The Netball Super League is taking inspiration from the WNBA as it looks to “build an entertainment product” and resonate further with fans during a revamped 2025 season and beyond.
The NSL – live on Sky Sports from March 14 – has been trimmed from 10 to eight teams, with 50 per cent of games to be played in major arenas to draw bigger crowds and enhance the match-day experience.
Competition organisers are also determined to tell stories off the court in order to attract a younger audience, with NSL managing director Claire Nelson telling Sky Sports News: “We know what we’re trying to build – an entertainment product.
The NSL has been trimmed to eight teams with 50 per cent of games to be played in major arenas
“If we want to unlock new fans, young fans, female fans, we need a product that delivers in the live arena but also grows broadcast.
‘We want to create unmissable experiences’
“That innovation around what our sport looks like, how we connect and how we elevate our players is our strategy to grow.
“The data is showing us is that what fans want, female fans in particular, is experiences. We want to create unmissable experiences.
“Let’s look at the WNBA and how that’s grown. American sports are really growing a female fanbase and it’s through experiences that are value for money but actually drive that intersect between sport and fashion, music, lifestyle.
“Our athletes are our key asset. We can have amazing arenas, amazing content, but it relies on the athletes at the centre, putting that product out on court and also bringing to life their stories off the court, that’s what female fans resonate with.
“To do that we have to give them the best environment, we have to pay them better, we need to make sure they are competing in the best competition week in, week out.”
Some familiar faces scaled the O2 Arena to promo the 2025 NSL, with the final to be held at the London venue in July
‘I wanted eight clubs who thought they could win’
Nottingham Forest Netball and Birmingham Panthers are joining the NSL for 2025, with Team Bath, Severn Stars, Strathclyde Sirens, and Surrey Storm missing out.
Loughborough Lightning have won the previous two Netball Super League Grand Finals and three of the last four but Nelson is expecting a competitive tournament this year.
A new Super Shot innovation – first used in the Suncorp Super Netball division in Australia – will allow teams to score two-goal shots from a dedicated area within the outer edge of the shooting circle during the last five minutes of all four quarters.
Nelson added: “We’ve got some new clubs and what I said from the start is I wanted eight clubs who thought they could win and who could come in and compete.
“We want to take fans on a journey throughout the season. Hopefully these innovations and the squads we have are going to drive that jeopardy.
“I know Loughborough are a great team and if they win this season then fantastic, but I want competition.”
Watch the start of the revamped Netball Super League campaign with the brand new Super Cup live on Sky Sports Mix and Sky Sports’ YouTube channel from 11.30am on Saturday March 8. Not got Sky? Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW.
