Kansas City’s turnout for Women’s World Cup watch party caught FIFA’s attention
The United States women’s national soccer team opened the 2023 World Cup with a 3-0 win over Vietnam on Friday, and the game had robust TV ratings.
More than 5.2 million people in the United States watched the U.S., and no city had better ratings than Kansas City.
Fox Sports said the 5.0 rating in KC was the highest in the nation, well ahead of Washington D.C. (4.3) and Hartford, Connecticut (3.9).
The 5,261,000 viewers in the United States was the second-most for a group stage game, slightly behind the 5,337,000 who watched the U.S.-Chile contest in 2019.
In Kansas City, the viewership might have been even higher if it were not for the watch party at the Power & Light District. Fans packed the KC Live! area, and it caught the attention of the world’s governing soccer body.
FIFA, which named Kansas City as a host city for the 2026 World Cup, tweeted about the big turnout of fans for the United States’ tournament-opening victory.
“Fantastic scenes for the @USWNT‘s first goal of the tournament!” FIFA wrote on Twitter.
Kansas City bills itself as the Soccer Capital of America, and it was hard to argue that on Friday.
