Yet the simple fact of the crowds is not the most compelling part. Speaking at the espnW Sports Summit\u2019s Women at the Helm panel in May, the Seattle Torrent general manager, Meghan Turner, shared an astonishing insight: of the crowd in attendance at this past season\u2019s Takeover Tour games, roughly 80% had never before attended an NHL game.<\/p>\n
This is, in a word, revolutionary. We\u2019ve long understood women\u2019s league attendance to lack a level of overlap with the men\u2019s competitions, but it has never been imagined quite to this extent. These are towns where ice hockey is deeply entrenched; where people already have access to live, professional ice hockey. But even with so much opportunity at their doorstep, it was the PWHL that managed to finally draw them in.<\/p>\n
It was women\u2019s ice hockey that got them, and they barely tapped into the men\u2019s attendance base in the process.<\/p>\n
The AFLW international match between Australia and Ireland at North Sydney Oval was sold out with a crowd of more than 9,000 fans. Photograph: Jessica Hromas\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
There seems little reason why the same principles couldn\u2019t hold true in Australia. After all, much like these ice hockey heartlands, Australia\u2019s major sporting codes are woven into the very fabric of our communities. We know there exists a specific appetite for women\u2019s sport that does not always extend to men\u2019s leagues, and we have seen this very crowd mobilised for historic international events and World Cups.<\/p>\n
And yet, there is a vast difference of approach in Australia\u2019s domestic scene. Where the major women\u2019s leagues and franchises in North America stand apart from their men\u2019s iterations, Australia\u2019s largest sports tend to be intertwined, meaning governance of both leagues is inseparable. The clear advantage of this is the money, affording women\u2019s competitions a level of financial cushioning in their less profitable infancy.<\/p>\n
But perhaps this interconnectedness, this funding bubble, has bred the risk-averse behaviour that we see from our administrators. By buffering any existential threat to the women\u2019s league, there simply isn\u2019t that same push for ambition or innovation. The audience is assumed to be built-in by design, and converting fans of the men\u2019s league appears the path of least resistance. Aggressively courting a discrete women\u2019s sports demographic is not so pressing a need.<\/p>\n
With their venture into double headers with the men this AFLW<\/a> season, a decade into the women\u2019s league\u2019s existence, the AFL seems to reflect this mindset. It is a big swing by AFLW standards, and holding games at larger stadiums is something that fans and players alike have demanded for years. But the unwillingness to separate from AFL games, the reliance on them as a safety net, shows that the league\u2019s priorities still lie with converting the men\u2019s crowd.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | Every day<\/p>\n Sign up to Australia Sport<\/p>\n Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports desk<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n North Melbourne have defeated Brisbane in the past two grand finals in front of a sold out crowd at Ikon Park. Photograph: Morgan Hancock\/AFL Photos\/via Getty Images<\/p>\n The Australia and Ireland women\u2019s football game saw the same lack of confidence: here was the AFLW\u2019s best approximation of a Matildas-scale event<\/a>, yet instead of boldly leaning into the momentum, venue choice was based on existing ticketing sales. It was a successful event<\/a>, but the strength of engagement metrics suggests there were attendance gains left on the table.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/300.jpg\")
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