In a bid to maximise its visibility and the value of its next broadcast rights deal, the Women’s Super League (WSL) has explored ending the UK 3pm blackout rule, but it has come with some challenges.
The Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL), the newly formed organisation which oversees the WSL and Women’s Championship, has begun exploring the idea of playing and broadcasting games at 3pm but its Chief Executive, Nikki Doucet, revealed it is not an option.
“We have explored that a lot and, at the moment, it is not an option,” said Doucet, who was named as the head of the WPLL to help lead UK women’s football into the future by exploring new revenue opportunities for sponsorship and broadcast rights to grow the game.
The idea of broadcasting WSL and Women’s Championship fixtures at 3pm on Saturday’s was first proposed by the Karen Carney-led review of women’s football. This was due to men’s football dominating the TV screens and schedule for much of the football calendar.
Whilst live women’s football games on TV would no doubt bring more eyes to the WSL and Women’s Championship as no men’s games would be televised, the issue of removing the 3pm blackout to accommodate this is proving to be a challenge.
The 3pm blackout was enforced in the 1960s, designed to protect matchday attendances and maximise gate revenue, particularly for smaller clubs who rely on it the most. Since then, the ruling has remained, with no English football fixtures televised from 2:45-5:15pm on Saturdays.
This is not to say that there has been support in removing the 3pm blackout for not just women’s games, but also for men’s fixtures.
Several streaming companies before the English Football League (EFL) finalised its latest domestic broadcast deal were interested in acquiring packages and attempted to ask for a removal of the 3pm blackout. However, this did not materialise.
For the WPLL, one of its first major assignments is to secure a new broadcast deal for the 2025/26 season. Its deal with the BBC and Sky Sports from the 2023/24 season has rolled over to this season and is without a new deal in place for next season.
If the organisation were to continue pushing for a 3pm blackout removal, it would need the backing of the Football Association (FA) to grant this. Whilst the FA is a board member of the WPLL, the women’s football organisation does not have a seat on the FA board and therefore can not vote to lift the 3pm blackout.
Despite the barriers in place, Doucet said that she remains committed to maintaining dialogue with the FA on how to move forward.
She said: “We’re thinking about how that works going forward but, when I think about the FA board and the professional game board, making sure we stay connected is really really important.”
