Identifying Best Practice in Women's Football - FIFA/CIES ...

has taken a bold step by moving the league to the summer. It is still to be tested and proven,but with league attendances even of the biggest teams being so low, there is hardly anythingto lose. Another issue in the marketing mix seems to be the place/venue. Too often,especially with integrated teams like Arsenal LFC or Bayern Munich, the venues for thematches are far outside the city and very hard to access by public transport. This might be afactor that discourages interested parties in attending league matches. Furthermore, the lackof a real ‘home ground’ is a problem for many teams that hinders them to exploit match dayrevenues like naming rights, banners, parking, hospitality, and catering. Lastly, the issue ofpricing is a difficult one. When demand is low, prices must be low - this logic seems to bewidely applied in women’s football. In the Dutch and English league, this means that leaguematches are free. Bayern Munich tries to attract holders of season tickets for the men’sprofessional team by granting them free entry to the women’s home matches, withoutconsidering that they might be in direct competition with each other. At the same time, theydo not even offer a season ticket for the women’s team. These examples show that even inthe top teams, the pricing strategy is not very developed.5.6 Clear strategies and diversification of revenue streamsThe aforementioned issues highlight the fact that there is a lot of room for improvement inthe marketing of the leagues. There seem to be no clear long-term strategy in place, whichwill guide the club’s actions. Another issue is that many of them struggle to diversify theirrevenue streams. In the case of FCR Duisburg, there is a strong desire towards getting a newhome ground in order to make match day a bigger source of income. From Turbine Potsdam,there is a big push in diversifying the range of merchandise on their online shop. ArsenalLFC offers holiday camps for girls. All these are alternative sources of revenue that can helpa club’s development but are often not feasible for lack of human resources and/orinvestment.5.7 Lack of expertise and inter-club communicationThe lack of resources and expertise is a great obstacle for the development of clubs andleagues. There are often only one or two full-time employees that have to manage the entirebusiness of the club, from player’s contracts and promotion campaigns to budget planning.:8""