Closing Shot: Fired up for France

Carli Lloyd celebrates a goal during last week’s match against South Africa at Levi’s Stadium.getty images

Starting next month, millions of fans around the world will turn their attention to France to see if the U.S. Women’s National Team will be able to repeat as FIFA Women’s World Cup champions.

Already this month, thousands of fans across the United States have showed up to venues around the country for one last chance to see the sport’s best female players live before they begin the quest for the country’s fourth World Cup title.

The three-game Send-Off Series began on May 12, when 22,788 fans went to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara to see the national team beat South Africa 3-0. At Busch Stadium in St. Louis on May 16, more than 34,000 fans bought tickets to see the U.S. play New Zealand, the most for a USWNT home game since 2017. A sold-out, 25,000-seat Red Bull Arena in New Jersey is expected this Sunday, the team’s final game before heading to France where the Women’s World Cup will be played from June 7 to July 7.

“These games give the fans an opportunity to really celebrate the players,” said Amy Hopfinger, U.S. Soccer director of events. “Once they get to France, they operate in a bubble as they’re there to do a job — these games are a chance for fans to see them up close and in a different light.”

In all, the USWNT will have played eight games across the U.S. in 2019 before departing for France, which should collectively average more than 19,000 fans per game. U.S. Soccer builds out programming around the matches, adding youth clinics and deeper sponsor activation and integration to boost the fan experience.

“This is a jumping-off point for everyone into the World Cup — both for the players and the fans,” Hopfinger said. “We get a chance with these matches to not only appeal to the avid fans we see game in and game out — and many of whom will be heading to France — but to get beyond that and introduce the players that some fans might not know.”

That will all bleed into U.S. Soccer’s campaign around the team that will roll out next month, which Hopfinger said will be the largest activation the federation has done around any World Cup — men’s or women’s. That will include viewing parties and sponsor activation across the country, digital and social content series, and a fan-facing event in Chicago, where the federation is headquartered.

The USWNT already is the subject of a national marketing campaign by Nike, which highlights its cultural impact on girls and women across all sports and walks of life, asking fans to “dream with us.”

The hope of those fans is that the U.S. team will turn its dreams into reality.