Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 45

DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE "SUNDAY, JULY 11, 1999 7D WOMEN'S WORLD CUP FINAL United States team comes through for its fans 7W. 1W 12' 1 KNIGHT RIPPER PASADENA, Calif. Up and down they jumped like joyful kids, 20 women soaked in sweat, sparkling confetti falling from the sky and a downpour of love coming from the stands. They had just accomplished not the impossible, but maybe something even more difficult. On a beautiful afternoon in Southern California, the U.S.

Women's World Cup soccer team regained the title of World Champion it lost four years ago in Sweden. And in doing so, it fulfilled the expectations of an entire nation, not just its locker room. There can't be anything more difficult in the sporting world than to winning such a championship, one that so many others all but started celebrating before it was fact. There can't be anything more disappointing, either, than coming up short in such an endeavor. This was the way we were certain it would end, of course, with Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, Briana Scurry and the rest of Team USA turning a yellow platform in the middle of the Rose Bowl into a trampoline.

The only question was what would be the margin of victory For the record, the U.S. defeated China in a tie-breaker shootout after a scoreless game. The American women didn't choke. They made all five of their one-on-goaltender kicks, including the clinching shot by Brandi Chastain. China missed on one, when U.S.

goalkeeper Scurry guessed correctly in diving left to block Liu Ying's attempt. It set off an eruption among the 90,185 fans on hand, and no doubt caused the nearest earthquake-measuring device to jump. If there was something other than gender that separated the women's tournament from the men's, it was that the women played a more wide-open, high-scoring and, consequently, more crowd-pleasing style. Until yesterday, offense was the name of the women's games. There were 4-3 games.

Seven-to-one games. Five-to-nil games. The women's tournament was fua The participants were here solely for the love of the game and the desire of winning it all, not the relatively small bonuses that would be awarded them for winning or whatever fame might come to them for doing so. There won't be enough of either, though, to compliment fully what the 1999 Women's World Cup champions from the U.S. achieved.

As the rest of us expected, they delivered, For what unfolded between the U.S. and China was a match made tense not only by what was at stake, but also by the tactics of both teams. Each looked more fearful of relinquishing a goal than confident in scoring one. Both played much of the afternoon with four women sitting back on defense. As China coach Ma Yuanan explained, "We tried to defense first and then do a counter-attack." It was just unfortunate that mundane play reared its ugly head in the showcase, worldwide-televised game of this third Women's World Cup.

For it was not emblematic of the 30 games that took place the past three weeks from New Jersey's Giants Stadium to Chicago's Soldier Field to here. "It's not the best way to finish a game," U.S. coach Tony DiCicco said of tie-breaker kicks. "But I don't know a better way." i aft The Associated Press Pure joy Brandi Chastain, left, Julie Foudy, center, and Carla Overbeck celebrate after receiving their medals. Hickory Ridge Golf Country Club Winners on the field; losers in ad game Cardinal Creek Golf Club General Public Weekdays pp For 18 holes wa cart! Seniors $15 pp For 18 holes wa cart! Weekends $22 pp For 18 holes wa cart! Merchandise, Driving Range, and Tournament Dates Available! Cardinal Creek Golf Club 7061 Ridge Rd.

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Blame it on the fact there's no professional league, which makes it difficult for marketers to milk fans', loyalty long-term. Or blame it on TV ratings of soccer, which peaked this summer, but are still low overall compared to other sports. One might also chalk up marketers' ambivalence to America's own ambivalence. In the United States, people's interest in soccer doesn't go much beyond their children. Whatever the reasons, marketing experts agree: The hoopla and hype surrounding the Women's World Cup will fade almost as quickly as the roar from yesterday's final game between the United States and China.

"It has been a wonderful event," said Nova Lanktree of Sports Celebrity Network. "Nobody's losing money on it. And a month from now it will be a nice memory, just like the Olympics in 1996." Sure, there will be a smattering of congratulatory ads from sponsors. The team's stars, particularly co-captains Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy, will probably add a couple of fast endorsement deals. But the enthusiasm for Women's World Cup that has swept the United States is expected to be little more than a flash in the pan for marketers and most team members.

Experts predict no splashy ad campaigns, beyond the ones now on the air for Nike, adidas, Gatorade and Bud Light. Those feature members of the U.S. team in one for Gatorade, Hamm spars with Michael Jordan and will start fading off the air next week. General Mills says there are no plans to put the players on a Wheatiesbox. been approached by a cosmetics company and a laser eye surgeon.

IEG Sponsorship Report Editor and President Lesa Ukman said team members are more likely to score extra money from motivational speaking gigs top fees will be about $7,500 than lucrative endorsement deals. To date, Hamm has faired best with endorsement deals. She's said to be collecting more than $1 million from companies such as Gatorade, Mattel and PowerBar. That may be a record for a U.S. women's soccer player, but it's far from the estimated $40 million a year Jordan earned from endorsements.

Experts cite several reasons that the Women's World Cup may not have long-term marketing appeal. Low TV ratings. Jerry Solomon, president of national broadcast at SFM Media, predicted ABC's ratings for today's final could be 5.5, comparable to college football. (A ratings point represents about 994,000 households.) Ratings for Women's World Cup games on ESPN averaged 0.62 for all games, according to TN Media. For comparison, average ratings for regular season football total 6.1 on ESPN.

Audience demographics. Think Women's World Cup is a great way for marketers to reach women? Think again. Despite all the buzz about "soccer moms," TV viewer-ship of the games is only 25 percent female, said Stacy Lynn Koerner, vice president of broadcast research at TN Media. By contrast, the TV audience for figure skating is 60 percent female, and the Women's National Basketball Association attracts an audience that's 53 percent women. No professional soccer league.

Nike and adidas hope the Women's World Cup has generated interest that will be sustained for a year, when the teams travel to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. U.S. officials are hopeful of a league by 2001, but nothing concrete has evolved. "You need a league," said David Carter, author of Keeping Score: An Inside Look at Sports Marketing. "And you need the Nikes and the Coca-Colas to get behind it.

If Corporate America doesn't rally behind it big time, there's no future." Bob Johnsgn WnCVrOICC 1271 Rid8f Rojd We" Rochester, NY 14615 Visit our Wefj site tor the beat Autot i4 ITie Associated Press Downhill? Brandi Chastain (6) may have been yesterday's hero, but she'll probably have trouble scoring many endorsement deals. For safety, you know you can trust your neighborhood Cole Muffler Brake Shop! i i That said, the Women's World Cup is probably enjoying the most fanfare of any women's sporting event in U.S. history. Attendance has averaged 64,460 for five U.S. matches.

Scores of young girls want to be like Mia. Sports stores say they have enjoyed a run on U.S. team merchandise. "We've sold a lot of shin guards, soccer cleats, Mia Hamm jerseys and T-shirts with the Nike or U.S. Team logo," said Steve Castro, footwear department manager at The Sports Authority in Woodside, N.Y.

Most of the Women's World Cup's 11 sponsors, including Coca-Cola, Gillette and McDonald's, have limited their marketing links to stadium signs and grass roots efforts in cities where World Cup games have been played. "The most visible opportunity is the game and being visible on site," Gillette spokeswoman Leslie Card said. "That's what two billboards do for us." Tony Ponturo, vice president of media and sports marketing for sponsor Anheuser-Busch, said the attention span of U.S. consumers and advertisers cuts short the team's marketing opportunities. "Because we're looking for the next rush, there's a 30-day window to capitalize on this from a marketing standpoint." That's bad news for U.S.

team members who haven't already scored endorsement deals. Foudy's agent, Sue Rodin for' Stars Strategies, said Foudy has Think this was good, just wait a few more years Bought it elsewhere? Bring it to us. We honor all specialty muffler-shop muffler warranties! Trailer Hitches brake control and complete wiring packages a Lifetime Guarantee to the Original Purchaser on Mufflers, Shocks, Hitches and CV Shafts a New and Reconditioned Converters at Low Prices Fast Installation a We Do Not Use a Universal Muffler. All Our Mufflers Are Designed Specifically for Your Vehicle a Replacement CV Shafts Sobrero thinks ahead. "In another 20 years," she said, "somebody who's really good now will probably be average." U.S.

forward Cindy Parlow sees the evolution occurring even faster than that. "I think the game has evolved just from the '96 Olympics to the '99 World Cup," said Parlow, the youngest member of the United States' gold-medal team in Atlanta. "And I think the game will get faster, get better and go to a whole new level." It's fair to wonder if further improvement is exactly what women's soccer needs. After all, if the soccer could be better, 600,000 American ticket buyers don't seem to give a damn. It's going to be fascinating, however, seeing if women's soccer can sustain its instant popularity in the years ahead.

The guess here: Yesterday's final is only the beginning for the U.S. and the world. Just wait until their feet catch up to their charisma, basketball in 1940, on its way to the 1990s. Savor the thought. A sport whose Golden Age hasn't come and gone but lies straight ahead.

Women's World Cup president and CEO Maria Messing refers to the thousands of girls she expects to register for soccer leagues this fall because they want to "be like Mia (Hamm)." U.S. midfielder Julie Foudy notes that the mere existence of girls' soccer leagues shows how far the sport has come already. "Some of our older players, like Christine (Lilly) and me," said Foudy, in her 12th year on the national team, "we grew up playing on boys' teams, coached by fathers who didn't always know what they were doing." U.S. defender Kate Sobrero, in her second year on the team, thinks she represents the improvement so far. "I'm 22 and (backup defender) Lorrie Fair is 20," Sobrero said.

"I think we're better than (their veteran teammates) were at our age." women's soccer is behind the curve in attracting and cultivating talent. The U.S. women's national team? It didn't exist until 1985. The effect is plain to see. "There is," conceded Jarl Torske, the assistant coach of the Norwegian team that lost in the semifinals to China, "much room for improvement in all aspects of the game." I could give this a negative spin and say a lot of what has passed for world-class soccer in the past three weeks simply stank sloppy passes, easy giveaways, porous defense, shallow rosters and one-sided matches (5-0 China in the I prefer to take the optimistic angle: As entertaining as this Women's World Cup has been, the soccer is only going to get better as more girls and women and talented female coaches are drawn to the sport.

This is baseball in 1900, on its way to the 1950s. This is football in 1920, on its way to the 1970s. This is LOS ANGELES PAILY NEWS KEVIN MODESTI PASADENA, Calif. You saw the best in women's soccer yesterday. Only not by looking at the Rose Bowl field.

But, by looking in the stands, at the teenager grinning through her braces. By looking in the living room, at the 6-year-old bouncing on the sofa front offhe TV set. By looking in the crib, at the baby girl asleep and oblivious to United States-China and Women's World Cup '99. Because one of them is the best in women's soccer, or is going to be, you just wait. The best in women's soccer is four years, a dozen years, or a generation away.

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