When my old friend and SportsBusiness Journal Executive Editor Abe Madkour first talked to me about writing something in these pages after I returned from Canada advising Fox Sports on its Women’s World Cup coverage, one topic popped into my mind. But I told him I needed to think on it some more, to make sure I was right, and to make sure I could word it the right way.
The next day I was in an airport and randomly sat down next to a woman wearing a Women’s World Cup T-shirt. We struck up a conversation and, unprompted, she told me that the one thing that stood out for her about the event was how it wasn’t just little girls that this U.S. team touched, it was the effect it had on little boys and men as well — how often she was seeing boys already modeling themselves after and looking up to their heroes on that team.
I literally started laughing when she said it: It was exactly the point I wanted to make here.
As they kick off their post-World Cup victory tour, to say the world champion U.S. team was a source of pride and inspiration for little girls all over the country is wonderful and accurate. But to leave it at that shortchanges the massive effect this team had. This was a great team on the biggest of all stages winning a world championship in a sport that is increasingly gripping the nation — and boys and girls and men and women alike were watching and are still basking in its glow.
 |
The U.S. women’s team’s World Cup run captured the attention of fans of all ages and genders.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
|
Much to their credit, Fox was all-in on this tournament in every way possible, throwing massive resources behind it and covering it with the breadth and depth it deserved. Some of my fondest memories are production meetings in which heated and educated debates ensued about hard-core tactics pertaining to that day’s match, or ending the day in the hotel bar breaking down the next day’s matchups. I can tell you firsthand this wasn’t about a run-through for the 2018 men’s World Cup — this was giving the 2015 World Cup the coverage it warranted.
And even during my five weeks in Canada, I knew the impact the World Cup was having back home. Every day, we happily woke up to reports of record television ratings, not just for the U.S. matches but for the event as a whole, and we monitored the snowballing media coverage the event was garnering both in American sports and general media outlets.
But upon returning from more than a month embedded in the World Cup, I quickly saw multiple signs that this team — and this World Cup — had made an impact like never before.
I saw my good friend’s 9-year-old son with newly bleached hair and a recognizable cut — he had made his parents fulfill their promise that if the U.S. made the final, he could get his hair cut and styled just like Abby Wambach.
Another day I saw my own soccer-crazed sons practicing long-range shots in our backyard. When I asked them what they were doing, my 7-year-old responded, “We’re practicing our Carli Lloyds,” referring to the audacious, midfield strike the U.S. star hit in the final.
And it was not just males of young ages. When I showed up at my own first soccer league game after the World Cup, I wasn’t sure what my teammates response would be. Would they have even watched? Would they just want to talk about how attractive the players were?
Nope. When I walked in the first thing the guys wanted to talk about was what I knew about the major tactical switch the U.S. made mid-tournament, which most credit with leading to the title. They hadn’t just watched the final, they had watched the whole month and were analyzing the coaching decisions the same way they do a Major League Soccer or UEFA Champions League match.
And on Twitter when the U.S. men’s soccer team was struggling in a subsequent match, fans and journalists alike were tweeting about which U.S. women’s star men’s coach Jürgen Klinsmann should be bringing on at halftime.
Now, speaking of judging, one important aside: Whether the National Women’s Soccer League gets a bump, or survives long term, should not in any way be a referendum on the impact of this team.
There is a Charlie Brown, Lucy and a football thing with World Cups and professional women’s soccer in this country. I hope the NWSL prospers, and if you (rightfully) complained about the difference in World Cup prize money between the men and women, your best weapon is to buy an NWSL ticket or watch a game on television. But if a women’s professional soccer revolution is not launched, that does not take away from how much this event resonated.
When people talk about Brandi Chastain and the 1999 World Cup champions, they seem to talk about how much of an inspiration they were to girls and young women. Rightfully so, what a magical and important moment that was in so many ways.
But this just felt different, to me and apparently to my friend in the airport. I’m not smart enough to get into societal commentary, so I’ll just stick to the soccer: This was a team — and an event — that touched everybody.
Ben Grossman (bgrossman@selhurstmedia.com) runs a Bay Area-based media consulting and investment practice, Selhurst Media Ventures.
