ITV Sport back trial calling for 3pm WSL games to be televised

Baroness Campbell, the Football Association’s director of women’s football, told the Culture, Media and Sport committee in July that various options are being looked at to maximise coverage of the women’s game on the back of the England team’s recent success. She said one of those is giving consideration to whether the women’s game could be removed from the restriction on live football coverage between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturdays under Article 48 of the Uefa statutes, which the FA currently chooses to apply.

Niall Sloane, ITV’s director of sport, told the same committee: “I think the three o’clock space is one that should be utilised, because where else can women’s football fit into a weekend?

“It is quite hard to find those slots. If that was preserved for women’s football I don’t think it’s going to impact the Premier League, the EFL. I don’t think it will impact the non-league pyramid (either).” Asked by committee member Giles Watling if he supported a trial, Sloane replied: “I think so, yes.”

The Premier League and EFL’s scheduling plans for their next broadcast cycles do not include 3pm kick-offs, so the slot remains clear for the foreseeable future if an agreement can be reached to make an exception for women’s football.

Sloane’s counterpart at the BBC, Barbara Slater, told the committee: “One thing that is really important is scheduling and giving women’s sports some space.

“At the moment it’s a very congested football schedule. So it’s whether football can come together to find a solution to give a window, an appointment to view, for women’s football.”

She insisted it did not have to be Saturday afternoon, but that there was “a lot of logic” to scheduling matches then.

Jonathan Licht, the managing director of Sky Sports, sounded a slightly more cautious note.

“A couple of things to think about, as well as scheduling, is facilities,” he said.