Women's Cricket Might Be Better-Off Without SKY

There is an interesting article over on Cricinfo by Raf Nicholson about professionalism and pay in women's cricket.

But what I wanted to pick-up on was a comment by Cyril Knight:

Attendance and media coverage are the primary concerns of sponsors. The women's game has neither. If it stood alone, in England, to find it's own TV deal and own sponsorship then all the players would be amateurs overnight.

I see where Mr Knight is coming from, but I'm not sure it is actually the case!

Right now, women's cricket in England might actually be better off without being tied into the (men's) SKY TV deal.

They could negotiate their own deal with the BBC, which would obviously not be huge; but how much are the women really getting from the current deal? (Answers on a (very small!) postcard!)

Plus, being on free-to-air TV would give the team a massive injection of Red-Bull-strength media-exposure, which would increase attendances and have the sponsors queuing up!