Chris Canetti was in a Super Bowl host committee meeting this week when the conversation abruptly stopped.

“Enough of this,” someone shouted. “Can Chris Canetti stand up and tell us about the women’s World Cup, Houston Dash and Carli Lloyd?”

Houston hosts the Super Bowl in 2017, but right now the city boasts the biggest celebrity in sports. Carli Lloyd, a member of the National Women’s Soccer League team Houston Dash, scored a hat trick in the USA’s 5-2 World Cup win over Japan last week. And what Houstonians must realize is that come Sunday, she will be playing in their backyard every day.

Canetti, the president of the Houston Dynamo and Dash, was caught off guard but thrilled to turn focus away from football for a second. Not only do the Dash have Lloyd, but starters Morgan Brian and Meghan Klingenberg as well. This weekend they play against the Chicago Red Stars, which means Julie Johnston, Christen Press, Lori Chalupny and Shannon Boxx will be coming to town. Canetti says the organization has planned a World Cup recognition ceremony for all of them.

But just how many people will be in attendance? More than 53,000 fans piled into BC Place for the final in Vancouver last Sunday, paying somewhere around $400 per ticket. And 25.4 million people tuned into the FOX broadcast, setting a record as the most-watched soccer game in U.S. history ever. But the Houston-Chicago game won’t be on national TV, and BBVA Compass Stadium seats 22,000.

On average, roughly 4,500 people go to Dash games. But Canetti is expecting a record attendance of 15,000.

“It’s technically a sellout filling the lower bowl, which is 7,000,” Canetti said. “So we’ve done that and we’ve opened up the upper bowl and are selling tickets up there.”

Other NWSL teams are experiencing a similar uptick in ticket sales post-World Cup. Portland Thorns owner Merritt Paulson said his club, where Alex Morgan, Tobin Heath, Canada forward Christine Sinclair and German goalkeeper Nadine Angerer play, has an unusually high average attendance of 13,000 per game and has already sold 16,000 tickets for its next home match against the Seattle Reign, which is on a Wednesday. He’s anticipating a first-ever sell-out crowd of 21,000.

In Seattle where Megan Rapinoe and Hope Solo play, attendance floats around 3,000. But this Saturday’s game against Sydney Leroux and the Western New York Flash is expected to look more like 5,500.

“The greatest thing about it for us is it’s not just people buying tickets for our next match, but buying tickets for the rest of the season,” said Brandon Kolp, senior director of marketing for the Reign. “They’re buying three packs, buying it in droves. We anticipated to see a spike for people wanting to see (the players) right after they came back, but we’re seeing (more sales).”

In Washington, D.C. where Ali Krieger and backup goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris play, the Spirit get about 3,500 fans each game. Though director of sales Rob Bartlett couldn’t get into specifics regarding numbers, he said there’s been more interest in the last week.

Fans buying tickets immediately after the World Cup isn’t surprising. The question will be can these teams sustain sales for the remainder of the season, which goes through the first week in September. Single game tickets range from $15-20 depending on the team.

In 20 years, there have been four professional women’s soccer leagues with the W-League, WUSA, WPS and NWSL. The first three folded after less than three seasons. The NWSL is in its third year and it will take more fan support, interest and ownership to keep it alive.

“I hope there’s better attendance rates, and I hope there’s more investment from MLS owners, from other owners interested, from sponsorships,” Morgan said after winning the World Cup. “I think that it’s important to continue development in the U.S. because you can already see from the semifinals, the four teams in the semifinals all have great domestic leagues and I think that’s a huge thing people haven’t touched on yet.”

The Thorns are one of if not the most successful professional women’s team in the world and know how to attract a crowd. Paulson also owns the MLS Timbers and the club has the infrastructure, ownership and support it needs to sustain two strong teams. His hope is the rest of the league will continue to reap benefits from this World Cup through this season and in the future.

“The million dollar question is, is it going to be a lift or is it going to be a bounce?” Paulson said. “Because historically in women’s club soccer in the states, it’s always a bounce, but it came back down to earth and the past leagues didn’t make it.

“It’s a different scenario this time around in the NWSL with first of all, the (TV) numbers in the World Cup were staggering at an entirely different level. And more so it’s not just about people tuning in for an event and seeing a U.S. victory. It’s a soccer nation understanding the game in a way they haven’t before. And the league is a different business model than the previous two leagues and U.S. Soccer has a significant investment in it and ultimately, the onus is on the clubs and leagues to provide a great fan experience so people want to come back and it’s not just a curiosity to see the players you’ve been watching in Canada.”