NWSL Weekly - Challenge Cup Wrap Up Edition, July 31, 2020
The Houston Dash completed the mission and now we have to fight off the post-Challenge Cup blues
The Challenge Cup came to a close last Sunday with the Houston Dash crowned as tournament champions. The Dash were determined from the start to prove their doubters wrong and show that the “same old Dash” are a thing of the past. They did just that and then partied hard as they deserved.
There’s a lot to process and unpack from the Challenge Cup beyond the Dash’s victory; the month-long tournament feels a bit like a shared fever dream. Did it really happen? According to several major media outlets that continue to ignore the NWSL’s existence, no.
Thankfully the rest of us have the proof (the receipts, if you will) that the Challenge Cup was here and it quite literally wrote the book on how to safely conduct sports during a pandemic. Whether or not we should have sports when the United States clearly does not have public health under control is an entirely separate discussion. The NWSL did lots of things right with their protocols, but they also got very lucky. Let’s not forget how an entire team had to drop out before the tournament even started, a situation some think could have been avoided if the league had more time and resources to get everyone to Utah two weeks (or more) before the tournament began.
In the Challenge Cup wrap up section below, this topic is addressed at greater length by Lindsay Gibbs of Power Plays and mentioned in nearly every “what we learned” article. But first we talk numbers in this week’s top stories section.
Top Stories
The main topic of the week in the post-Challenge Cup haze is data, data, data. More specifically, viewership and sponsorship stats. 653,000 is the magic number, which sets the record for the most viewers ever of an NWSL game.
NWSL draws record 653,000 TV audience for Challenge Cup final (Bob Williams, Sports Business)
Some additional Challenge Cup finals viewership data:
Streaming data from Twitch:
Brand campaign social engagement data:
Altogether these numbers paint a very promising picture for the future and the sustained growth of the league. Brands and sports broadcast outlets can’t argue against data like this (but some will try). Backing women’s sports and women’s soccer will make you money. It will generate engagement and bring you new viewers and purchasers. Hopefully more brands will see the free advertising Budweiser got (and continues to get) from the Houston Dash celebrations and will join in on the party.
NWSL Challenge Cup
The Houston Dash defeated the Chicago Red Stars 2-0 to win the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup (aka the Chaos Cup and the Corona Cup depending on your mood and personal preference). The Dash got an early lead on a penalty kick after Kayla Sharples tugged down Kristie Mewis. Chicago was never able to fully recover from that early mistake and Houston just had more left in the tank at the end of the day. Shea Groom iced the victory for the Dash with an open net goal in stoppage time.
The Dash seemed like inevitable winners of a tournament that was built for their special brand of chaos and us-against-the-world attitude. This was echoed by several players in their post-game press conferences and Budweiser-soaked locker room speeches. Watching the Dash celebrate for two days brought a lot of joy in an otherwise dark time in the world and was reminiscent of the USWNT World Cup celebrations last summer. Chicago even joined in for part of their hotel after-party shenanigans for some well-earned stress relief.
It’s a shame that we likely won’t get to see any of these teams play again in 2020 because it felt like all of their stories were just beginning. We’ll have to wait until next year to see how Carolina reacts to getting knocked out early, how Chicago overcomes back-to-back semifinal defeats, what the Orlando Pride are all about, and many more unanswered questions.
If other NWSL players follow Sam Mewis abroad, we will at least get the opportunity to root for individual players from across the pond.
Challenge Cup Champions - Houston Dash
Match recaps:
Houston Dash win 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup over Chicago Red Stars for franchise's first trophy (Sandra Herrera, CBS Sports)
The magic of the NWSL Challenge Cup: A Houston Dash fairy tale (Jeff Kassouf, The Equalizer)
With a gutsy Challenge Cup title, Houston Dash earn the respect they sought (Meg Linehan, The Athletic)
Chicago Red Stars Play Hard-Fought 90 Minutes in NWSL Challenge Cup Championship Game, Fall to Houston Dash 2-0 (Chicago Red Stars)
Finals highlights (NWSL)
Dash Celebrations:
‘I never win anything just let me live!!!’: Kristie Mewis savors her moment (Brooks Peck, The Athletic)
The Superfluous Dash Celebration Post (Keeper Notes)
Challenge Cup Summaries
The NWSL's successful return provides a pandemic playbook for the sports world (Lindsay Gibbs, Power Plays)
‘Extraordinary’ National Women’s Soccer League Challenge Cup concludes coronavirus-free in Utah (Ryan McDonald, Deseret News)
From zero COVID-19 cases to a first-time champ, here's what we learned from the bubble (Sandra Herrera, CBS Sports)
Takeaways from the NWSL Challenge Cup (Stephanie Yang, All for XI)
A round of applause for the NWSL Challenge Cup (Dan Lauletta, The Equalizer)
Challenge Cup Top 10 Plays (Just Women’s Sports)
Takeaways on the success of the NWSL Challenge Cup (Meg Linehan, The Athletic)
NWSL Tournament Best XI (NWSL)
NWSL Challenge Cup: One Last Look At Stats (Keeper Notes)
NWSL News and Stories
Racial Justice & Women’s Sports (Hannah Lichtenstein, Girls Soccer Network)
Covering Sport in a Global Pandemic: A Breakdown of My Trip to the NWSL Challenge Cup Semi Finals (Ian Knighton, Backline Soccer)
Former Red Stars reflect on how far professional women’s soccer has come in the last decade (Annie Costabile, Chicago Sun-Times)
Kelli Hubly’s defensive work shines in the Challenge Cup (Grant Little, All for XI)
Savannah McCaskill shows continued development in Challenge Cup final loss (Peter Baugh, The Athletic)
Pack It up and Call It a Season (Katelyn Best, Rose City Review)
Angel City: Initializing a Women’s Football Club in Los Angeles (Alexis Ohanian, Medium)
Racing Louisville announces the Lavender Legion as supporters group name
Movement to get NWSL to Canada grows with several Twitter accounts devoted to the cause
Orlando Pride players await NWSL decision on more matches in 2020 (Julia Poe)
What’s Next for NWSL Weekly
Now that the Challenge Cup is over, I’m going to spend some time figuring out what direction to take this newsletter. The structure may vary over the next few weeks while I experiment and find the right approach.
One of the goals of this newsletter is to help improve the dismal 4% of sports media coverage that is dedicated to women which is why I try to compile a variety of stories across the different sources that exist for women’s soccer coverage.
Going forward I would like to put more effort into highlighting these sources in every newsletter. I’d also like to explore highlighting the writers and content creators themselves to hear about their experiences covering women’s soccer.
If you have any ideas or suggestions for how to best do this or for other things you’d like to see in this newsletter, please reach out! You can find me on Twitter here @CWxSports or you can email me at xtinasports@gmail.com
To receive NWSL news straight to your inbox, subscribe below (and share this post if you’d like). Thanks for reading!