The Rise of the Female Sports Fan

September 15, 2026 | Annabel Maddock

Women’s sporting fandom is going mainstream. Over half the population in the US is now interested in women’s sports with numbers not far behind in the UK with 24 million people identifying as women’s sports fans an increase of 33% from 2021.

This trend has been increasing for the last five years with the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics being major accelerators. What was initially fueled by a rise in women’s sport in general has turned women into avid watchers of sports across the board.

Not Only Women’s, Men’s Sports Too

Women’s fandom is not just increasing in Women’s sports but in men’s sports too. The NCAA Men’s College World Series, National Hockey League, FIFA World Cup and NASCAR are among men’s sports tournaments that have seen significant growth in women’s fans. In the US not only do women make up 54% of new fans to the NFL but over half of the 16 million new sports fans in the entire US. The Women’s Sport Trust found that 55% of WSL viewers also watched the Premier League in 2025, an increase of 12% year on year demonstrating this is a movement happening across sports entirety.

Increased Coverage

Access to sport has widened across all platforms. The BBC has free-to-air rights of all 25 Women’s Super League matches making women’s sport easier to watch. In addition to this, the BBC announced last week that for the first time ever every WSL team will have its own dedicated page and app demonstrating a clear growing fanbase for women’s sport.

Increased numbers of sporting documentaries such as Netflix’s Drive to Survive are also partly responsible for increasing fandom among females. Since its debut in 2020, Formula 1’s female viewership has increased nearly 30% with women now making up 42% of the sports total viewership. A programme that used storytelling and following the journey of specific sporting personalities proved popular and others are following suit such as Break Point (Tennis), Full Swing (Golf) and Tour de France: Unchained (Cycling).

Social Media is another driving factor. On Instagram, athlete-led content outperforms institutional content with footballer Leah Williamson driving Instagram engagement from Women aged 13-34 at a rate of 32%. These engagement levels far outshine the official pages of the Rugby World Cup (15%) and Women’s EURO (12%).

Frequency of Media Used for Sports News. Credit: Nielson The Commercial and Cultural Evolution of Women and Sports Report

Star Power

Like any sport, fans are drawn in by stars. Athletes like Simone Biles, Chloe Kelly and Eileen Gu lead the way as some of the most influential female athletes with loyalty converting to spend. 70% of avid fans plan to spend more attending games to see their favorite athletes competing. Women’s interest in personalities rather than just sport is shown too by the success of Drive to Survive, showcasing drivers’ personalities rather than just the racing itself.

The Fast Follower

Men usually build a loyalty to their teams throughout their lives, usually starting young. This is something that differs among women with 60% of women’s sports fans starting to follow their clubs and athletes within the last five years. This is evidenced by a 66% increase in fans for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup in a single summer. These female fans are being converted by specific triggers and major events and social media. with inclusivity, representation and community proving influential for women to decide who to support.

What Does This Mean?

The female audience is creating significant value to sponsorships increasing by 82% within the National Women’s Soccer League alone. Women add more value across all sport when it comes in the form of watching sport events online, attending sporting events in person, purchasing merchandise and purchasing season tickets.

Women are becoming more influential in creating commercial value across sports but 66% of those feel sports organisations don’t understand them and 39% say brands fail to recognize them as consumers. That they are becoming fans increasingly quickly means the industry needs to adapt to their needs and interests more. The venues and leagues that target their matches and merch more towards women will be the ones succeeding off this growing market.