Women’s game enjoying its World Cup bump
Portland, Ore. — Nowhere could the World Cup bump in women’s soccer be more apparent than in Portland, where more than 21,000 fans watched a National Women’s Soccer League rivalry match between the Thorns and the Seattle Reign.
It was the second- largest stand- alone crowd ever to watch a professional women’s league game in the United States. And while soccer-crazy Portland usually attracts big crowds for the hometown Thorns, the rest of the league is also seeing a surge in interest.
The NWSL is loving the attention.
“The last few weeks have been really, really nice for all of us,” NWSL commissioner Jeff Plush said. “But there’s more hard work. It continues to be a business we work very hard at every day. So it’s not going to be a panacea. You have towork hard at growth.”
The U.S. women’s national team, whose players are allocated throughout the NWSL, defeated Japan 5-2 earlier this month in the title match at the World Cup, which was played across six Canadian cities.
The players have since returned to their club teams and to crowds eager to see the American victors.
The NWSL is in its third season and is in a crucial period because no other women’s league in the United States has been able to last very long. Both forerunners, the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) and Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) each folded within the three-year mark.
The league has attracted major sponsors, including Nike and, this season, Coppertone. In late June, theNWSL and Fox Sports announced an agreement to broadcast 10 league games this season. Three regular-season matches, three playoff matches and the championship will be shownon Fox Sports 1.
But it’s the fans that have been making a difference in the past couple ofweeks.
The Thorns set the league’s attendance record onWednesday night with a sellout crowd of 21,144 for a match against the rival Reign at Providence Park.
The record for a standalone professional women’s soccer match in the United States was set in 2001, when 34,148 watched the Washington Freedom defeat the Bay Area CyberRays 1- 0 at RFK Stadium. Mia Hamm starred for the Freedom while Brandi Chastain led the CyberRays.
While other women’s pro matches have drawn more than the Thorns did Wednesday night, those were doubleheaders held in conjunction with men’s games.
The Thorns lead the league in attendance by a wide margin, averaging 13,769 fans a game this season. Wednesday night’s match marked the fifth time the crowd has gone over 16,000 at the downtown stadium, which is also home to MLS’ Portland Timbers.
Other teams also have seen a spike in attendance.
TheWashington Spirit drew a club record 5,413 fans to Saturday’s 3- 0 victory over the Reign at the Maryland SoccerPlex. The same day, the Chicago Red Stars played to a 1-1 draw with Boston before a record 3,560 fans at Benedictine University.
A record 13,025 fans turned out at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston for the Dash match against the Red Stars. U.S. stars Carli Lloyd, Meghan Klingenberg and Morgan Brian were honored but didn’t play.
“I think people just totally got attached to this World Cup in a different way than they have and it was so close to home,” U. S. star Megan Rapinoe said. “That was such a huge thing to have American fans know they can go watch these players in their own cities for the rest of the season.”