All Things Sports

76,893 fans attended a game. What kind of game has this attendance? You might think this was an NFL playoff game, college football game, or even a major European soccer match, but no this was the attendance for an international friendly between the US Women’s Soccer team and the England Women’s national team. England ended up winning the game in front of what turned out to be a record crowd at Wembley Stadium. However, this wasn’t an anomaly. This marks a trend in the development of women’s soccer. Not in equality but in popularity.  This growth in popularity is very much tangible for the sport as a FIFA survey found that revenue grew 33% and that 71% of leagues had a title sponsor compared to the very low 11% in 2021. This meteoric growth that was seen in 2022 was the first time women’s soccer has seen any kind of significant growth. Money isn’t the only indicator of this growth either. You can see it in the stands. Remember the attendance figure? That wasn’t the only significant attendance at a game. The same ESPN article which highlighted the FIFA survey also highlighted the fact that the Women’s African Cup of Nations final saw 50,000 in attendance while a Champions League quarterfinal match between Real Madrid and Barcelona saw over 90,000 fans in attendance. That’s nearly a sellout in one of the biggest stadiums in the world! This trend cannot be understated and it has been a boon for the sport. Furthermore, this is just the start as the Women’s World Cup is set to take place this year in Australia and New Zealand. The interest in the game is at levels never seen before. The attendance shows, the sponsors show it, and most importantly, the money is starting to show it. Despite all of this, and I am sorry to be a little negative, more can be done. This same ESPN article states that just 7% of women’s clubs reported total revenue of over 1 million dollars across the globe, a figure that is extremely low. Now this figure promises to go up as more and more interest is shown and more development occurs, but this means that we cannot celebrate just yet. There is still a little more work to do. It is also important to mention the all sports aspect of it as this is just one sport among many. However, this growth should also provide hope and optimism for other sports as it shows that women’s sports can grow and succeed. They too can gain popularity and develop. If there ever was a sport to help kickstart this development and growth, it would be soccer. The sport of the world, the sport that has produced activists such as Megan Rapinoe, the sport that knows no boundaries. So women’s soccer is on the rise, and hopefully, it blazes the trail for the rest of women’s sports.