The U.S. Womens World Cup soccer team was warmly welcomed back to U.S. soil yesterday, which was a very fitting tribute after their finals loss to Japan on Sunday. Unfortunately, the team will likely lose more than just the World Cup title as a consequence of their defeat.
After a month of heart-stopping victories and a growing storyline, complemented with the camera-friendliness of stars like Abby Wambach and Hope Solo, the U.S. women likely lost $10 million in endorsements, according to a column today on AdAge.com. Wambach and Solo were the two who stood to gain the most from a World Cup championship with estimates ranging from $3 million-$4 million a year in potential marketing deals. The remaining members of the team would likely have made a collective $2 million per year.
While television rankings for the Womens World Cup paled to competitive TV offerings, the social media world was ablaze with action during the games--the Final had 7,196 tweets per second, according to Twitter, which is a new record for the site.
The good news is that the team built a following which, hopefully, they can capitalize on in 2012 as they chase an Olympic soccer gold medal. You can be sure that Solo and Wambach will be front-and-center for Olympic sponsors' activation activities, as will Alex Morgan, the young star who scored a goal and assisted on another in Sunday's loss to Japan.
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