Cold, hard numbers do not typically paint a positive picture for Women’s Professional Soccer and the U.S. Women’s National Team. However, for at least a week, WPS and the USWNT received incredible attention supported by those very attendance figures and TV ratings that often make us cringe. Here are some numbers to recap a week like women’s soccer has never seen before:
13,458,000 – average number of viewers for the July 17 Women’s World Cup final between the U.S. and Japan, based on the 7.4 U.S. household rating.
1 – Where the rating and average viewership rank in ESPN’s all-time history of soccer telecasts. The final is the second most watched daytime telecast in cable history behind the 2011 Rose Bowl.
15,404 – The stand alone WPS record crowd that showed up to Sahlen’s Stadium on Wednesday to see Abby Wambach and magicJack (but mainly Abby Wambach) take on Alex Morgan and the Western New York Flash (but mainly Alex Morgan).
8,141 – Average attendance for last week’s four WPS games. That includes the 15,404 in Rochester on Wednesday, 9,345 in Atlanta on Saturday, 6,222 in Boston on Sunday and even the paltry and concerning 1,593 fans in New Jersey on Saturday.
11.7 – That’s the rating that West Palm Beach, Fla. pulled in for the WWC final, behind only Baltimore and San Diego. Could that interest carry over to magicJack? We’ll find out soon. The team has three home games in the next week, beginning on Wednesday. The Equalizer will have correspondents on site. One of those is Jess Fainberg, who says that Wednesday’s match against Sky Blue FC has already sold out and additional seating is being added. And the top five markets for the WWC final? In order: Baltimore, San Diego, West Palm Beach, Washington, D.C. and Norfolk, Va. Do you think WPS is missing having the Washington Freedom right in the hub of three of the top five markets? Uh, yeah.
76,000+ – The number of Twitter followers Abby Wambach has obtained (@AbbyWambach) since creating her account on July 16, one day before the final. She said her agent, Dan Levy, talked her into Twitter. Not a bad idea.
17 – The number of WPS games left this season, including playoffs, for WPS to turn some bandwagoners into longer term fans.
Don’t forget about Hope Solo’s twitter account which basically exploded with followers after the game against Brazil… she probably gained 100, 000+ in a matter of hours!
And too bad there is no reports of wether Hope will be with majicJack this week, cause I bet that will give a record attendance as well!
Well FAU, where magicJack plays, only holds about 1,500 people so even a sellout is pretty weak. Dan Borislow told me that Solo will be there on Wednesday, but it’s unclear if she’ll play: http://www.equalizersoccer.com/2011/07/22/friday-news-and-notes-morace-scurry-wambach-and-more/
True! Totally forgot about the small capacity! but at least it’s a proper soccer field! not a football field like Harvard… those Boston Breakers games are sometimes difficult to watch!!
And I read that blog when you posted it, but then afterwards I read somewhere (can’t remember where) that it was unclear if Hope was actually going to be there for that game or not at all, the news came around right before she mentioned the probability of a broken wrist…hmmm….
I will take the football lines if they televise the games and get a good crowd.. to play in most dedicated soccer stadiums means either giving up a lot of cash or seats… give us the crowds and the lines anytime.
Really it is a cash issue, Boston can play on the soccer dedicated field but it hols 3000 at best. They could have sold 3X the amount for the playoff game if the Football field was available last year
I was about to say–forget about being back in DC (although I agree it was a baffling move), the real tragedy of mJ is imagining what their attendance could have been if they weren’t in such a small stadium…such a waste.
That’s one of many. No marketing, no PR, no ticketing….well, just no staff at all. They need an organization, not a travel club with the world’s best players.
i love abby wambach