Women's World Cup last successful Australia.

But, aft Great Britain failed to suffice for the 2024 Olympics, past play was the archetypal clip successful 3 years that the WSL run did not payment from pursuing an planetary tourney wherever determination had been location success.

Yet it is besides important to look astatine the competitiveness of the league. Chelsea were odds-on rubric favourites successful 2024-25 from an aboriginal signifier - aft it went down to the ligament successful 2023-24 - which mightiness person affected the appetite of fans from different top-four clubs, who each faced their ain struggles during the campaign.

Speaking astir attendances connected Radio 5 Live's Women's Football Weekly podcast past month, WSL Football main enforcement Nikki Doucet said: "I deliberation a batch of times it depends connected kick-off times. A batch of times it depends connected are we successful a men's planetary interruption and however are we maximising those moments oregon not?

"It depends which clubs are truly gathering that community, and immoderate are connected a further travel than others.

"Each club, and their fanbase, is benignant of unsocial and I deliberation everyone's investigating antithetic things and seeing what works, what doesn't."