England’s women are still yet to return a profit, with the RFU continuing to invest £15m annually.
However, there are green shoots with a 391% increase in ticketing in the last four years, compared to the four previous years.
Despite the women’s game making an overall loss they have collected £2.4m from ticketing revenue in the last season alone.
Alex Teasdale , the RFU’s director of the women’s game, told the BBC: “It’s not all about making money. I think ultimately we’re here to be able to grow the game.”
There was a crowd of 37,573 at Allianz Stadium for last Saturday’s win over France, a significant drop from the 58,498 who attended the same match in 2023.
However, Teasdale is not concerned by the figures, adding: “We have got Rugby World Cup tickets on sale at the moment as well.
“I think a really interesting kind of stat from this season is that between Premiership Women’s Rugby and the RFU, we sold 250,000 tickets for (women’s) rugby in England this year.
“Then you add the Rugby World Cup tickets on top of that (275,000) and we’re in for over half a million tickets this year.”
One small success story from the Allianz fixture was the sale of 500 red cowboy hats in the official stadium shop and outlets.
The hats stem from a small group of Red Roses players, including Ellie Kildunne and Megan Jones, who self-styled themselves as the cowboys.
The hats sold out nearly two hours before kick-off, with Teasdale adding the volume would need to “significantly” increase for the World Cup.
“The cowboy hats I think are just a really important moment in us trying to create a really strong fan engagement piece, as we know the Red Roses are very strong on their kind of country background and influences,” she added.
“Seeing those hats around the ground, I think it’s going be something to ‘see’ at the Rugby World Cup if we can get enough of them out there.”
