Friday, July 22, 2011

What The WWC Mean To US Soccer

So now that I've had a week to watch the media explosion that was the USWNT return to the States, I've learned several things. For starters it's clear now that the American people LOVE International soccer, or more specifically international soccer in which US Soccer is involved. I mean the women didn't even win the World Cup, and the mean barely made it out of the Group Stages, but the American people just ate it all up. Huge TV ratings, coupled with youtube celebration videos, songs about the teams Etc. Etc. I could go on. Appearances on Letterman, The Daily Show, Political Talk shows, and twitter explosions. Hope Solo went from around 10k followers to almost 240k, She is now a Legitimate celebrity. Now thats all fine and dandy but what does it mean to Soccer here in the states, both internationally and domestically?


If ESPN took a gamble With the coverage of the 2010 WC, Then the 2011 WWC was an all in bet. But it certainly payed off with the highest rated broadcast of any soccer game ever on the network.  So it's time again that we thank ESPN for their support of soccer, because without them none of this would be possible, and it's really too bad that NBC has coverage of the Olympics next summer because that could have be huge for the Women's game. These Huge ratings will only encourage ESPN to continue their coverage of not only US soccer, but with all international soccer, starting with the Euro's next summer. So i expect ESPN to not only continue their coverage of US Soccer, but for it even improve in the lead up to Brazil 2014.

At least in the Short term this WWC has also helped the Women's soccer league, The Women's Professional Soccer, or WPS as it's known ( yes the worst name for a league ever), Had it's Highest attended match ever (Around 15k) in the return match from the WC. I tuned in to FSC to watch the game to find out that most of the American stars were sitting out this game. Alex Morgan did manage to find her way on to the field late in the 2nd half for the Western New York Flash ( The idea to put a pro soccer team in Rochester I will never understand). Marta was also fairly impressive during the game, proving without the shadow of a doubt that she is the best player in the game. The game also featured a nice pre-game ceremony rewarding the WC players with flowers for representing the league. Despite of all this, I highly doubt the success will continue, though it may give the league a slight bump in attendance which it desperately needs .


So all in all The USWNT run at this summer's WC, not only had a huge cultural/social impact, but will actual help US Soccer grow, due to their drama filled games, which garnered amazing ratings, rewarding ESPN for their dedication to soccer, and for this I thank them.

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