High-profile pre-season tours are a double-edged sword for women’s game | Suzanne Wrack

High-profile pre-season tours have become the norm for Premier League clubs. Gone are the days when they would only set up training camps to ready themselves for the new campaign. Now, the summer represents an opportunity for clubs to maximise revenue, reach new audiences outside the saturated European football market and prepare for the new season, all in one go.

Women’s teams embarking on long-distance tours against major international club rivals is a relatively new development. The launch of the Women’s International Champions Cup in 2018 demonstrated the demand for such fixtures, with Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City travelling to the United States to compete against North Carolina Courage in the mini tournament, which has been held three times since. Clubs have realised there is money to be made and lucrative audiences to reach in the women’s game, too. And things have stepped up a gear this summer. Within days of the final matches of the season, Arsenal went to Australia to play an A-League All Stars team, marking their first time in the country.

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Up next for Arsenal is a trip to the US, where Jonas Eidevall’s side will face Washington Spirit and Chelsea – who will also play NJ/NY Gotham. Meanwhile, Wrexham Women head stateside with the men’s team to play SoCal FC, Tigres Femenil Under-19s and Portland Thorns Academy. Joining them in chalking up the air miles are PSG, West Ham, Leicester and Manchester City, who all travel to Australia.

So what are the positives and negatives to these campaigns, and how much is really to be gained? Arsenal connected with an important audience when they journeyed to Australia, helped by the three Matildas in their squad – Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley and Kyra Cooney-Cross. However, the trip did some reputational damage, the club being heavily criticised for the environmental impact oftheir 20,000-mile round trip and for compounding the frustration of players and clubs with an already congested calendar.

Eidevall responded to the criticism, suggesting Arsenal would balance youth and experience in the squad selected to travel, and that the environmental question had to be viewed through a wider lens. “We understand that’s a really, really important question for the future of humanity, of course,” he said. “But as always, when we speak about climate, it’s about the holistic picture. We need to zoom out. It’s the big, collective efforts that will make a big difference in these matters.”

He has a point, but clubs also have a responsibility to lead on key societal issues given the huge audiences with which they can communicate, and with so many clubs making long-haul trips for non-competitive fixtures this is an issue that will only become more pertinent. With Fifa and Uefa routinely criticised for the increasingly congested state of the international match calendar, clubs’ decision add friendlies that require lengthy travel and time-difference adjustment periods can be viewed as adding to the problem, an example of commercial and financial opportunity being prioritised above the welfare of players.

There can be little argument that these tours are potentially lucrative for clubs trying to get their women’s teams to be financially sustainable, with many tours sponsored and commanding substantial fees. In the US, the six-year $240m broadcast rights deal for the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and the multimillion-dollar valuations of many NWSL clubs has piqued the interest of those involved in the women’s game. Building engaged fanbases in the US has the potential to increase the international broadcast rights for the Women’s Super League and for its members to build lucrative overseas partnerships. The Arsenal managing director, Richard Garlick, said the club “know from our recent trip to Australia that the interest and love for Arsenal Women stretches far and wide. We want to build on that and bring our US supporters closer to the club.”

Chelsea’s trip was announced alongside the expansion of their partnership with global analytics software company Fico, demonstrating the potential for commercial links. Casper Stylsvig, the club’s chief revenue officer, said: “We are delighted to be extending our partnership with Fico as we make the final preparations for our pre-season tour in the US. It’s important to us to engage deeply with the communities we’re fortunate to visit in the States, beyond the excitement delivered on the pitch, so to have the opportunity to continue the work we started last summer is a very positive step.”

For Australia-bound Manchester City, capitalising on the popularity of their Matildas, Mary Fowler and Alanna Kennedy, is part of the incentive, alongside growing sponsorship opportunities and the expansion of their local fanbase, with the 2023-24 season seeing a 51% uplift in members of the official supporters’ club in Australia compared to the previous year. The Manchester City Women’s managing director, Charlotte O’Neill, said: “This is the first time for a number of years that Manchester City Women have embarked on a preseason tour of this nature and is a clear indicator of global growth and appeal for the club and women’s football. We look forward to bringing our players to Australia to take part in the fixtures and deliver unique experiences for new and existing fans within the country this year.”

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For PSG, being able “to contribute to the development of women’s football on an international scale” is another reason for the trip, according to the sports director of the women’s side, Angelo Castellazzi. Each club can also hope to sell the rights to these matches in a further boost to their coffers.

It is impossible to reverse the growth of the women’s football, and the desires of international fanbases will become increasingly pertinent as clubs and leagues look for further revenue streams. Are these pre-season tours the answer? Maybe, but there has to be discussion abouttheir impact on the players and the environment as part of a wider discussion on the health of the game.