WSL’s new £65m TV contract must be renegotiated if relegation is suspended | OneFootball

The Women’s Super League’s £65m TV contract with Sky Sports and the BBC will have to be renegotiated if it removes relegation from the top flight.

As revealed last month by the Guardian, the clubs are considering radical proposals to pause relegation from the 2026-27 season as part of a plan to expand the WSL and Championship to 16 teams each, with a vote expected at the end of the season.

The Guardian has learned that the WSL’s broadcasting contracts are potentially a complicating factor, because the TV deal stipulates a 12-team competition format with promotion and relegation, that can be altered only with the agreement of all parties.

The Sky/BBC deal announced last October is due to run for five years from next season and is widely regarded as a game-changer for women’s football in England because it is worth almost double the previous contract.

The WSL struggled to sell TV rights for this season and was forced to accept a 12-month extension to the existing contract on similar terms after a disagreement over valuation, but the Women’s Professional League Ltd secured a major uplift within three months of taking operational control of the professional game from the Football Association. The WPLL has also brought in a three-year title sponsorship for the WSL with Barclays worth £45m.

Sky is the senior partner in the deal with the BBC and is due to broadcast 118 WSL games each season, with 21 available on the terrestrial channel. It would lead any renegotiation. The deal also gives Sky the option to broadcast Championship games for the first time, with many likely to be available free on its YouTube channel.

Sky, having broadcast more than 70% of live televised women’s sport in the UK last year, is unlikely to stand in the way of expansion but may demand changes to the contract. Relegation battles bring commercial value to broadcasters and advertisers, and without those there may be meaningless fixtures to televise.

The prospect of pausing relegation has been criticised by fans and some high-profile figures in women’s football.

The WPLL view is that it would be introduced only in conjunction with increased minimum standards relating to salaries, the expansion of academies and enhanced stadiums, and that it would encourage owners to invest.

The WPLL declined to comment on confidential contractual matters, but sources involved in the restructure discussions said broadcast rights holders would be involved in any decisions relating to the future of the leagues. Sky and the BBC declined to comment.

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