2026: The Year Australia Stops Treating Women’s Sport Like a Side Hustle
Women’s sport in Australia enters 2026 with record attention, but still receives a fraction of the investment, coverage and care it has earned.
2026: Beyond Visibility To Value
Australian women’s sport already has a majority‑engaged audience, yet it still attracts only around 10–12% of sports media coverage and a similarly small share of sponsorship. Over half of Australians say they are engaged with women’s sport and 37% would watch more if it were better advertised and easier to find, which means the challenge is not demand, it is distribution.
The gap shows up everywhere around the athlete economics: smaller endorsement pools, shorter and more precarious contracts, and thinner commercial support structures, even as female athletes carry more of the storytelling burden for codes and brands. At the same time, women’s sports communities are growing about 40% faster than general sports fan communities, making them one of the smartest growth bets in the industry, not a “nice to have”.
What’s Holding Investment Back
From boardrooms to broadcast towers and publishing houses, there is still a lag between what audiences are doing and where money flows. Many CMOs in Australia want to invest more in women’s sport but lack confidence around how to measure ROI and how to defend a rebalanced portfolio to CFOs and CEOs. Media decision‑makers still default to legacy scheduling, secondary channels and lighter promotional weight, which caps casual discovery and keeps women’s sport in a “trial” phase instead of treating it as core content.
There is also a structural equity gap: female athletes are more likely to be part‑time, juggling dual careers while being asked to act as full‑time brand assets, without the content teams, IP education or financial literacy support their male peers enjoy. Intersectional barriers compound this for First Nations women, women of colour, LGBTQ+ athletes and women with disabilities, whose stories drive huge engagement but who often see less equitable revenue and opportunity.
Where Demand And Opportunity Are Surging
The fastest growth is happening where values, visibility and versatility intersect. The Matildas’ success has normalised women’s football as a Tier 1 commercial property and lifted demand for female footballers and “national team energy” across codes, with women’s football projected to be a global top‑five sport by 2030. Purpose‑led campaigns are surging: women’s sports fans strongly expect brands, teams and leagues to stand for social issues, and they reward those that back equality, mental health, First Nations justice, climate and LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Women already drive 70–80% of household purchasing decisions and are set to control around 75% of discretionary spend by 2030, and women’s sports fans are more likely to buy from sponsors of their favourite teams. This is why lifestyle, finance, wellness, fashion and family‑centric brands are increasingly turning to female athletes as lifestyle leaders, not just performance endorsers, and why women’s sport is emerging as a premium pathway into the “female fan economy”.
What are we going to do in 2026
Inner Sanctum Sports Management exists to turn this cultural momentum into tangible value for athletes, brands and the broader ecosystem. In 2026, the focus is on three core levers:
Re‑engineering athlete economics
Build commercially sound endorsement and partnership strategies for female athletes, with clear IP structures, content plans and financial literacy support.
Help athletes design community‑based monetisation models (memberships, merch drops, watch‑party ecosystems) so value is not limited to broadcast deals.
Designing women’s sport strategies for brands and codes
Work with CMOs and partnership leads to move women’s sport out of CSR and into growth strategy with data‑led business cases, ROI frameworks and case studies from more mature markets.
Help rights‑holders and broadcasters redesign windows, production and storytelling around always‑on, athlete‑first content that treats women’s sport as must‑watch.
Closing the visibility and narrative gap
Partner with media, creators and athletes to build identity‑driven storytelling, docu‑shorts, podcast formats, behind‑the‑scenes and family‑centric content, that reflects how women actually follow sport.
Advocate at the junction of rights, reach and revenue: codes, broadcasters and brands where changes to scheduling, minimum standards and marketing budgets can unlock structural equity, not just awareness spikes.
How Everyone Can Back Women’s Sport This Year
The next phase of growth for women’s sport in Australia relies on everyday choices from fans, brands and media, not just big announcements. A few concrete steps:
Follow 2–4 female athletes on social platforms and engage with their posts, likes, shares and comments help prove their commercial value.
Attend live women’s games wherever you can and bring friends, kids or colleagues to help build the participation‑to‑fandom flywheel.
Watch women’s sport content, live broadcasts, replays, highlights and storytelling pieces on the platforms that measure and report those numbers.
Buy women’s team and athlete‑aligned merchandise, memberships or event tickets to signal to rights‑holders and sponsors that this market is commercially viable.
If Australia matches audience passion with investment courage in 2026, women’s sport will not just grow, it will redefine what successful, community‑centric sport looks like.
