Women & Sport: Why was FIFA caught off guard about Women's World Cup ticket demand?
There’s no denying it: women’s soccer is exploding.
The National Women’s Soccer League postseason resulted in record-breaking crowds — with four of the league’s biggest playoff crowds ever recorded in a single week last month, toppling the previous record set in 2018.
The NWSL championship game on CBS, which aired on prime time for the first time, brought in an estimated 915,000 viewers — the most-watched game in league history, and a 71% jump from last year.
Now, less than a year out from the FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia next summer, demand is at an all-time-high for tickets to the tournament that kicks off in July. With attendance, viewership and sponsorships exploding across the globe in women’s soccer, it’s expected that the 2023 tournament will likely be a record-setting World Cup.
Yet even though all signs point to growth on the women’s side of the beautiful game, those in charge often fall short when it comes to making decisions that account for the sport’s long-term success.
Just last month, FIFA rejected several bids for media rights to the 2023 tournament for being too low. The 2019 World Cup drew an estimated 1.2 billion viewers, according to FIFA. When addressing the low bids, the organization’s chief business officer Romy Gai told Bloomberg: “This is not a case of being priced out, but rather testament to a lack of willingness of broadcasters to pay what the women’s game deserves.”
And even though FIFA alluded to knowing what “the women’s game deserves,” they were caught flatfooted this week when they realized fans really want to go to next summer’s tournament.
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Australia’s ABC Sport reported this week that local fans looking for tickets to next year’s World Cup were left empty-handed when a second phase of single-game sales began at 3 a.m. with little notice from FIFA. Fans took to social media the following morning amid the chaos, with many worried the games were already sold out thanks to confusing messages put out by FIFA about the sales. In the wake of the confusion, FIFA said it was surprised by the demand.
In a statement to ABC Sport, a FIFA spokesperson said: "The demand for passes for many matches at next year's FIFA Women's World Cup has been unprecedented, and this only highlights the growth and popularity of the women's game as we strive for the biggest and best FIFA WWC in history.”
Yet, all the earlier signs should have been enough for FIFA to know it should have been better prepared for what will likely be the biggest women’s World Cup ever. That aloofness is not unfamiliar for fans of the women’s game. Last year, it took an uproar from fans, players, and sponsors for the 2021 NWSL final to be moved from 9 a.m. to noon.
Right now, women’s soccer is exploding and the pace for growth is not slowing down. There’s no shortage of news stories or data to back that up. Simply put, there’s no excuse for anyone in charge on the business end of the game to be caught off guard about that.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Why was FIFA surprised over demand for Women's World Cup tix?
