New research shows women’s national teams are currently dominant in terms of fan passion ratings.

The findings, released today by True North, show the top four national teams in terms of fan passion are all female teams, with the Matildas, Australian Women’s Rugby 7s and the Diamonds joining the Australian Women’s cricket team which sits in top spot.

The current popularity of women’s national teams will fuel support for the upcoming FIBA Women’s World Cup basketball tournament and provide an attractive commercial opportunity for brands, says Luke Bould, non-executive director and chair of the commercial committee.

The 2022 FIBA Women’s World cup is coming back to Australia for the first time since 1994 after Basketball Australia (in conjunction with the NSW Government) won the rights to host the tournament at Sydney Olympic Park over 10 days.

Bould left FFA in Nov 2019 to start up sports and events marketing consultancy, Alacria, and is working with Basketball Australia on commercial management of the tournament.

“Despite concerns around the future of Women’s sport as a result of Covid-19, basketball is investing into its women’s teams,” he told Sponsorship News.

“The success of the ICC T20 World Cup earlier this year shows that support for women’s sport is continuing to grow.

“This event is providing Australian corporates an opportunity to invest in women’s sport, invest in a major tournament on our own soil, support a team in the Opal’s who are number two in the world and support basketball in general which is a massive participation sport.”

FIBA has a number of global of partners that are protected, but Bould said the board has numerous partnerships and categories available in the Australian market.

“We are going to be looking at filling around five or six partnerships around the tournament,” he said.

“Money is obviously critical so we can help pay for the tournament but equally important is finding people that want to turn this major event into an even bigger event and make sure we fill our two stadiums across the tournament period.”

The Australian Opal’s are ranked 13th on the True North’s BenchMark emotional connection score national teams ladder April 2020.

 

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