LOS ANGELES — With less than a month until the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the excitement from fans is real.

The popularity of women’s soccer has exploded in the past decade, but for many within the sport, there is still work that needs to be done in order for women’s players to reach an equitable space with their male counterparts.

On Thursday, BMO hosted a gender equity in soccer panel at BMO Stadium that included Angel City forward Christen Press, former USWNT head coach and current president of the San Diego Wave FC Jill Ellis and BMO head of loyalty and sponsorship marketing Sonya Kunke. Former USWNT defender Danielle Slaton moderated the discussion.

The panel discussed the issues surrounding women’s soccer and the strides that have been made to make the sport more global.

Women’s soccer at the national level has sustained viewership growth in the past decade, but viewership of domestic leagues in the United States has grown dramatically.

According to a report by Samba TV, viewership of the NWSL’s championship game in 2022 saw a 453% spike compared to the championship in 2021.

Ellis believes that the popularity of women’s soccer took off in 2015 when the USWNT defeated Japan 5-2 in the FIFA Women’s World Cup to capture the team’s third FIFA Title.

Press was on that 2015 team and said the popularity of both the players and the sport changed after the win.

“Our lives changed overnight. When you’re playing in a World Cup, you’re in a bubble. You’re fully focused on performance. And so we left for the tournament living one type of lifestyle and we came back and everything was changed,” Press said.

The NWSL has benefited from the success at the global level, but Ellis believes that there is still more to be done from a resources standpoint.

“Players get on domestic flights. They don’t charter, they spend nine to 10 hours traveling,” Ellis said. “We’re suddenly increasing the number of games, but are we increasing the care for these athletes? In terms of resources, are we increasing the oversight of performance?”

Delivering more resources for players also means creating avenues for more funding.

For Kunke, that is where BMO and other companies can step in.

“I never thought I would be working in the position I am today,” Kunke said. “Getting to do what I do, which is using money from our companies to support phenomenal teams and innovating around them too. … It’s a phenomenal community impact.

But for women’s sports to get to an equitable place in a male-dominated industry, it’s going to take people from all backgrounds to invest and contribute to the growth of the sport.

Ellis said one way for investors to be allies is not to look at the sport as “women’s soccer,” but as just soccer.

“I also think it’s so important that we get our sport to a place where it’s not seen as a women’s sport,” Ellis said. “If we can get men to honestly believe that this is a good business financial investment, it’s not charitable. This is gonna be a legitimate business industry.”

Ellis also emphasized that the NWSL needs to be able to create its own identity as well.

“I don’t want us to be the MLS. To have this, we’ve got to be our own league, our own lens and we shouldn’t look at that as our model,” Ellis said. “And this is what I love about the World Cup is we get the chance to say that women’s soccer, women’s football is the global game.”

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will take place in Australia and New Zealand starting on July 20. Press is currently recovering from an ACL injury which she sustained in a match last season and it is still unknown when she will be back with Angel City or the USWNT.

“It has been a unique recovery journey,” Press said in an ESPN interview in May. “I’ve had some setbacks and I’ve had some ups and downs. I think that’s normal. I think this took a bit longer than I had hoped up until now. But I’m in the final stretch of my recovery. I’m starting to feel like myself again, getting my body back. Hopefully I’ll be joining the team soon.”

Related Articles