Women’s Cricket Is Going Global — and the Smart Money Is Getting In Early

For decades, women’s cricket operated in the shadows of the men’s game. That’s over.

In the last three years, women’s cricket has evolved into one of the most dynamic and investable sectors in global sport. With fully professional leagues now thriving in India, England, and Australia, we are witnessing the rise of a new global sports economy — and the commercial fundamentals are already outperforming expectations.

At Pitch15, we see women’s cricket as a fast-growth, undercapitalized asset class. The next 5 years will define who builds, owns, and scales the world’s most valuable teams, leagues, and fanbases in the sport. Here’s why.

India’s WPL: Setting the Commercial Benchmark

The launch of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) in India in 2023 was a defining moment for the sport. Five franchises sold for a combined $572 million, led by corporates like Reliance, Adani, and Diageo. Media rights were snapped up by Viacom18 in a $116 million five-year deal — making the WPL one of the most valuable women’s sports properties globally, after just two seasons.

Viewership topped 100 million in its second season. Players like Smriti Mandhana and Ash Gardner earned contracts exceeding $400,000 — levels that rival many men’s T20 leagues. The WPL has become the premier destination for elite women’s cricketers and a blueprint for how to build visibility and value in women’s sport almost overnight.

The Hundred & ECB: A Roadmap for Equal Promotion

While India has taken the commercial lead, England has laid the foundation for sustainable professionalisation.

The ECB’s 2020–2024 women’s strategy focused on visibility, infrastructure, and fair pay. Through The Hundred, the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) created a parallel men’s and women’s competition — equal branding, shared venues, and free-to-air BBC broadcasts for both genders. In 2024, the women’s competition attracted 320,000 fans, a 20% year-over-year increase.

What’s more:

• The ECB introduced equal prize money in 2023.
• Top women’s player salaries will hit £65,000 in 2025, up from £8,000 in 2021.
• In early 2025, £520 million was raised through private investments into The Hundred franchises — capital that is now earmarked for both men’s and women’s pathways.

The ECB is also expanding full-time domestic contracts, with the minimum salary for regional players rising to £28,000 in 2024. This is no longer an amateur pipeline — it’s a high-performance, professional ecosystem.

WBBL: Australia’s First Mover Advantage

Before the WPL or The Hundred, there was Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL). Launched in 2015, the WBBL remains a world-leading product in terms of player development, scheduling, and governance.

• The top WBBL salaries have now risen to A$133,000 (≈$90,000), with total team salary caps nearly doubling in 2023 to retain top global talent.
• Games are broadcast across Seven Network and Foxtel, with digital coverage on Kayo, ensuring broad reach.
• The WBBL continues to deliver high attendance at key fixtures (e.g., 15,000+ at the 2023 final), driven by fan engagement and family-friendly positioning.
• The league plays a key strategic role in Cricket Australia’s talent development — with the national team ranked #1 globally, thanks to consistent WBBL exposure.

Australia also has one of the most gender-equal cricket boards globally, with 50+ centrally contracted women players, robust parental leave policies, and a clear domestic-to-international pipeline.

The Investment Opportunity: Global, Growing, and Underpriced

Women’s cricket is now structurally professional across three of the world’s biggest cricket markets — and just getting started in others like Pakistan, the Caribbean, and the U.S.

The investment fundamentals are clear:

• Unit economics are improving: Shorter seasons, rising media value, low player wage bases, and growing digital sponsorships.
• Cross-border fanbases: Players compete in multiple leagues — creating international brand value (e.g., fans in India follow players in WBBL and The Hundred).
• Sponsorship upside: From Tata and Hologic to KP Snacks and Kayo, brands are investing heavily and early, seeing higher ROI and lower risk than in saturated men’s leagues.
• Talent pool is deepening: Professional contracts are increasing annually, with new academies in England, India, and Australia producing hundreds of top players.

Critically, these leagues are complementary, not cannibalistic. Their seasonal windows are staggered — WBBL (Oct–Dec), WPL (March), The Hundred (July–Aug) — enabling players, media, and sponsors to activate across the full year.

Pitch15’s Perspective

We believe women’s cricket is where men’s T20 was pre-2009 — global in footprint, rising in value, and still fragmented. That creates opportunity.

Our strategy at Pitch15 focuses on:

• Equity stakes in expansion franchises
• Building academies with international player pipelines
• Sponsorship & broadcast structuring
• Capitalising on undervalued leagues with global exposure potential

As the market matures, we expect to see cross-league tournaments, Champions League formats, and increased private equity activity across Asia-Pacific, the UK, and the Middle East.

Women’s cricket is not the future. It’s the now — with $1 billion+ in enterprise value already unlocked across WPL, WBBL, and The Hundred.

The next five years are about owning the upside.

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