Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian has always been a huge supporter of women’s soccer in the US. The co-founder of Reddit invested, alongside Serena Williams and Natalie Portman, in a women’s soccer team based in Los Angeles. Ohanian is the lead investor of Angel City FC, which has done well in the NWSL this year. However, the American businessman not only supports his soccer team but also supports the growth of women’s sports. He has, however, been very vocal about the controversy surrounding the popularity of men’s and women’s soccer in the US.
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The American businessman uses Twitter frequently and regularly voices his opinions there. He recently clarified his position on this age-old argument and supported it with some facts.
Alexis Ohanian shares his take on the popularity debate
The Reddit co-founder has been closely watching the FIFA World Cup this year. Recently, Ohanian took to his social media to highlight a viewership count of the recent USA vs Netherlands round of 16 match at the FIFA World Cup 2022. He quote-tweeted the tweet with statistics displaying the viewership of both the US men’s national soccer team (USMNT) and the women’s soccer team (USWNT) in their respective FIFA World Cups.
This shouldn't surprise anyone paying attention. Women's Tennis has long been more popular in US than Men's – now here's some more data about women's football ⚽️👇 just facts, folks. https://t.co/oQIVn08kH4
— AlexisOhanian7️⃣7️⃣6️⃣ (@alexisohanian) December 5, 2022
While sharing the data, he wrote, “This shouldn’t surprise anyone paying attention. Women’s Tennis has long been more popular in US than Men’s – now here’s some more data about women’s football just facts, folks.” Serena Williams‘ husband made it clear that people are aware of the popularity of women’s soccer in the US.
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Ohanian made it clear that while some supporters of women’s soccer may already be aware of these statistics, he is providing them nonetheless for the benefit of the public. In addition to discussing soccer and tennis, he also discussed how women’s soccer is gaining more viewers when compared to men’s soccer.
Ohanian encounters a fan’s attack on the viewership count
Following Ohanian’s discussion on the popularity argument, a fan said that the data was inaccurate as the stats were compared between viewers of matches in the round of 16 and the final. Ohanian responded to the criticism tactfully by saying that the men’s team’s performance in reaching the round of 16 was comparable to the women’s team’s performance in reaching the finals.
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I could argue that getting to the round of 16 for the US Men was the equivalent of getting to the final for the women. Fox Sports also made the largest marketing investment in their history for the men's world cup. Nice bump.
— AlexisOhanian7️⃣7️⃣6️⃣ (@alexisohanian) December 5, 2022
With four World Cup victories, the US women’s national team is one of the most successful teams in the history of women’s soccer. He also mentioned how much money was spent on marketing during the men’s World Cup.
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Do you agree with Ohanian’s views about the popularity of women’s soccer? Let us know in the comments.
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