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Women's World Cup final shatters record for most-viewed soccer game in U.S. history

Reuters

The "nobody cares about women's sports" narratives are not welcome here. Throw them in the trash along with those "nobody cares about soccer" ones.

The United States' breathtaking 5-2 victory over Japan in the 2015 Women's World Cup final Sunday evening shattered television records in the country, grabbing eyeballs at a historic rate.

Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated explains:

The USA's 5-2 win over Japan in the Women’s World Cup final Sunday night averaged a stunning 25.4 million viewers, making it the most-viewed soccer game ever in the United States - men’s or women’s - by a giant margin. The previous most-viewed soccer game in the U.S. came last June 22 when 18.7 million watched ESPN’s World Cup telecast of the U.S.-Portugal men’s game (combined with Univision, it totaled 24.7 million viewers).

The game's 15.2 overnight rating also surpassed the numbers put up by two of the largest sporting events of the year, as noted by Mark Hinog of SB Nation:

When compared to the other major summer sporting events this year, it easily beat out the NBA Finals (average overnight rating of 13.9) and the Stanley Cup finals (7.6 million viewers).

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