On Sunday, July 5, the United States women’s soccer team defeated Japan 5-2 in the 2015 FIFA World Cup – the most watched soccer game in U.S. history, with 25 million viewers. A media onslaught and a nationwide social media celebration featuring celebrities, athletes and politicians, has continued since then, raising the questions – how long will the hype last, and could this be a turning point for women’s sports?

“We get behind world athletic events, like the Olympics or the World Cup, because they give us a great feeling of national pride,” says Stephanie Tryce, J.D., assistant professor of sports marketing at Saint Joseph’s University. “But typically, the heightened interest in is neither sustained for any significant period of time.”

The last time the U.S. women’s soccer team received this level of attention was when it won the World Cup in 1999. The win elevated athletes like Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain to stardom and earned them lasting endorsements, but did little to propel professional women’s soccer overall. In the last decade, attempts at developing a professional women’s soccer league, and creating a stronger fan base, have collapsed again and again. The National Woman’s Soccer League, in its third year, is the latest attempt.

Tryce believes that reflecting on the historical context of sports participation by males and females in our country helps to explain the very slow leveling of the sport sponsorship and media coverage playing field for women.

“Our country’s Victorian notions of femininity explain the virtual lack of female participation in athletics for decades, especially sports viewed as particularly strenuous,” says Tryce. “Since the passing of Title IX, we have seen a tremendous increase in girls’ participation in sports – over 1000%–at the high school level,” she says, “but the challenge we face now is to try to turn these participants into spectators of women’s sports – spectators that brands will see as potential consumers and will want to reach through sponsorships and endorsements of female athletes, teams and programs.”

According to a report by the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) in 2013, women’s sports receive only 7 percent of media athletic coverage and 0.4 percent of the total value of athletic commercial sponsorships. And while female viewership of professional athletics has risen in recent years, most of the growth is still focused on men’s sports.

The women’s soccer league in the United States and its individual star players have an opportunity to capitalize on this major win, and Tryce believes the time to act is now, while the sport is receiving international attention. For example, the National Women’s Soccer League entered into its first national television deal with Fox Sports last month during the World Cup exposure.

“The sport will need to demonstrate potential for lasting viewership and promote its star athletes (like Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan) to convince sponsors and media outlets to engage, while also focusing on building grassroots efforts for fan engagement,” she says. “This is the challenge.”

Tryce can be reached for comment at 610-660-2242 or [email protected] or through University Communications at 610-660-3256.