In Fox’s Women’s World Cup Campaign Kickoff, It’s Team USA Vs. Everyone

With less than two months until one of the biggest sporting events of the summer, Fox Sports revealed its flagship promo for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The U.S. Women’s National Team is aiming for an unprecedented third-consecutive title, and the players know the rest of the world is out to get them.

The 90-second spot, “USA vs. The World,” stars Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Rose Lavelle, Crystal Dunn and Naomi Girma. Former player-turned-analyst Carli Lloyd makes a cameo appearance, as do Fox Sports hosts Rob Stone and Aly Wagner.

The promo asks the simple question: What will it take to stop the U.S. team? But there isn’t a simple answer.

Fans from teams around the world try to take down the USWNT, but the players thwart them at every turn: Lavelle knocks down a drone, Dunn breaks a simulation and Rapinoe beats a Terminator-like time travel plot to stop her from ever playing soccer.

“USA vs. The World” will debut Saturday during Fox Sports’ presentation of The Belmont Stakes and also air in the Red Sox vs. Yankees and Cubs vs. Giants broadcasts on Fox.

The spot was done entirely internally by Fox Sports Marketing, led by creative director Gary Van Dzura, who also directed it. Matt Van Buren executive produced alongside Autumn Durald Arkapaw as director of photography (who recently worked on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever).

“[Van Dzura] worked very closely with our in-house creative team to execute it and produce it, but we didn’t do it with an agency,” Robert Gottlieb, president of marketing at Fox Sports, told Adweek. “It was a bit of a roll of the dice to not do it with an agency.”

The spot is the kickoff to a larger marketing campaign around the World Cup. Individual promos featuring storylines with Dunn, Rapinoe, Morgan and more will be rolling out soon.

“This is a worldwide event that should command your attention. There’s going to be a moment this summer when the world is going to focus on these athletes from all over the country, and at the red-hot center of that is the U.S. team,” said Gottlieb.

The world is watching

Fox Sports has the exclusive English-language rights to the 2023 World Cup, kicking off July 20 from Australia and New Zealand. The company will present all 64 matches on Fox and FS1, with every match streaming on the Fox Sports app.

No women’s team has ever captured three straight titles, as the U.S. will try to do this year. However, though the team has established itself as an international powerhouse, the rest of the world has caught up. The USWNT took the bronze in the last Olympic games, with rival Canada securing the gold medal.

“The rest of the world has been catching up in the last four years,” said Gottlieb. “The rest of the world has really ramped up, and this is going to be a really special tournament. It’s going to be defining for a generation of athletes around the world.”

Fox Sports began broadcasting the Women’s World Cup in 2015, and women’s soccer has proved to be a ratings juggernaut for the network.

“We made a very conscious decision that we saw this as a crown jewel event that maybe hadn’t received the commitment, resources and attention in the past that we envisioned it should have,” said Gottlieb.

The 2019 final averaged 16.9 million viewers across Fox and Telemundo—15.57 million on Fox alone. The 2015 final against Japan, broadcast in primetime, drew 24.5 million average viewers.

For Fox and Gottlieb, there’s “passion and pride” around Team USA and the growth of women’s sports.

“We look back to 2015 where we put a stake in the ground and said, ‘This is much bigger than what it’s been before, and it deserves a much bigger platform,’” Gottlieb continued.