Australia is in a golden era of women’s sport that could prove to be a golden opportunity to create stronger communities, celebrate our country and drive long-term economic growth.
The Matildas storming up the ladder in the World Cup on home soil is just the latest example of women’s sport demonstrating the massive potential impact hosting these types of events can have on a nation.
It’s easy to measure the shorter term and economic impacts of these events – dollars generated, ticket sales, visitor numbers – but harder to quantify are the immense social and community benefits which are longer term and arguably even more important.
According to reports, the Matildas’ match against Denmark was watched on free-to-air television by more people than last year’s AFL and NRL grand finals, making it the highest-rating television program of 2023 and eclipsing all of this year’s State of Origin match ups.
But it’s the wall-to-wall coverage showing Australians experiencing the joy and thrill of watching the home team compete against the world’s best, and win, that demonstrates the feel-good factor, which is impossible to put a dollar figure on.
As veteran media commentator Steve Allen noted in The Australian recently, we have ‘woken a sleeping giant’.
The potential to leverage the groundswell of popularity and goodwill that comes from these major events is enormous, as long as the key stakeholders with the most to gain, like government and sport governing bodies, have all the right strategies and structures in place.
This is where mistakes have been made in the past. We saw this after the Australian women won gold in the rugby 7s at the 2016 Olympic Games. The ARU had nothing in place to handle the influx of young girls who were inspired and wanted to play 7s rugby – a massive missed opportunity.
I’m hoping that football has its house in order, that they’ve thought it through and can leverage this opportunity to capitalise on the interest in the women's game and even women's sport generally.
It’s all about event leverage, and the media plays such a massive role in delivering those long-term benefits.
People talk about event impacts and that’s great, but that impact-orientation is really a myopic, short-term view. You can leverage for short term benefits through visitation and bums on seats, but the longer-term reputational outcomes stem from the media attention these events attract. For example, through clever use of event-related media we can shift people's perception of a destination, or gain tourism benefits, facilitate trade, raise awareness on key social issues, or increase sports participation. These are all longer-lasting and potentially sustainable benefits. It's great to get bums on seats, but it needs to be more about strategically planning for what happens after the circus leaves town.
If we can maximise these opportunities the impact could be enormous, not just in terms of growing sports through more funding, facilities and better recognition, but for the community and the economy.
Look at the figures, look at the amazing imagery coming from this event - it creates happiness, it creates community, and it’s creating kids who want to participate in sport as both players and spectators.
Those benefits are priceless.
Dr Danny O'Brien is an Associate Professor of Sport Management in the Bond Business School