Some faulty reasoning. Bigger picture and all.
FIFA is corrupt as hell and they don't give a shit about women's soccer. Therefore, the decisions they make, which include broadcasting rights, are what you see, not whether the sport is popular or not.
"Through the first eight games of the Women’s World Cup, Fox
FOX, -0.38% notes that viewership increased 73% from the same games in 2011 (1.05 million viewers this year vs. 598,000 then). As Awful Announcing points out, that’s better than the 41% and 46% increases ESPN saw during the men’s World Cup group stages in 2010 and 2014, respectively.....
the U.S. women’s peak group stage audience was still less than a third of the 19 million the men’s team drew on a Monday against Ghana during last year’s World Cup group stage.
That’s not a gender issue: It’s a financial issue. Back in 2005, ESPN and Univision spent $425 million for the broadcast rights to the men’s and women’s World Cups from 2007 through 2014. By last year’s World Cup in Brazil, ESPN had built an ecosystem capable of broadcasting games on multiple channels and through its WatchESPN app. It built itself into an ideal World Cup partner and, by 2011 and 2014, helped draw some of the largest audiences in men’s and women’s World Cup history.
Then FIFA made a cash grab. In 2011, Fox paid roughly $425 million for the broadcast rights to the men’s World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and this year’s women’s World Cup and the next women’s Cup in 2019. That didn’t look so bad until February, when FIFA — scrambling to secure December dates for its 2022 World Cup in sun-soaked Qatar (right at the end of the National Football League season) — awarded Fox the 2023 women’s World Cup and the 2026 World Cup without a bid."
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-the-womens-world-cup-isnt-getting-coverage-in-the-us-2015-06-22
And it's not just the US that watches.
"The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 Canada™ broke more records for television audiences in key markets across the world during the Round of 16 matches.
FIFA’s
YouTube channel has now reached ten million views for content from Canada, totalling some 19 million minutes of viewing and contributing to the most successful month on record for the channel.
The seventh edition of FIFA’s flagship women’s football competition is benefiting from the strong support of broadcasters all over the world as well as increased investment in broadcast production by FIFA and surging interest among fans.
An average of 2.8 million viewers in Canada tuned in to CTV, TSN and RDS to watch the hosts beat Switzerland on their way to a quarter-final clash with England. That audience made it the most watched programme on Canadian television that day and a record for Canada from any FIFA Women’s World Cup™.
“These impressive viewing figures show just how popular the FIFA Women’s World Cup and women’s football are becoming all over the world,” said Niclas Ericson, FIFA’s Director of TV. “We are looking forward to seeing even bigger television audiences as we move into the latter stages of the tournament.”
China PR’s victory over Cameroon, shown on CCTV, attracted an average audience of five million in the Round of 16. That figure is a new high for the 2015 competition so far and eclipses any Chinese audience from the 2011 edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
And in Europe, France’s win against Korea Republic smashed the channel audience record for French broadcaster W9. An average of 2.8 million fans watched the match on W9, also more than any audience figures seen from France in 2011."
http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/...s-more-tv-records-in-round-of-16-2653174.html
Men's sports will always be more popular and have bigger TV audiences. Unless you want to talk gymnastics (if you watch the men, you probably live in CA) or beach volleyball (you may live in CA but you don't drop your soap in the shower). All that aside, women's sports are growing in popularity and so what.
This is so stupid it's not even funny. Of course, some have made a similar comment about me, so.
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