Loughborough Lightning joins new Super League
Loughborough Lighnting will be playing in the relaunched Netball Super League (NSL), which reduces to eight teams as part of plans to go professional from 2025.
Birmingham Panthers and Nottingham Forest Netball are the new teams added, with Strathclyde Sirens, Surrey Storm and five-time Super League champions Team Bath missing out.
Despite being considered one of Netball's 'big three', there were fears Loughborough Lightning could miss out. Although they've won the league twice in the last five years, the direction of travel in women's sport has been to move teams to big cities and associate with male brands.
Netball is the most played team sport by women in the UK with over 3M people playing annually and over 8.5M people tuning in to watch during 2023.
Loughborough Director of Sport Richard Wheater explained what the new league means for reigning champions:
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