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Marketing and Sponsorship

U.S. Loss In World Cup Final Costs Could Some Players Valuable Endorsement Deals

The U.S. women's national soccer team lost the FIFA Women's World Cup Final to Japan yesterday, and a win by the U.S. “could have given an even bigger boost to women’s pro soccer in this country and created a new group of endorsement darlings,” according to Bloomberg TV's Erik Schatzker. Bloomberg TV’s Michele Steele noted some of the players "will sign new deals, but a loss is definitely going to limit marketability already restrained by a lack of popularity for soccer in this country outside the World Cup.” U.S. F Alex Morgan, who scored the team's first goal yesterday, has “the biggest marketing potential because of her age.” The 22-year-old Morgan was the youngest player on the team. Steele said, “We’re not talking tens of millions of dollars. Maybe (Morgan) could earn up to $2 million lifetime endorsements” (“Inside Track,” Bloomberg TV, 7/18). In N.Y., Angela Daidone reported if the U.S. had won the World Cup, U.S. F Abby Wambach and G Hope Solo had the "potential to rake in $3 million to $4 million in endorsements" (N.Y. POST, 7/17).

SPIRIT SQUAD: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Hannah Karp reported Nike, the official jersey supplier and apparel licensee of the U.S. women's national soccer team, "doesn't sell a stitch of team-specific clothing" for male fans, despite the women's team's “transcendent appeal.” Nike said the women's uniforms previously were essentially "sized-down versions of men's jerseys." But this year's “sleek cap-sleeve jerseys zip up the front, hug the bust, taper in at the waist and jut out at the hips, drawing comparisons on soccer forums to Halloween's ubiquitous ‘sexy nurse’ costumes.” Nike Media Relations Manager Tim Yu said that “any such resemblance is purely coincidental.” Karp noted “nearly 2.7 million men tuned in to see” the U.S.-Brazil FIFA Women's World Cup quarterfinal on July 10, while “only 1.2 million female viewers watched.” Nike said that it decided to let the U.S. women “help design their own uniforms this year, without regard to the physiques of their male devotees.” Yu said the company "is confident that men who want to support the U.S. women's team will wear the U.S. men's (jersey)." He added that Nike “doesn't make women's versions of U.S. men's jerseys, either” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/16).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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