SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The women's European soccer championship, otherwise known as the Euro Finals, are tomorrow. England will play Spain in Switzerland, and here in the U.S., the match will air on Fox. The network took a gamble on America's appetite for women's soccer this summer, saying it would air over 130 hours of live matches, featuring soccer from South America, with the Women's Copa America Tournament, and in Europe with the UEFA Women's Euros. And it seems to be paying off. Fox Sports says viewership has doubled compared to 2022.
A lot to talk about in this summer of soccer, so we called up Tamerra Griffin. She's a writer with The Athletic, where she covers women's soccer. Welcome.
TAMERRA GRIFFIN: Thank you so much for having me. Excited to chat soccer, always.
DETROW: You wrote about this. You wrote that this is the first time Fox Sports broadcast the women's European championships, both on the cable arm but also the broadcast arm. You know, I'm curious. In this moment in time, was this a hard sell, or was this something that just made financial sense?
GRIFFIN: I think more the latter. In the U.S., soccer is still not necessarily king. I think a lot of the times, it still comes second to American football, basketball, even women's basketball with the rise of the WNBA. But between the number of players who are competing in the Euros and COPA America Feminina as well as Women's African Cup of Nations - which Fox does not have the rights to, but it's also going on - a lot of those players play in the National Women's Soccer League in the U.S., and so there is more of a bridge, I think, for American soccer fans, even casual ones, to feel some familiarity in this Euro than in COPA. So to me, it seemed like an easy sell, and I think the numbers support that.
DETROW: Let's talk about the final itself. You've got Spain and England.
GRIFFIN: Oof.
DETROW: This is a rematch of the World Cup final from a few years ago. Spain won that. England won the last Euros. These are, like, the two Titanic squads, aren't they?
GRIFFIN: Phew, the familiarity between these two teams cannot be understated, nor can the history. And it's interesting because this is Spain's first Euros final ever in their history for the women, and England have yet to win a World Cup themselves. So even though they have certainly built their reputations as footballing powerhouses, the fact that they're meeting for the first time in this European championship, I think, says a lot. And given that they each are holding, you know, reigning titles of major past tournaments, I do think that this is going to decide who the dominant national team is in Europe at the moment.
DETROW: I wanted to ask about one piece of drama, and it's a serious aspect. You know, we're talking about the women's game kind of growing to match the men's game, and unfortunately, it matched some of the trends of the men's games in that there was a moment of racism after a player in England, Jess Carter, made an error that led to a goal. Can you talk us through how the teams responded, how UEFA has responded? What comes next?
GRIFFIN: Absolutely. Jess Carter - she's a defender. She revealed recently that from the start of the tournament, she has faced vile racist harassment online and on social media. You have to assume that that affected the way that she was showing up on the field. And so I do personally think that there is - and I hope that there are more conversations happening behind closed doors amongst players themselves about what allyship looks like in these moments.
And I think it's so important to point this out because as the game progresses, as people continue to invest and tune in to women's football, we have to be clear that not everybody is being elevated in the same ways and at the same time. And that, I think, is one of the beautiful things about reporting on this game because we're never talking about just the ball moving across the field and who's scoring goals.
DETROW: All right, a lot to watch for tomorrow. That's Tamerra Griffin of The Athletic. Thank you so much for talking us through this big summer of soccer.
GRIFFIN: Thanks for having me.
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