Leonard Curtis Rugby Finance Report expert panel: PWR poised for major boost despite shadow cast by financial difficulties of men’s game

• Gessica Howarth, vice-president of women’s sport investment firm Sphera Partners, says: “This is the moment to seize attention and leverage the World Cup platform to drive lasting growth.”

• Leonard Curtis report co-author Prof Rob Wilson says World Cup’s impact could help move women’s club game to a “more self-sustaining commercial model”, but warns the “upside is not automatic”.

• Christina Philippou, an associate professor in accounting and sportfinance at the University of Portsmouth, says: “Learning from football andother sports is key – and that includes what not to do.”

• Dr Ellie Nesbitt, a senior lecturer in sport management at Nottingham Trent University, says low competitive balance poses a risk for PWR: “Closing the gap between elite and emerging teams is essential for long-term growth and success.”

England’s triumph at the Women’s Rugby World Cup can help transform the domestic game in the country, but the “upside is not automatic”, with major hurdles to be overcome, according to expert contributors to the Leonard Curtis Rugby Finance Report.

The Red Roses’ victory over Canada in the final at Twickenham was witnessed by a sell-out crowd of 81,885, a new global record for a women’s rugby match. The game was broadcast live on the BBC, with a peak audience of 5.8 million viewers making it the most-watched women's rugby match ever on UK television.

Across the tournament, over 440,000 tickets were sold, beating the organisers’ initial target by more than 100,000 and tripling the previous World Cup attendance record, set in New Zealand in 2021.

Gessica Howarth, vice-president and a founding member of Sphera Partners, a growth equity investment firm focused on women’s sport, said the tournament was “a resounding success by every meaningful measure,” observing that “the product felt mainstream – and national – not a novelty.”

She said: “Hosting has proved there’s real demand – and real national pride – for the women’s game. The task now is to turn reach into depth: build loyal, week-to-week fandom; keep players visible as role models; make pathways obvious from playground to performance; and sustain community participation so the domestic game grows long after the celebrations are over.

“This is the moment to seize attention and leverage the World Cup platform to drive lasting growth – elevate player profiles to the next level and put domestic women’s rugby in the same conversation as England’s other leading women’s properties.”

Shadow cast by financial challenges of men’s game

With the next Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) season now underway, the league is hoping to see a similar transformation in exposure, audience numbers and commercial impact as experienced by women’s football following the Lionesses’ Euros win on home soil in 2022.

However, as it looks to capitalise on the Red Roses’ triumph and move further down the path of professionalism, women’s domestic rugby in England faces significant challenges, with eight of the nine PWR teams connected to men’s Prem Rugby clubs, whose finances are often stretched thin.

Those difficulties were underlined in the inaugural Leonard Curtis Rugby Finance Report, published last September, which found that in 2022/23 seven of the ten Prem Rugby clubs could be classed as balance sheet insolvent, meaning they were reliant on financial support from their owners, as they were also loss-making.

The second edition of the report, to be published on November 12th, will include Prem Rugby clubs’ financial data for 2023/24, as well as a detailed assessment of the prospects for women’s domestic rugby in England following the World Cup win.

Move towards self-sustaining commercial model

Prof Rob Wilson, a professor of applied sport finance and co-author of the Leonard Curtis Rugby Finance Report, said the impact of the World Cup could help move women’s club rugby in England “from dependency on benevolent funding to a more self-sustaining commercial model – a challenge that most female sports face.”

However, he warned: “This upside is not automatic. Leaders must capitalise on this moment to embed more disciplined fiscal governance, transparent revenue sharing and cost-control mechanisms – no different to our findings in the men’s game.

“Our research on rugby’s financial fragility shows that episodic successes often dissipate when structural weaknesses – with excessive wage inflation, fragile club balance sheets and fragmented governance – resurface.”

Alex Cadwallader, a Leonard Curtis director and former men’s England U21 rugby union player, added that “having a sustainable men’s game would help the women’s game immensely.”

He said: “The Women’s Rugby World Cup has clearly been a success on various levels. The exposure the tournament has had in the last few weeks has been fantastic, especially here with the England team proving victorious.

“It will have provided some key foundations from where the game can grow, by continuing to adopt a well-thought-out approach, with sensible budgets and targets.”

Risk of stalling professionalism “if models don’t evolve”

Howarth noted that “women’s domestic rugby operates in the slipstream of a financially stressed men’s game,” which she said means “tighter capital and operating expenditure, slower decisions, and too often last-priority status.”

She added: “There’s a persistent cost–revenue imbalance: paying and supporting semi-pro and non-international players is essential, yet wage, medical and travel costs can outrun early-stage income – risking stalled professionalism if models don’t evolve.

“Also, a double standard on ‘sustainability’ asks the women’s game to be profitable and tightly cost-controlled far earlier than men’s equivalents were, potentially capping growth, ambition and investment.”

Full live coverage “removes biggest historic barrier to growth”

However, with the new league season showcasing the Red Roses stars as world champions – and all 75 PWR matches being broadcast live for the first time – Howarth said the World Cup provides women’s domestic rugby with the chance to undergo a step change in its development.

She noted that having full live coverage “removes the biggest historic barrier to growth”. TNT Sports will have the first pick from each round, with the BBC also showing one game each weekend. The other two fixtures are being streamed live on YouTube.

To fully capitalise on the fresh opportunities, Howarth said the game “needs to treat the World Cup as the start of the funnel, with every touchpoint pushing fans to ‘what next?’, from PWR fixtures to match highlights to local club discovery.”

She added that post-World Cup, it was important to “maintain a whole-country drumbeat while giving each region regular touchpoints – open trainings, school visits, community events – so the buzz doesn’t collapse back into a few hubs.”

Dominance of a few teams “risks fan disengagement”

A further challenge facing the women’s game is low competitive balance. Since the first tournament in 1991, England and New Zealand have won nine of the ten World Cups. And while the 2025 edition saw an expansion from 12 to 16 teams, the same four nations reached the semi-finals as in 2022.

Dr Ellie Nesbitt, a senior lecturer in sport management at Nottingham Trent University, observed that similar levels of dominance exist in the PWR, with only three winners since its inception in 2017/18.

“This risks fan disengagement due to the predictability of the games and results,” she said. “Closing the gap between elite and emerging teams is essential for long-term growth and success.”

She also noted that while a ‘remuneration cap’ exists in the PWR, “it is only of consequence to the teams that can afford to meet this threshold in the first instance.”

“The visibility and success of the Red Roses can act as a catalyst for growth within PWR, driving increased interest from fans, sponsors and broadcasters, but the financial return must be invested and developed strategically for the holistic benefit of all teams in the PWR,” she added.

Dr Nesbitt’s latest research on competitive balance in men’s and women’s club rugby will feature in the 2025 edition of the Leonard Curtis Rugby Finance Report.

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