The top seller so far has been the championship T-shirts, which U.S. Soccer worked closely with Nike onU.S. SOCCER
The USWNT's World Cup win is helping U.S. Soccer's official website to multiyear highs when it comes to merchandise sales. The USSF's online store, operated exclusively by official retail partner Legends, saw its best day of sales on Sunday in either '18 or '19, and numbers are also pacing ahead the same period in '15, when the USWNT also won the World Cup. The top seller has been the championship T-shirts, which U.S. Soccer worked with Nike on to have available as soon as the final whistle blew. The four-star jerseys are also doing well in pre-sales and will ship later this week. USSF Head of Marketing Mike Gressle said there was more product available overall to go out immediately after the final than there was after ’15. Gressle also pointed to the early start time of Sunday’s game providing a nice post-match window for sales. Gameday sales on the site increased 350% over what they been pacing at throughout the tournament. Online sales are beating expectations, and Gressle believes they should stay steady for the rest of this month and throughout the fall during the USWNT’s victory tour that kicks off Aug. 3. “We’re a little different than a normal sports league because the hot market doesn’t necessarily end when the parade’s over with," he said. "We’ll have a nice opportunity for fans to interact with the team as they play across the U.S.”
GIVE IT SOME POP: U.S. Soccer partnered with Legends on a pop-up shop in downtown Chicago that contains the largest line of U.S. Soccer merchandise anywhere. It opened at the start of the World Cup and will stay open until July 15, with championship items available this week. In addition to providing a retail space, the pop-up shop has interactive elements like a replica USWNT foosball table and a photobooth. “Overall, you see more branding elements that provide Instagram-able moments for that Gen Z target that we’re trying to communicate with and interact with,” Gressle said.
