How Optus Sport plans to maintain the Matildas momentum
The Women's Super League kicks off this weekend, and with the likes of Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord, and Mary Fowler among the ten members of the Matildas squad playing in the UK-based league, Optus Sport hopes that the momentum of the Women's World Cup will continue.
As the exclusive broadcast rights holder, Optus Sport will provide coverage of every round of the Women’s Super League, as well as cut-down versions of games, previews, news stories, and a dedicated highlights show.
With Aussie players spread across Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, West Ham United, Leicester City, Everton, and Manchester City, there are plenty of team options for newcomers drawn by the Matildas.
Walid Sukkarieh, director of sport, production and content at Optus Sport, spoke to Mumbrella about how they will keep the Matildas fever burning throughout the English winter league.
What promotional efforts are you undertaking to help spread the word about this season?
We’ve already started promoting the Women’s Super League across all of our platforms, focusing on many of the incredible stars that lit up the recent Women’s World Cup.
This, of course, includes many of our beloved Matildas superstars, including Sam Kerr, Steph Catley, Mary Fowler, and many more, as they prepare to do battle domestically.
Plus, we’ll be ramping up our editorial coverage of the Women’s Super League and covering all the action, delivering unrivalled coverage of all the moments and stories.
Give us your pitch. Why should Matildas fans tune in?
So many fans were energised by watching all of the amazing athletes during the Women’s World Cup.
That elation can continue by tuning into the Women’s Super League, where you can watch many of the stars who helped propel the Matildas to an incredible semi-final berth at the tournament and capture the imagination of the nation.
More than that, the Women’s Super League is also home to many of the players that have become more familiar with football and sport fans through their efforts during the tournament.
How do you get around the fact that many of the biggest Matildas stars aren’t in the Women’s Super League?
We’re launching a new women’s football-specific show to coincide with the new season of the Women’s Super League. It’s called Women’s Football Wrap and will air on Monday evenings, providing a whirlwind wrap of everything you need to know in women’s football.
From the FA Women’s Super League, to our Aussies abroad, this show recaps the best of the action, reaction and results.
While the Matildas rightly received all the plaudits recently, it’s worth remembering there are a host of incredibly talented Aussie players also representing teams in the Women’s Super League that further demonstrate the amount of quality players Australia has produced.
And we’re extremely proud that Optus Sport is the only place to watch every round of the Women’s Super League live.
You’ve really focused on soccer, which paid off with the Matildas – does Optus Sport have plans to invest as heavily in any other sports/franchises as it does in soccer?
We don’t comment on future rights, but Optus Sport has been established as the home of football and in particular champions of women in sport.
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Nathan Jolly is the Deputy Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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Optus has also invested extremely heavily into football so its their right to charge people a subscription to watch.
Welcome to the real world Tash
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And this is why the Government needs to be very careful with its anti-siphoning list reforms. Optus’ clear play is not to give sport to all Australians for free–it’s to sell us all a subscription by cynically leveraging a bit of free sport in front of the paywall.
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