Despite steep viewership drops for Fox Sports’ U.S. coverage of the tournament, interest is still high in future FIFA Women’s World Cups. 

English-language broadcasts of the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand averaged 669,000 viewers across Fox and FS1, down 60% from 2019 in France (1.66 million) and the smallest audience for the event since 2007 in China.

But the U.S. remains among several nations vying for hosting duties of the 2027 Women’s World Cup, along with Brazil, South Africa, and a potential joint bid from Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Mexico is interested in co-hosting with the U.S., as it will for the 2026 men’s edition.

The 2023 event broke all kinds of records, with a total attendance just shy of 2 million fans. The Spain-England final broke viewership records in those nations, and co-host Australia’s semifinal defeat was the most-watched TV program on record in the country.

Fox actually scored its most-watched group-stage for games involving the USWNT, but the Americans’ surprising exit in the first round of the knockout stage left Fox without its home team for the remainder of the tournament.

Formal bids for the 2027 Women’s World Cup are due in December, and FIFA would like to pick a host by May 2024.

Once FIFA determines a host country for 2027, it will go to market with the tournament’s media rights — which would no doubt be more valuable to U.S. networks if the event is on home soil.

As expected, the Kansas City Royals have revealed their two site options for a new ballpark development. Now, the MLB club faces the potentially franchise-altering choice of how big it wants the project to be.

One option is the East Village site, a 27-acre plot in downtown Kansas City. Located near the city’s popular Power & Light District and the T-Mobile Center, the site would more directly resemble many other urban MLB ballpark developments, including successful ones in Washington, Pittsburgh, San Diego, and St. Louis.

The other option is a 90-acre site in neighboring Clay County to the north of downtown. In that instance, the Royals would have even more available land for mixed-use development than the roughly 60 acres at The Battery, the Atlanta Braves’ complex that now serves as an industry model. In this case, residential units would become more of a focus.

Either way, the core ballpark development would cost about $2 billion, with the Royals looking for about $350 million in public funds. The team aims to be in the new venue by the start of the 2028 season.

“We knew we were engaged in a generational decision,” said Brooks Sherman, Royals president of business operations. “It’s actually incredible that we have these two locations to even consider as a future home and sustain ourselves as a major league city.”

A final site selection is expected in September. While openly advocating to replace Kauffman Stadium and keep up with economic trends across baseball, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred didn’t state a preference.

“We’ve got work to do on a number of fronts to get to our decision on this,” Sherman said.

The stock market isn’t being so kind to fitness and athletic brands this week, as more companies continue reporting less-than-stellar financial results.

Foot Locker’s stock was down around 30% to just over $16 a share on Wednesday, and its $1.86 billion in quarterly sales was less than expected, down 9.9% year-over-year. The company cited “ongoing consumer softness” for the poor results.

In the wake of the report, Nike, Adidas, and Puma all saw their stock prices dip slightly, though none more than 5%.

Foot Locker’s news follows Dick’s Sporting Goods’ worst financial quarter since before the pandemic. As of Wednesday, Dick’s stock was still down about 25% from before its earnings report.

And the downward trend doesn’t stop there — Peloton’s stock slipped more than 20% to just over $5 a share on Wednesday after its earnings report disclosed that a recent product recall cost $40 million, pausing around 20,000 monthly subscriptions while customers waited for a replacement seat post.

Post-Pandemic Reality

The fitness category couldn’t have been hotter during the pandemic as more consumers leaned into exercise and more active habits. But with the world seemingly back to pre-pandemic form, retailers appear to be paying a steep price — and will adjust expectations accordingly.