Red Stars Ride USWNT World Cup with Record Attendance and a Victory.
BRIDGEVIEW, IL—Expectations of seeing bigger crowds and the post Women’s World Cup seems to be taking effect across the National Women’s Soccer League.
The Chicago Red Stars saw a franchise record in attendance of 17,388 at SeatGeek Stadium on Sunday afternoon which was more than four times its average of all of 2018. Also, more than double of a reported 8.000 dating back to 2009 in its early years.
The huge crowd helped the home club get past visiting North Carolina Courage, 2-1, and put the Red Stars back into contention of one of the top four teams in the league standings.
The big question standing in the forefront is can these crowds keep coming after seeing what the United States Women’s National Team had accomplished by winning the World Cup for a fourth time and achieving the title for a second straight time.
“The league is a little more established than the last time around with the league in its infancy a bit,” Chicago head coach Rory Dames said. “I think more people followed the World Cup this year than the last time around. Not just the quality on the roster, but because they were the defending champs. We didn’t have this many fans after the last World Cup.”
For the fact of seeing a near capacity crowd says a lot about the Red Stars family and ownership to pull it all together for a game filled with many of the Women’s National Team players on both sides.
“To finally fill the stadium was super exciting, especially for the players,” Dames added. “That was a good game and two of the better teams in the world on the club side going at it and having a packed house to see it. I’m sure a lot of people came to see a lot of the US players and some players that they didn’t know about today, being fans of them as well. The big thing is that can we retain them and keep them coming.”
One of the Women’s National team members, Julie Ertz, playing for the Red Stars was taken back by the crowd but knew that this was what the players are trying to build for the future.
“For sure it was the biggest crowd that I’ve seen here,” Ertz said. “It’s what we’re tying to do and grow women’s sports here in Chicago. It’s awesome and the support here today gave us more motivation to win.”
Even for the visiting team, North Carolina, they had a lot of respect playing in Bridgeview with an atmosphere that had feelings of an end of the season match-up.
“Chicago played well and it was like a playoff game with a lot of intensity out there,” North Caroline head coach Paul Riley said. “The crowd should be like this all the time in Chicago, quality players, quality team, great coach and if they can do that every week. It makes every game so much better to come to with 17,000 and it’s like a playoff game.”
For one player on the Courage, Crystal Dunne, she’s one of many that has the memory of the World Cup still in mind and trying to get back into playing in the NWSL again.
“It was a special moment for us to win, it speaks for us and so many of us on that team,” Dunn said. “It impacts the league and we’re making a name for ourselves. It was an incredible experience and we share stories all the time. It happened just ten days ago and in a blink of an eye we’re back in the league. So, part of me is still holding onto that celebration and now trying to transition back into this environment.”
Riding what has been achieved by the Women’s National Team into attendance on a weekly basis will be something the teams will have to see with the fans in the future. What was done for the Red Stars was historic for the amount of fans on hand for a competitive match up. Where can this go from here? That’s the answer down the road in a wait-and-see situation.
“There’s always a bit of a bump after a World Cup,” Chicago Red Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher said. “We had an amazing crowd and obviously there’ a lot of buzz around women’s soccer from around the league. Everyone has been doing great and we have to hope it’s not a one-time thing. We have to keep riding the buzz and hoping people had fun seeing the product on the field, and keep coming back.”
Chicago Red Stars
NC Courage
