August Business
Battle Of The Cereal Boxes

Members of the U.S. women’s soccer team are starting to see some endorsement deals. Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Michelle Akers, Kristine Lilly and Briana Scurry will all be featured on boxes of Wheaties.

The entire U.S. women’s team will appear on boxes of Quaker Oats’ Golden Goals, a new corn-and-oat cereal shaped like soccer balls. "Have you had your Golden Goals today?"

It is unusual for personalities to be featured by competing companies, but Todd Magazine, VP for Marketing with Quaker doesn’t see Wheaties as a competitor, stating Golden Goals, a ready-to-eat product, is targeted to a younger consumer - initially girls.

Before the World Cup General Mills had indicated that they had no plans to put the women on a Wheaties box. That changed after the team won the world title and after the rush of popular support. At that time, Hamm said that her squad preferred a sweeter cereal.

General Mills is not a U.S. team sponsor, so the players, each of whom are under contract by that company for the cereal box exposure, will not be wearing their national uniforms on the Wheaties boxes. By contrast, Quaker has signed its agreement with the U.S. Soccer Federation, which owns licensing rights to the team.

There are other endorsement deals in the works for various players. Chastain may have a Volvo ad coming out, and is expected to appear in a national Nike commercial. Scurry and Julie Foudy will be featured in a 12-city radio campaign for Acquafina, the bottled water marketed by Pepsi. There are also likely to be some other deals with Aquafina and Toys R Us, which are two of the companies sponsoring the women’s victory tour.

U.S. Soccer Federation officials are trying to put together a rematch between the USA women and China. Since the World Cup final ended in a 0-0 tie and was decided by penalty kicks, network television is anxious to broadcast a rematch while interest is still high.

China is reported to have turned down a game against the Americans for August 28. USSF officials are trying to put together a "victory tour" for the U.S. team that would include three games Sept. 4 or 5, Sept. 18 or 19 and on Sept. 26.

The Chinese team is certainly at the top of the wish list for television, but Brazil, Germany and Norway are also being pursued.

Brazil, Sweden and Australia are possible candidates for two of the three games the U.S. will play in the Nike U.S. Women’s Cup in October. South Korea has already accepted a spot in the four-team tournament, which will be played in Ohio and Kentucky.

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July Business

Fans went to see women’s soccer at a record rate during the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Over 650,000 tickets were sold. People are also watching the games in record numbers on television.

The opening match between the USA and Denmark received a 1.7 rating on ABC, and ESPN’s audience for the USA vs. Nigeria game drew a 1.85 rating and was seen in 1.4 million homes. It was the second-highest rated soccer match on the network, behind the men’s 1998 World Cup semifinal between Brazil and the Netherlands.

The USA vs. North Korea game on ESPN2 got a 1.96 rating and was seen in 1.3 million homes. That was the highest rating for any soccer match on ESPN2 and the fifth most-watched event on the network.

The final on ABC was watched in an 40 million homes. It was an astounding number.

ABC’s 13.3 overnight rating in 46 large markets was 93% larger than the 6.9 for last year’s France-Brazil game in the men’s World Cup final. The 40 million figure was 3 1/2 times larger than the previous high for a women’s soccer audience.

In real terms, the USA-China game will likely top NBC’s 11.3 average for the recent NBA finals between San Antonio and New York, and be close to the audience for the upcoming major league baseball All-Star Game on Fox.

Officials downsized Washington’s Jack Kent Cooke stadium by not initially opening the upper deck to ticket sales. When the lower arena was sold out a week prior to the USA’s quarterfinal game against Germany, tickets went on sale in the upper deck at $30 a pop. Nearly 10,000 were sold and the game drew over 54,000.

Umbro Holdings, Ltd., through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Umbro Worldwide Ltd., has purchased an additional 30 percent of the stock of USISL, Inc (dba United Soccer Leagues).

The acquisition leaves Umbro with 60 percent of the stock, while the company’s two licensees, Signal Apparel and Riddell Sports hold 15 percent each. The remaining 10 percent has been retained by Francisco Marcos, league founder, who continues as president of USISL, Inc., and commissioner of the 138-team league system. The system includes the A-League, D3 Pro League, Premier Development League and W-League.

Umbro’s stock purchase follows the April 26, 1999 announcement that Stone Manufacturing Co., of Greenville, SC, had sold Umbro to Doughty Hanson & Co, one of Europe’s leading independent private equity companies.

While Oneita Knitting Mills didn’t produce soccer uniforms, it produced many of the T-shirts soccer players wore. It was once the fourth largest T-shirt maker in the U.S. with 3,000 employees and $200 million in revenues.

In March of this year, the 125-year old company, with national headquarters in the little South Carolina town of Andrews, announced that it would go out of business. Not a new textile story. Business and jobs lost to overseas plants.

In the days of profitability the company sponsored the Oneita Classic, which brought top college soccer teams to Charleston and the Lowcountry of South Carolina.

Soccer T-shirt sales are as big as ever, but no longer will they be made by Oneita Knitting Mills in Andrews, SC.

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April Business

They are called investors! But is that the correct terminology? They are wealthy individuals who put money into professional sports franchises. When that sport is soccer, few have turned a profit.

Actually, investors are people who put their money in blue chip stocks. Those who buy junk bonds are speculators, and those who put their money into soccer franchises are "owners." Thank goodness for the owners!

Over the last 30 days another A-League franchise went under sea of red ink. The Nashville Metros, 37-19 over the two years and defending division champions, just didn’t attract enough people at the gate to make the financial losses acceptable. Sponsorships couldn’t make up the difference.

A new team, the Tennessee Rhythm, headed by two former owners, will replace the Metros with a scaled down financial plan.

Last summer it was the Raleigh Flyers who slashed budgets early in the season and just barely made it through the season. Fans stayed away in droves, and sponsorship dollars could not make up the losses.

A new ownership team has taken over in Raleigh, and the Capital Express has replaced the Flyers with new name, a new coach and a new front office.

Two years ago, the Carolina Dynamo was one of the A-League’s flagship franchises. Successful at every level in the United Soccer Leagues’ (and all other names the league has had) structure, the Dynamo came within a whisker of winning the 1997 A-League championship.

A big stadium in High Point with a lot of empty seats, the failure to be embraced by the corporate community in the way of sponsorships, and bigtime player and travel expenses got the Dynamo a year’s sabbatical and a year to reorganize.

They are back in ‘98, trimmed down as a division three team in the USL’s D3 Pro League with local players, a new coach/general manager, a smaller playing facility.

Even in Major League Soccer, where the threshold for losses is greater than in the minor leagues, the one-way money street has begun to take its toll. That was manifested in the firing of Sunil Gulati when he re-signed Tab Ramos to the league maximum when the "investors" thought that was a bad deal.

They call themselves investors, and often say they are doing it for the community......until the losses pile up and they have to look at professional soccer as a business.

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Southern Soccer Scene
Announces Expansion Plans

Updated 7/4/99

Southern Soccer Scene, which began its 21st year of publication in January, announced plans last March to expand its coverage and distribution over the next six months.

Since then the publication has undergone a change in format and launched a soccer news oriented web site on April 1.

In order to continue its longtime commitment to youth soccer in North Carolina, Southern Soccer Scene also began publishing an 8-page supplement, North Carolina Soccer Scene, which is inserted into the main publication each month for its North Carolina readership.

Another major aspect of the format change has been the amount of space devoted to its current "Soccer In...." state sections for Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia. This added space allows more depth to news reports and additional feature articles.

"As we began the transition from having a close publishing relationship with the North Carolina Youth Soccer Association to becoming a subscriber-only publication, we felt this was the appropriate time for us to expand our approach in providing readers with soccer news from our region," announced Southern Soccer Scene editor/publisher Ray Alley.

Southern Soccer Scene, which was first published in 1978 as a newsletter, is one of the oldest independently owned soccer publications in the United States. For the last 11 years it has published the North Carolina Youth Soccer Association’s newsletter within its pages.

"Soccer in the South, and particularly in North Carolina, has grown tremendously during the two decades since we began publishing Southern Soccer Scene," said Alley. "We are a unique publication because we are a true regional publication."

The new Southern Soccer Scene web site not only supports the current publication, but also offers news and information about soccer in the South to a worldwide readership.

While the site is updated following the publication of each monthly issue, it is also updated on a regular basis with stories that may or may not be included in the next issue.

The web site includes pages devoted to the six individual states in the publication’s coverage area, and has offered special coverage of the U.S. National teams. Coverage of the collegiate soccer during the fall will be a primary focus for Southern Soccer Scene Online.

With the expansion into the Florida soccer community, beginning with the February (‘99) issue, Southern Soccer Scene now has three Major League Soccer teams - D.C. United, Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion - within its market area. Also included are seven A-League and six USL D3 teams.

By launching a monthly supplement devoted entirely to youth and high school soccer in North Carolina, Southern Soccer Scene has been able to continue its strong commitment of news coverage to its NCYSA readers. This section is inserted into those copies of Southern Soccer Scene going to North Carolina subscribers.

North Carolina’s youth teams will be recognized in North Carolina Soccer Scene for their accomplishments in NCYSA state championship play. Teams will have the opportunity to have their tournament scores posted, and we will publish photographs of teams winning championships.

"While we are making changes in the format of our printed magazine to include more soccer coverage throughout the Southeast USA, we will continue to provide a section that is devoted to grassroots soccer in North Carolina," said Alley. "Within this supplement we will have greater space and editorial flexibility to recognize the hard work and accomplishments of the youth and high school programs in N.C.

"Only our subscribers in North Carolina will receive this section. In time we would hope to develop similar supplements for the other regions within our coverage and market area."

Southern Soccer Scene began as a North Carolina oriented publication 21 years ago. However, from the very beginning its name reflected an understanding that as soccer grew in popularity and in participation throughout the Southeastern United States that the various states within the region would have much in common.

Youth teams within the region compete in the same tournaments, and become familiar with each other. High school teams are now traveling from state to state. College conferences cross over state boundaries and college recruiters go to where the good players are to be found - quite often in the Southeast USA.

Professional teams play in leagues and conferences that span the Southeast, and many of the players who fill those rosters, and the rosters of the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams, once played collegiate soccer in our region. Many also played high school soccer in the South.

Southern Soccer Scene began to expand its coverage into other states just over three years ago by first adding a Soccer In Georgia section. Sections for South Carolina and Tennessee followed, and in the fall of ‘97 a section was added for Virginia. Soccer In Florida was added in February of this year.

"Over the next six months we will gradually expand the amount of space available in these sections," said Alley. "That expansion will allow space for more features and profile articles, many of which will cross state lines and reflect how much we share as a regional soccer community."

It is important that all of our NCYSA readers understand that after our newsletter relationship expires they will no longer receive Southern Soccer Scene except by subscription. Also, readers should be aware that our online version contains only a fraction of the news and articles contained in the printed edition.

Subscribe to the printed version for indepth coverage and check regularly for updates on our Online version!

The subscription page offers detailed subscription information.

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Nike, Reebok Absent From Super Show

Nike didn’t have a booth at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s annual vendor show during the NSCAA convention, held this year in Philadelphia. Reebok was there along with most of the other major soccer apparel companies, but neither will be showing at the Super Show in Atlanta in February.

One hundred and ninety-one companies had booths at the NSCAA event, from small spaces to large multi-unit show spaces. Even Umbro, which is making a comeback with new licensing partners, had a booth in Philadelphia.

Nike, which has been hit hard in sales of athletic footwear, especially during the recent NBA lockout, has trimmed $100 million from its marketing budget. That includes a lot of jobs in marketing and promotional area at the worldwide level, and Nike, along with many other companies are now rethinking the cost of showing their product lines to their top customers, including retailers, chains and catalogue companies.

"We do write some business at the NSCAA convention and at the Super Show, but we do it because we feel we need to be there," said one national marketing director for a company that is a competitor of Nike and Reebok. "We think in many ways it would be cost effective to invite our top 50 customers to a warm climate for a long weekend of golf and show them our new lines in a more relaxed atmosphere."

Nike Splits With Italian Soccer

Nike has announced that it has canceled its $15 million a year sponsorship of the Italian National team. Nike also has a long-term sponsorship contract with the United States Soccer Federation.

Diadora was once the sponsor of the Italian National Team, as Brazil was the crown jewel of Umbro’s international sponsorships, which also includes England and a number of professional clubs. Nike outbid both companies when the sponsorship agreements for Italy and Brazil were up for renewal.

Nike is reported to have cut its selling, general and administrative costs from $2.8 bill in its 1998 fiscal year to $2.4 bill in 1999.

Record Attendance In Philly

When Umbro USA closed its doors last spring a number of sponsorships in the U.S. were affected, including the one with the NSCAA. Umbro had become so prominent at the NSCAA Convention that it almost appeared to be an Umbro event.

The NSCAA has reached a new sponsorship agreement with adidas, which sponsored most of the programs at the convention that the NSCAA membership had become accustomed to attending. The new agreement is a long-term sponsorship that includes an involvement with the NSCAA coaching academy programs.

Philadelphia has been one of the more popular cities for the NSCAA convention and the 3,974 coaches who registered for the 1999 convention set a new registration record. Including All-America honorees, their families, and other honored guests, clinicians, etc., the participation total of 5,849 shattered the the old total participation record by more than 300. Next year’s NSCAA convention will be held in Baltimore, MD.

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Southern Soccer Scene
PO Box 19445
Greensboro, NC  27419
Phone: (336) 292-7015
Fax: (336) 292-8135
Email: questions@southernsoccerscene.com