holy. fucking. shit. Grant Wahl @GrantWahl 5m5 minutes ago #USA-#JPN averaged 26.7 million viewers (25.4M on FOX, 1.3M on Telemundo), the most in US history for a soccer game http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2015/07/womens-world-cup-record-ratings-usa-fox-largest-soccer-audience-ever-single-network/… Guys...this beats the men's Germany/Argentina Final. The United States’ win ranks as the most-watched soccer telecast ever in the U.S., topping the previous record of 26.5 million for last year’s Germany/Argentina final on ABC and Univision. The previous high for a women’s match was the 18.0 million for the 1999 final.
I disagree with his second tweet thinking the ratings would be higher if it was a close match. Watching America kicking ass probably helped the ratings out massively.
It can be both depending how it came to be a close game. If it's close and high scoring - he can be right. Mainly because the social chatter explodes with each goal. And the fact the USA scored the first 4 of them was, indeed huge. Everyone I know was losing their shit and that gets others to tune in. But the broadcast also didnt peak at 7:20 - it peaked much later when it got a little closer and then eventually 5-2. That said, close and low scoring and you get last WWC ratings. Which were very strong - but dwarfed by this year. I think the 2011 might have been on ESPN too and not ABC. (This Final obviously on big boy Fox)
I think a blowout tunes out some of the casual fans because the result isn't in doubt, but on the other hand the goals and USA winning do help keep casual fans stay tuned into the match. Probably didn't make a huge difference +/- 5%. This type of number was sort of what I expected going in. Bigger than 1999, but not massively bigger.
Kind of got that during the "Third Star Ceremony" Ellis said something along the lines of "now you're going out on top" while she was hugging her.
I just heard that if you play on the US Women's Team or have aspirations to play on the US Team that you are required to play in the NWSL. The NWSL is defacto run by US Soccer and in the US Women's Team contracts it states that they must play in the NWSL. Not a huge deal for the players that are on the US Roster because they get paid by US Soccer a decent wage. The rest of the league is making like 15K a year, but US Soccer wants to treat it as a feeder league for the national team. Not sure how this affects Lindsey Horan who scored 40 goals in 46 games for PSG and is only 21. Man City also just signed Daphne Corboz out of Georgetown as well. NWSL is probably consistently better soccer than France anyway and PSG had a 79 GD in 22 games, but the pay is terrible for non-USWNT players.
Just wanted to say it was awesome to have a 31 page thread on this tournament. Definitely impressed that we are at a point we are slamming tactics, criticizing coaching, telling the aging star she sucks, and then throwing a huge parade in NYC because we still won shit. It was a really entertaining tournament all around tbh...not just US games.
Anyone know anything about upcoming talent? I would assume there are some players that are highly thought of that were a bit young for this world cup, but will make an impact or at least be a solid sub for 2019.
The only two younger players that have been capped recently are D Crystal Dunn (Age 23) and M Sam Mewis (Age 22). Also F Lindsey Horan (Age 21) is basically ineligible for the team due to not playing in NWSL, but has been capped in the past. She skipped college to sign with PSG and won 2013 US Best Young Soccer Player. Hard to break through and make the team, but their should be some turnover after the WC. Only 18 person roster for Olympics, so not expected too many if any new faces on that roster.
Also this article is pretty good. http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/coll...aches-survey:-best-womens-di-players_aid36779 Here is the NWSL Draft for 2015 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_NWSL_College_Draft and 2014 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_NWSL_College_Draft