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Topics Covered – Mapped to Headlines

1. MARKET OPPORTUNITY & STARTUP POSITIONING

  • TAM (Total Addressable Market): 500m global women's football fans, 79m WSL engagers, 29m UK fans
  • "Building from scratch" – tech stack, website, office, brand all established in past 12 months
  • "30-40-50 years of growth" – additive to existing football market

2. COMMERCIAL PARTNERSHIPS & BRAND VALUE

  • Sponsor roster: Barclays (doubled investment), Nike, Apple, British Gas, Subway, Mercedes
  • Value proposition: access to different audience, different demographics, growth economy
  • 40% female ticket purchasers, 42% aged 18-34

3. THE ATTENDANCE QUESTION

  • Richard directly challenged 10% attendance decline (7,371 → 6,661)
  • Doucet deflected to "total audience" (broadcast + digital up)
  • Acknowledged inconsistency problem: venues, times, emotional connection to clubs
  • Key admission: clubs need to determine how fans emotionally connect to women's team vs men's team

4. AUDIENCE SEGMENTATION

  • Three fan segments: Secondary fan (came through men's football), Core fan (season ticket holders), Free fan (new via Lionesses)
  • Different communication strategies required
  • BBC: 80% don't follow a WSL club
  • New fans choose 3-4 teams – not tribal yet

5. PRIVATE EQUITY & INVESTMENT PHILOSOPHY

  • "Value creation vs extraction" – explicitly borrowed Richard's language
  • Emotion of sport vs transactional models
  • Patient capital over 10 years toward 2035 World Cup inflection point
  • Caution on rapid deployment: "capital being raised but not deployed efficiently"

6. MULTI-CLUB OWNERSHIP & MICHELE KANG

  • "Still reviewing guidelines" – non-committal
  • Kang creating "competitive tension" – framed positively
  • Table more competitive this season than last
  • Need investment, can't block it at "this stage of development"

7. CLOSED LEAGUE DEBATE

  • US market "fundamentally different" – Title IX, draft system, talent pathway
  • "Tradition over here is important"
  • "Last thing you want to do is eliminate hope"
  • Expansion creating more tier one/two applications than ever

8. INTERNATIONAL REACH & DISTRIBUTION

  • 76% of broadcast audience is international
  • Key markets: Australia (Matildas), Brazil, South America, Nigeria, Middle East
  • YouTube strategy for WSL2 visibility and data capture

9. PLAYER RIGHTS INNOVATION

  • New Sky deal: players have clip rights to post highlights during matches
  • Pilot stage, "more next season"
  • Designed to create FOMO and drive to broadcast

10. DIGITAL STRATEGY & YOUTUBE

  • FA Player "had served its time"
  • YouTube: learning audience data, ad revenue, algorithm benefits
  • App in beta testing
  • Building toward maximizing optionality for next rights cycle

11. STREAMING LANDSCAPE

  • Netflix: events-based, interested in Women's World Cup
  • Disney+/Women's Champions League production innovation
  • Market "going through interesting time"