His franchise has long been the most supported in the National Women’s Soccer League, but even Portland Thorns President of Business, Mike Golub, has been wondering how his club might leverage the frenzy that has come in the wake of the U.S. women’s national team’s World Cup title victory on Sunday.
Portland, the league’s perennial attendance leader and an outlier in a young and often struggling league, has more than 11,000 season ticket holders. It is having a record sponsorship year. And on Friday night, it bolstered the league’s flat attendance figures by bringing more than 19,000 fans to a home game against the Reign FC, even though both clubs had a collection of American stars preparing to play in the World Cup final in France three days later.