The '99 Women's World Cup (WWC) opened with four
doubleheaders over the weekend which drew 134,236 fans, for
an average of 33,559 per venue. That total already tops the
112,000 which attended the last WWC in '95 in Sweden. The
78,972 at Saturday's U.S.-Denmark match was the highest
attendance for a sporting event in Giants Stadium history,
as only a '95 mass by Pope John Paul II drew more, with
82,948. The Giants Stadium crowd was the largest to watch
a women's sporting event in the world (Mult., 6/20).
Sunday's doubleheader crowd of 14,873 at Foxboro Stadium
"amounted to about what" WWC execs "expected." The advance
sale was 13,581, with 1,292 walk-ups (BOSTON HERALD, 6/21).
FSN's Keith Olbermann: "So far, so good, for the only thing
in sports more heavily promoted than -- me" ("FSNP," 6/20).
LIVE FROM N.Y., IT'S...: WWC President & CEO Marla
Messing: "To start off like this you couldn't ask for
anything more. It's great for soccer, it's great for
women's sports, it's great for the women's national team.
When there are no more tickets to sell and you're sitting in
a full stadium, it's an incredible feeling" (WASHINGTON
POST, 6/20). Messing: "This will show people a women's-only
sporting event can stand on its own. It's in major stadium
in major markets, and it's just women" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER,
6/20). U.S. team member Brandi Chastain: "We're playing in
stadiums of 80,000, 100,000 across the country. This is no
small accomplishment" (NEWSDAY, 6/20). Header in USA TODAY:
"Tournament Opens With A Bang" (6/21). In Boston, Shira
Springer writes that the "solid [U.S.] victory helped create
a buzz" around the event (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/21).
WHAT IT MEANS: On the front page of USA TODAY, Jill
Lieber's cover story examines the impact of the WWC and
writes that during Saturday's game, "you could not escape
the significance." It was "about the thousands of girls,
young women and soccer moms in the pony-tailed hooligan
brigade, decked out in everything from Mia Hamm jerseys and
yellow, 'You Goal Girl' T-shirts to old-fashioned U.S. flags
and red, white and blue ribbons" (USA TODAY, 6/21). In Ft.
Lauderdale, Michael Mayo saw "minivans filled with soccer
moms and soccer dads and soccer kids -- so many kids!" (SUN-
SENTINEL, 6/20). In L.A., Matt McHale: "They came by
thousands, in pony tails and soccer cleats" (L.A. DAILY
NEWS, 6/20). In Philadelphia, Claire Smith: "The dizzying
numbers and the decibel levels of thousands of squealing
little girls represented more than a tentative beachhead for
a sport trying for the umpteenth time to invade the last
holdout nation on a soccer-crazy planet." The U.S. "finally
has a soccer tradition and an audience ready and apparently
willing to be tapped" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 6/21). In
L.A., Mike Penner wrote that Saturday's crowd, with "soccer
moms and dads," young girls with face paint and young boys
with Mia Hamm jerseys, was "not your typical Meadowlands
football crowd." Messing: "That's the soccer community,
right there" (L.A. TIMES, 6/20). NEWSDAY's Steve Jacobson
noted the "shrill of the crowd" after that game was "octaves
above anything the Meadowlands had every heard. This is
evolution and it's revelation. ... This is significant"
(NEWSDAY, 6/20). In San Jose, Ann Killion: "Some day in the
coming century, when they write the history of women,
perhaps they will mention this date: June 19, 1999" (MERCURY
NEWS, 6/20). In Seattle, Laura Vecsey: "It is not often
that sports present us with games bigger than themselves"
(SEATTLE P-I, 6/21). N.Y. Times writer Jere Longman told
Skip Bayless: "This is an event that kids had to tell their
parents to take them to" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/20). In N.Y.,
George Vecsey wrote that the crowd was "a sign that
something is happening, that there is an audience for good
international soccer, male or female" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/20).
At Giants Stadium, "every souvenir was snapped up fast,
leaving T-shirt and program stands with nothing to sell most
of the day" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 6/20).
