Are Women’s Soccer Matches Underrated?
According to United States Soccer President, Sunil Gulati, the average rating for a men’s soccer game is a multiple of the numbers of viewers to a women’s match. Not 10, 20, 30,40 or even 50 percent higher, but far more.
For English speaking television, the men sendoff games for the World Cup has been over 80 percent for at least the last nine years.
“Even when you include the record 25,400 viewers who watched the 2015 USA vs. Japan final on fox, the U.S. men outdrew the U.S. women by 74 percent for each of their World Cup games,” Gulati said.
When it comes to the amount of viewer ships of each game, the people watching elaborate that the reason being is the pace of the game the majority of the time. To which, some argue that in reality the men’s games are more hefty in the amount of pushing, tripping, simulation, diving, spitting and dramatics that the women’s games don’t entertain.
In recent years, more soccer lovers have come to say the men’s games consist of more negative activities which is what draws multiple people in. just like news, people tend to focus on the ‘juicy details’ and fights within the games rather than the skill the athletes train to showcase, as well as the outcome and record of the opposing teams.
Women’s soccer matches from 2015, and 2014 have been statistically proven to be on the rise to catching the kind of audience men have attracted for years.
Considering sports were labeled as a man’s activity for generations, the kind of catch up that women are making is record holding. Female soccer players have received more recognition for their work in training and in games from 2002 to 2017 than they ever had before, especially in the U.S.
As American teams obtained more and more motivated and result producing athletes, more viewers and fans have tuned in the see the action.
Abby Wambach, for example, is now a retired U.S. soccer player, as well as a coach, whom received two Olympic gold medals and a Women’s World Cup champion. She was named a six-time winner of the U.S. women’s national soccer team from 2003 to 2015.
When people started hearing of her successes, the viewers of American games went up, as well as the amount of woman who were competing to be recognized like her. Many female athletes have been influential in the improvement of the statistics, and will continue to be.
Overall, the numbers say that yes, women’s soccer is underrated in comparison to men, but if they continue at this rate it won’t be long until the numbers are nearly a match.