How Sky is getting behind the Netball Super League

The Netball Super League gets underway today, 14 March, with every game being shown by broadcasters for the first time.

Sky Sports upped its number of fixtures to three-a-week for the coming season, which combined with the BBC’s one-per-week means that every game will be available for viewers at home. It launches after a taster through the Netball Super Cup last week. 

Broadcast Sport spoke to Sky Sports pundit, and director of netball at Super League side London Mavericks, Tamsin Greenway, about what this means for the broadcaster and the sport. 

A number of changes have been made to the competition this season, with rule changes, professionalisation and games taking place in arenas, “Suddenly the whole game has changed,” Greenway said, “And I love the fact that Sky saw the huge potential in that. It has stood by the sport and has helped get to a point where we can now go forefront and central with this.”

There is also a new weekly show covering the competition on Sky Sports News, Off The Court, which will also run as a podcast, hosted by Greenway. She noted, “Netball wouldn’t have always got its own slot on Sky Sports News but we can actually talk about the game and get people to see it in a different light.

“We’re talking about how smart we can be as well. We know that audience will want to see something different to a female audience that are playing every single week, or a 15 year old that was quite happy to watch some clips on YouTube.”

This expanded coverage, combined with the BBC’s content, is, “Really, really important, especially when you’re trying to grow a fan base, because people want to know about the stories,” Greenway said. “They want to support their team. If they don’t have a team, they’ll suddenly have a chance to watch all four and go, ‘Actually, I want to be behind these guys.’ We know sport is all about that journey, the fairy tale moments, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and you won’t miss any of that now, and that is going to be a real game changer.” 

The hope is that increased exposure on TV will lead to more ticket sales at the arenas that the league is moving to this year: “We’re all realistic about the fan base taking time to grow. But if we can start to grow that across different platforms, it only takes people to see it to go, ‘I’ll come to that game in one day in a few weeks.’ We’ve never given fans that opportunity before.”

In terms of the content itself, Greenway believes, “We’ve just got to be creative with it. It isn’t going to massively change overnight, but we’ve got the opportunity to build stars, and to talk about the game in a different way. Having those spaces to discuss gets it taken more seriously. From that, you start to get that regular sports fan involved, because who doesn’t love watching a great game of any sport, the big clashes, the rivalries, the superstars.”

Looking ahead, Greenway is realistic about where the league can get to, with the hope that this relaunch isn’t a flash in the pan: “For me it’s the retention of [the growth], so it’s not just a one-hit wonder. We don’t launch this year and everyone goes, ‘Oh wow, new league,’ and we get eyeballs on and we don’t retain. That’s our job, on the court but also off the court, and I believe we’ve got such a good team working with Sky that we can do that. We can get new fans on board, retain the regular ones and start to build a big fan base.

“If you do that, you know, we could we could end up in five years time having professional leagues across football, rugby, cricket, and netball. How incredible is that for any young female growing up to go, ‘I can play professional sport.’ That would be the biggest goal.”