Whatever happens Wednesday when France meets the USA in the semifinals of the Women’s World Cup, French women’s soccer is already a big winner.
France’s quarterfinal win over Englanddrew a record television audience of 2.8 million viewers on Direct 8 and national network TF1 has confirmed it will broadcast Sunday’s final if the Bleues beat the USA.
The Frenchfederation has taken advantage of the Bleues’ success to formally launch a call for bidders for the television rights to the women’s national league. No one is expecting the women’s league to getclose to the $700 million annual rights fee the Ligue 1 gets, but anything it gets is better than it gets now: rien.