Achi news desk-
Professional women’s sports are a growing phenomenon around the world, and Canada is increasingly getting in on the action.
After launching the Professional Women’s Hockey League this year with three of the six teams from Canadian cities, six more Canadian women’s teams have applied to join the country’s new national Division 1 women’s soccer league.
Called Project 8, it will be the first domestic professional women’s soccer league Canada has ever seen and is a “big deal,” women’s sports advocates told Global News.
So far, Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary have announced they have applied to the league, and three more teams will be revealed in the coming weeks, according to Project 8. The league is expected to launch in 2025 and has Canadian Tire, CIBC, DoorDash and Air Canada as founding partners.
“The timing (for the launch) couldn’t be better with the growth in viewership and the popularity of women’s sports in general,” Kim Brassor, founder and executive director of Oakville, Ont.-based Future Girls Soccer, told Global News.
“If the right business partners come along and players come along, I think it will be a great initiative for Canada Soccer.”
Brassor helps coach eight- to 12-year-old girls in soccer, and said having a professional league in Canada would be a huge inspiration for players. Before Project 8, the only hope for playing the sport professionally would be to go to other countries to play in their leagues, he said.
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Now the goal of playing professionally will be much more tangible and provide role models for young players, according to Brassor.
The new league is being created by retired Olympian Diana Matheson and her business partner Thomas Gilbert. It comes as women’s sports are rapidly gaining popularity around the world, according to Allison Sandmeyer-Graves, CEO of non-profit Women and Sport Canada.
“It’s a global phenomenon,” he said. “The fandom is growing in terms of viewership online, on TV, engagement on social media, attendance at events.”
Nielsen reported in July 2023 that interest in women’s sports was growing at a “meteoric pace,” with the NCAA Women’s Division final game between Iowa and LSU attracting a record 9.9 million views, up 103 percent from the previous year. Deloitte has predicted that women’s elite sports will exceed US$1 billion in revenue in 2024 for the first time.
Sandmeyer-Graves said Canada is actually lagging behind in women’s sports offerings compared to other places like the United States and Europe, and said there is a huge opportunity for investment and partnerships. She said female athletes are now building their own profiles and fan bases similar to what male athletes have done for decades – and brands are taking notice.
The new alliance will only help with growth by creating more visibility and airtime, he said.
“Investors seeing the business opportunity that (women’s sports) represents and starting to put their money towards it makes a big difference,” he said. “There is a tremendous business opportunity here that has yet to be tapped.”
Similar to how local sports, such as the G-League Raptors in Mississauga, are making progress of their own, women’s sports are providing their own twist that fans seem to be eating up.
Brassor said stands are constantly filled at games, often with families hoping to provide some inspiration for their children. But not only inspiration on the show but true talent, he pointed out.
“It’s a great game,” he said. “When you watch it, you’re entertained.”
However, there are still barriers to women’s sport. Sandmeyer-Graves mentioned that sports have been dominated by men for so long that “gender bias” is part of the decisions and policies, also considering that leadership in sports is still very male.
Women’s sport — along with sport more broadly — has also faced high-profile sexual abuse and misconduct issues that have come to light in recent years, including in water polo, gymnastics and hockey.
Sandmeyer-Graves and Brassor say there is still a long way to go to completely eradicate the problem.
“We have to stand up for victims and give them a neutral place where they can speak their truth without being victimized again,” Brassor said. “We’re still not there.”
& copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
