Reflections on a groundbreaking summer of UK Sport

As the curtain comes down on another packed summer of UK and global sport, it’s the perfect time to sit back and reflect on the multitude of memorable moments we’ve witnessed over the past few months.

It’s been amazing to witness another major tournament win for the Lionesses, and later this summer saw the Red Roses come to the forefront of the public consciousness during their ultimately successful Women’s Rugby World Cup campaign, capped off by a memorable final at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.

It all started back in June with the return of women’s tennis to Queen’s Club for the first time since 1973, with a WTA 500 event being reinstated at the historic venue, providing the platform for Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter et al. to play in front of a total weekly attendance of over 62,000.

Moving into mid-summer, the Lionesses then kept us all on our toes in their pursuit of a second consecutive Euros title, beginning with a defeat to France but from there on going from strength to strength and ultimately prevailing in a shootout in the final.

The rise of names such as Michelle Agyemang and the heroics of Lucy Bronze, who played the entire tournament with a broken leg, will be written into sporting folklore.

Upon their return to the UK, the open-top bus parade drew a reported 65,000-strong crowd who turned out on that Tuesday to catch a glimpse of the returning heroes.

From a cricketing perspective, it was another busy summer, with England Women welcoming the West Indies and India for bilateral series, whilst the Men’s Test match series vs India came to a thrilling conclusion on the very final day. The images of Chris Woakes emerging to bat at The Oval with the series on the line, nursing a badly dislocated shoulder, will live long in the memory for both ardent cricket fans and the wider public. Whilst India won the match to square the series, this act of sporting bravery will be remembered as a dramatic endpoint to a remarkable series that captivated the sporting public in a manner reminiscent of the 2005 home Ashes series.

Moving from the longest format to the shortest, a tournament we’ve been privileged to play our own small part in — The Hundred — is now half a decade old after a successful fifth year and continues to set new standards and break records. This year, 349,000 fans attended women’s fixtures, with a total of 580,000 tickets sold, and viewership was up across both Sky Sports coverage (+38% YoY) and BBC streaming coverage, which saw an 800,000 increase vs 2024. The growth of the tournament was emphatically summed up by the valuation of the eight teams at close to £1 billion, as stakes in each team were sold to investors — completing a huge transformation of English cricket, with hundreds of millions now being invested back into the grassroots and first-class structure.

The cricket continues as England Women are in action in the ODI World Cup in India throughout October, with 2nd November a date for your diaries as a potential final showdown with Australia, whilst the Men’s Ashes begins in earnest in late November in Perth as England attempt to win on Australian soil for the first time in well over a decade.

The Red Roses then took up the mantle as the Women’s Rugby World Cup took centre stage in August and September, with Ellie Kildunne, Zoe Aldcroft and co. taking centre stage as overwhelming tournament favourites, entertaining crowds across the country from Sunderland to Northampton, via Brighton, Exeter and Bristol, before the showpiece final at Twickenham. A record-breaking, sold-out Twickenham crowd of 81,115 saw England crowned world champions — fittingly, in front of a record attendance for a women’s rugby match — whilst viewership of the final peaked at 5.8 million across BBC linear and streaming platforms. Looking at the tournament as a whole, ticket sales eclipsed 400,000, with 30% of attendees having never been to a rugby match previously.

Continuing this positive momentum, early signs for the upcoming PWR season that kicked off on 24th October are encouraging, whilst the recent opening weekend of the Women’s Super League saw a 29% rise in viewership YoY, showcasing the continued audience growth across women’s sports. This growth was put into perspective at the sport industry event looking to the future of women’s sport, with the Road to $23 Billion report the central theme. This report and event highlighted both the current and future opportunities for rights holders, governing bodies, sponsors and partners across the rapidly evolving women’s sports sector, which goes from strength to strength and continues to evolve as more and more major events take place on UK soil in the coming years.

The summer was wrapped up in high drama as the ever-engrossing Ryder Cup went down to the wire in New York, Team Europe eventually scraping to victory after a furious American fightback in the Sunday singles matches — that emotional Sunday evening finale an apt conclusion to another riveting summer of sport. Here’s to more of the same in 2026.

Indeed, casting our eyes ahead to 2026, the Red Roses return to Twickenham on 11th April for their first fixture as world champions, ahead of a busy early summer of cricket as England Women prepare for a momentous home T20 World Cup in June and July, with the final at Lord’s on 5th July another statement fixture to look out for. Then there is the small matter of the Men’s Football World Cup in the US and Mexico, where Thomas Tuchel and his squad will attempt to bring it home.