Will women’s World Cup victory translate into sustained growth for U.S. pro league?

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Will women’s World Cup victory translate into sustained growth for U.S. pro league?

Post by Fran » Tue Jul 07, 2015 2:18 pm

I hope it does help the NWSL

http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/worl ... ro-league/

Still basking in the afterglow of the Women’s World Cup win, members of the Seattle Reign FC practiced Monday hoping a major world event translates to more for them.

Fueled by record World Cup television ratings and national-team players like Alex Morgan becoming household names, the women’s pro game seems to have no place to go but up. But as their male counterparts can attest, parlaying World Cup success into bigger things domestically isn’t automatic.

“People believe in the sport, we just need to make them aware of it,’’ Reign co-owner Bill Predmore said of his 2½-year-old team in the fledgling National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). “Right now, people come out to our games, they have a real good time and they want to come back. But we’re still a new franchise. It’s our third season. So, part of this is just building awareness in our club. We believe when people come out to see our club, give it a shot, they’ll want to come back for more.’’

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Post by preeths » Tue Jul 07, 2015 3:08 pm

A World Cup win won't do it by itself. It will be up to the league to leverage it well. Even then it's tough, but I have to believe it can help.

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Post by Pounder » Wed Jul 08, 2015 3:02 am

On the one hand, Houston is already assured a record crowd this weekend. Saw a tweet saying Seattle is over 6,000 for this weekend. So there's a bump.

And it's not like NPS didn't get a bump after 2011. Which probably won't be as pronounced as this one. Those two mentioned above are already good signs. I can see Portland v Seattle on the 22nd, a Wednesday, maybe coming close to the 19,000 crowd last year vs Houston.

On the other hand...

...the 10-game "Victory Tour" was leaked, and two previously planned friendlies (August 16 and 19) are already announced as part of it. If they carry that on through August and September, don't let me anywhere near Soccer House (remember that USSF manages NWSL) because taking the national team players out of league will pretty much piss off everyone who understands the importance of the club game in this country. However, that might explain the gap between the September 13 semifinal games and the October 1 championship game. If most of these games happen outside the NWSL schedule, they're at least on their way to smart.

Did USSF throw away an opportunity to promote the NWSL during the Cup? By the accounts I've heard, yes. (I did spend half the tournament in British Columbia and Banff, so eh.) I don't see anything ramping up, so meh.
Last edited by Pounder on Wed Jul 08, 2015 3:15 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Sam Hill
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Post by Sam Hill » Wed Jul 08, 2015 12:33 pm

[quote=""Fran""]"We believe when people come out to see our club, give it a shot, they’ll want to come back for more.’’[/quote]

The problem is when they just expect people to come back, without any actual outreach. Now, today, this week, it's easy. But a month from now, what will you have done to actually get people to purchase tickets?
And it's not like NPS didn't get a bump after 2011.
What was NPS?
Old enough to remember when bashing the ABA was fun.

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Post by Fran » Wed Jul 08, 2015 1:22 pm

Obviously a typo not NPS - the last league WPS.

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Post by Pounder » Wed Jul 08, 2015 5:37 pm

[quote=""Fran""]Obviously a typo not NPS - the last league WPS.[/quote]

I wish it was a typo. Yesterday was just the wrong day to go back to work.

Today isn't that good, either.
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