The Vancouver Sun reports in its Thursday edition Team Canada's quarter-final loss to England in the Women's World Cup means television network executives will not get their hoped-for Canada-USA final. The Sun's Bruce Constantineau writes this seventh edition of the Women's World Cup has still attracted record attendance and TV ratings.
The first 49 games of the 52-game tournament drew about 1.24 million fans to the six host cities across Canada, eclipsing the previous record of 1.19 million fans that watched the 32-game 1999 Women's World Cup in the U.S.
TSN said an average of 3.2 million Canadian viewers watched Canada's 2-1 loss to England on June 27, making it the most-watched program on Canadian television last weekend. It was also the second-highest Canadian audience ever for a women's soccer game, behind the 3.7 million viewers who watched the Canada/USA semifinal at the 2012 Olympics.
U.S. broadcaster Fox said the first five Team USA matches averaged 4.7 million viewers, more than double the audience attracted through the quarter-finals of the 2011 World Cup in Germany. The improved ratings reflect strong growth in the interest in the game, along with the advantage of North American time zones.
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