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GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

Women's soccer capitalizing on fan frenzy created by the U.S. Olympic team's gold medal win

It was golden in China at the 1991 Women's World Cup. It was golden this summer in Atlanta. And now, prospects for the college game are as good as gold as far as most coaches are concerned.

Those coaches see Olympic gold becoming green at the gate as one of the NCAA's fastest-growing sports attracts the attention they feel it deserves.

The evidence was overwhelming in Atlanta. The U.S. Olympic team's ability to harvest gold wasn't the real brow-raiser at the Summer Games -- it was the number of people who watched. More than 108,000 fans witnessed the team's first-round games at three venues, including 55,650 at Miami for the match against China. More than 64,000 fans packed Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, for the semifinal win over Norway, then a world-record crowd of 76,481 watched the U.S. down China for gold.

Those crowds are now spilling over into college stadiums across the country.

At the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, nearly 5,000 paying customers filled the stands for the Tar Heels' opener against Duke University. North Carolina, winner of 12 national championships, always has been a popular ticket, but the August throng surprised even Tar Heels coach Anson Dorrance.

"We always have excellent crowd support," he said. "But our opener against Duke was just overwhelming -- and the first thing that went through my mind was, oh my gosh, look at the Olympic impact already."

Dorrance believes the Olympics may have triggered the expansion of an already solid fan base that is equating Olympic soccer with college soccer.

"The fan interest is good and getting better," he said. "Everyone involved now in women's soccer is concluding that, yes, it can be a spectator draw, with the Olympics certainly being the beacon for us. The crowds at those games were just phenomenal. We were selling out football stadiums -- and for those of us who have been involved since the beginning it was kind of chilling."

Dorrance isn't the only coach who sees an Olympic fan trickle-down. Jerry Smith, coach at Santa Clara University, said attendance figures there are climbing even though the Broncos are traditionally strong at the gate.

Santa Clara's Buck Shaw Stadium, in fact, is already sold out for this year's Division I women's finals.

"There is a heightened awareness of the quality of women's soccer players and teams we have in this country," Smith said. "We've always drawn very well here at Santa Clara, but we're already seeing higher numbers -- I think it's because of women's soccer being in the Olympics and the team winning the gold medal and there being perhaps some future Olympians in our program."

Smith said he has shown the tape of the gold-medal game to his players. The Broncos also benefit from Smith's assistant coach, Brandi Chastain, having played for the U.S. squad.

"Having her in our program has made perhaps a little more impact in that our players are seeing and dealing with a gold medalist every day," Smith said. "Our players hear about the games and the 76,000 at the final -- and they see the support that was given to women's soccer and they see the level of play -- and recognize that some of them have an opportunity to also be future Olympians. That's tremendously inspirational to them.

"For some of our players who maybe have felt soccer doesn't get the recognition it deserves or maybe that soccer players don't get the recognition other athletes get, it is confirmation that this is a top women's sport -- not only in the country but in the world."

April Heinrichs, coach at the University of Virginia, thinks that type of respect will boost the college game at the grass-roots level as well.

"The impact of the gold medal will be found at the youth levels," she said. "More kids are picking up soccer, and more kids are getting recognition for soccer -- more recognition and respect for being a soccer player."

She said the media might make more of a commitment at that level, too. Local teams that advance to state championships, for example, may receive more coverage now; in the past, such achievements may have gone unnoticed in print.

"I get the sense that every year we're evolving a little bit," she said. "How much of that can be attributed to a gold medal, I'm not certain, but I'd like to think it had an impact. Our rating-board system is more organized than it's ever been, and scores are being reported in USA Today and certain magazines more thoroughly than ever."

According to some coaches, that exposure could translate into dollars. As corporate sponsors vie for areas to market their wares, women's collegiate soccer -- in part because of proven Olympic success -- may start inking more contracts.

"The Olympics proved that women's soccer can draw," said University of Notre Dame coach Chris Petrucelli. "And if you're a company, that's what you want -- you want to be exposed to as many people as possible and we're proving now that we are an option.

"If you know you can cite the Olympics as an example, it helps you sell things -- it helps you sell your own tournament and to get these kinds of people involved in your program. And that will mean dollars into our sport and more exposure, television, print media and corporate sponsors -- people willing to do some promotion and put some money into your program to maybe sponsor a tournament or to do some giveaways to try and get people in the stands."

"The people who sit in the stands and watch women's soccer games are a very rich part of our population," Dorrance said. "It's certainly a part that corporate America would love to have in its pockets. The women's demographics are even more attractive than the men's."

Corporate sponsors already have latched onto the post-Olympic soccer hype. Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers and others have reaped endorsements. Dorrance said he was channel-surfing recently and caught a shampoo commercial featuring Hamm. He said he had to do a double take to recognize his former Tar Heel star.

Dorrance believes the exposure not only benefits the Olympic heroes, but the heroes in waiting -- both at the college and youth levels.

"The success of the national team in general has given our athletes a collection of idols. The difference in the Olympic success is that this now goes beyond the soccer community. There's always been a collection of soccer die-hards at the collegiate level who know the national team players and have followed their successes, but what this has done is given our stars a chance not just to be soccer stars, but media stars as well."

That type of attention isn't lost on the thousands of youth players and collegiate players who now have something extra to shoot for. Smith said he has already seen the difference in working with the Olympic development program for youth soccer.

"There are a lot of players who have been in that program whose goals were to improve as an individual and to be seen by college coaches and hopefully be recruited to a top college program," he said. "But what we're seeing now and what we'll see in the future is players understanding that not only do they have an opportunity to be recognized and recruited by top colleges, but they have the opportunity to be an Olympian -- to be a gold medalist."

Heinrichs, a former standout at North Carolina, said her dream always had been to be an Olympian, but soccer wasn't an option at that time. Her grandfather bought her a javelin, and she participated in the Junior Olympics in the softball throw, but she would have chosen soccer it it had been an Olympic sport then.

That door is open now to prospective players, and they message they are getting is loud and clear: American women's soccer is world-class women's soccer.

And fans are realizing that since the Olympic team featured current or former college players, the soccer played on college campuses may in fact be some of the best women's soccer in the world.

"What women's Division I collegiate soccer is equated with is probably professional leagues around the world," Smith said. "There are good leagues in Norway, Japan and Sweden, and in most people's eyes, since there is no pro league here, the preparation for that level falls upon the college Division I programs. So there's no doubt we're equated to top professional leagues around the world."

A professional women's league may not be far away, according to Dorrance. He said he is involved with a project that may provide options for players beyond the college level.

Major League Soccer, a men's outdoor league launched this year, is achieving success, and Dorrance believes the Olympic success may be enough to generate something similar for women as early as the spring of 1998.

"It's still in the drawing-board stage," Dorrance said. "I think an elite league is perhaps a better description (than a professional league). Some of the players will be professional and some will be semiprofessional, but we haven't reached the point yet where we could launch a full professional league."