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SCHEDULE 98/99 | INTERVIEWS | | |
Venues for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup are:
Venue Directors
Venue Director-Foxboro Stadium, Boston
Tim Larkin
Served as Manager of Stadium Operations during Men's World Cup USA 1994. Previous job was with Reebok International as an event producer at trade shows, international sales meetings, product launches and international sporting events. He served as venue manager for the beach volleyball competition at the 1996 Olympics.
Venue Director-Soldier Field, Chicago
Mathew Alexander
Previous job was as Marketing Director for the U.S. Senior Open Golf Championship. He secured corporate support of more than $1.6 million for the 1997 U.S. Senior Open.
Venue Director-Giants Stadium, New Jersey
Susan Marenoff
Previous job was as Vice-president for sales and Client Services at Madison Square Garden in New York. She was responsible for all aspects of ticket sales there.
Venue Director-Spartan Stadium, San Jose and Stanford Stadium, Palo
Alto.
Richard Muschell
Previous job was as Director of Premium Seat Marketing for the Golden State Warriors NBA Team. He directed the sales of suites,and club seating for the Oakland arena.
He served as Director of Ticket Sales for the NHL San Jose Sharks from 1990-96.
Venue Director-Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, Washington D.C.
Heather Quinn
Her previous job was as a consultant for the Davis Cup tennis event in the Washington D.C. Area. Prior to that she worked for the Washington Tennis Foundation raising money to promote tennis in the inner city.
SWWCup '99 Off and Running
By Rick Crow
If the latest Women's World Cup press conference in New York is any indication, the 1999 showcase for women's soccer is sure to be one hot event. Guests arriving at Manhattan's Supper Club on November 19 to witness the long-awaited announcement of the venues were surprised to find 47th Street cluttered with fire trucks responding to an alarm next door. After the "all-clear" was given, Women's World Cup Organizing Committee members swiftly moved the reporters and VIPs inside and managed to get them seated just minutes before hooking into a live television feed.
As lingering fire alarms continued to ring throughout the presentation, featured speakers were understandably a bit nervous and edgy. But throughout the presentation, organizers could be confident of one thing: the 1999 Women's World Cup will be the greatest women's sporting event in history.
Unlike the previous two New York Press conferences, where much time was spent explaining the concept of the Women's World Cup and introducing members to the media, the agenda was quite simple in November: Women's World Cup Chair Donna de Varona announced the venues, then committee members answered a few questions and the gathering broke up shortly after lunch.The 1999 Women's World Cup will kick off on June 19 at Giants Stadium in New Jersey and conclude on July 10 when the tournament's two top teams meet in the championship match at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Other sites hosting games will be Foxboro Stadium near Boston, Soldier Field in Chicago, Civic Stadium in Portland, Oregon, Spartan Stadium in San Jose, California, Stanford Stadium in suburban San Francisco and Jack Kent Cooke Stadium near Washington, D.C.
Featured in 1999 are five stadiums that played a huge role at the 1994 World Cup: Giants Stadium, Foxboro Stadium, Soldier Field, Stanford Stadium and the Rose Bowl all hosted men's World Cup matches. Washington D.C. staged games at RFK stadium, while San Jose is considered part of the San Francisco venue. Only the Portland soccer community will get its first taste World Cup soccer in 1999.
All 1999 Women's World Cup first-round matches and quarterfinals will be played as doubleheaders. The semifinals are scheduled as single games, while the championship and third-place matches will both take place at the Rose Bowl on the final day of the tournament. The United States, winner of the first Women's World Cup in 1991 and reigning Olympic champion, will open the competition at Giants Stadium, then play its remaining first-round games in Chicago and Boston. In an effort to showcase the U.S. team in as many venues as possible, the Americans are scheduled to play a quarterfinal match at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium if they finish first or second in their group, and another victory would send them to Stanford. Portland, the only venue not awarded a U.S. game, will host the American team in a special send-off match on the eve of the World Cup.The 1999 Women's World Cup participants will be determined by a mammoth worldwide qualification tournament played on every continent except Antarctica. The United States, as a World Cup host, and the other 15 finalists will be divided into four groups, with the first and second place teams advancing to the quarterfinals.
© WSW January/February 1998
Civic Stadium
Seven varied and exciting areas have been selected by the WWCup '99 organizing
committee to host games in the tournament. WSW will present a detailed look
at each of the venues in coming issues. We sent all sites a questionnaire
to follow up on the presentation by the World Cup committee at the venue
announcement.
We begin our look with Portland, Oregon.
The city of Portland is situated on the northwest coast of the United States, just 78 miles east of the Pacific Ocean and only 65 miles from Mount Hood. It covers 130 square miles with a population of 1.6 million in the metropolitan area (500,000 within the city limits). Average temperature in July is 80· F, and average rainfall is 37 inches.
Overlooked by snow capped mountains, it is a cosmopolitan city that has
somehow managed to retain some of its small town friendliness and character.
Known as the "City of Roses" because of the more than 500 varieties
of roses that bloom in the International Test Garden, its more than 37,000
acres of parks, coffee houses, outdoor and indoor art galleries, book shops
and theaters situated in a pedestrian friendly city center contribute to
its reputation as a laid-back civilized community with a beautiful scenic
countryside only 20 minutes away. For beer lovers it claims to have more
microbrewery outlets (27) than any other city in the USA.
WSW talked to Drew Mahalic, Executive Director of The Portland Oregon Sports
Authority.
WSW: At the venue announcement Marla Messing talked about "grass
roots participation being responsible for the success of the Cup."
Who are the "grass roots" in your area?
DM: The Oregon Youth Soccer Association (OYSA) with over 40,000 registered
soccer players as well as over 270 adult soccer teams with 6,000 registered
adult players.
WSW: What commitments of support from local organizations do you already
have?
DM: The Portland Oregon Sports Authority will be donating office space and
time to WWCup.
The WWCup '99 teams will be invited to train at several local colleges including
the University of Portland.
The Metropolitan Exposition Recreation Commission (MERC) which runs Civic
Stadium will be instrumental in everything from installing the grass, scheduling,
negotiating, and making the impossible possible.
The OYSA sold 18,000 seats for the Men's National team qualifier in September
1997, in one week after mailers were sent to their registered soccer families.
The other 10,000 seats were taken within the first eight hours of going
on sale. We are looking for that kind of support from OYSA again.
WSW: How will you be using their involvement?
DM: This undoubtedly will be a team effort. Starting with our original
bid to this point we have received nothing but complete cooperation and
support from all our partners. To what degree everyone will be involved,
only time will tell.
WSW: Messing talked specifically about the youth programs in your
area. What is their commitment?
DM: The leaders of the youth programs are on our bid committee, and
they were fully supportive of donating time and effort to this massive event
and making it a success. The youth programs could very well be the largest
demographic of ticket purchases.
WSW: What are your plans for building interest and participation in
1998 to ensure the success of the Cup?
DM: WWCup '99 will be hiring a full-time Director of Events in Portland
who will be laying the foundation in 1998. The Portland Oregon Sports Authority
will also be giving 40 hours a week towards our goal of selling out Civic
Stadium.
© WSW January/February 1998
Spartan Stadium & Stanford Stadium
WSW talked to John C. Boesch, Bay Area Host Committee Chair
WSW: At the venue announcement Marla Messing talked about "grass roots participation being responsible for the success of the Cup." Who are the "grass roots" in your area?
JB: The Bay Area Women's World Cup `99 bid was based upon widespread community support. It has been characterized as a "grassroots" effort because it goes well beyond any one civic or soccer organization. The support covers a huge geographic area and population base, ranging from San Jose up the peninsula to Palo Alto and San Francisco into Marin county, then east to Concord, and south again to San Jose.
It includes the soccer coaches, athletic and school administrations at San Jose University (Spartan Stadium) and Stanford Stadium, and soccer coaches at area universities, colleges and high schools. Other principals are convention and visitors bureaus, city councils, the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee, the San Jose Sports Authority, Bay Area Youth Soccer Legacy (a non-profit foundation), regional AYSO and CYSA officers, administrators and member clubs, and very importantly President Peter Bridgwater and his excellent staff at the San Jose Clash. Finally, there are a number of private citizens who believe very strongly that the Bay area is an ideal site for Women's World Cup matches.WSW: What commitments of support from local organizations do you already have?
JB: The private sector has committed hundreds of thousands of dollars of support to promote the matches and ticket sales. In addition to that support there are a number of other areas where the host committee will be obtaining in-kind support for things necessary to the matches.WSW: How will you be using their involvement?
JB: For the most part the local support will be used to reduce or eliminate expenses for promoting the matches and stimulating ticket sales. In some areas the Host Committee will be able to offset hard costs for certain other infrastructure elements.WSW: Messing talked specifically about the youth programs in your area. What is their commitment?
JB: The youth programs will be a major part of the ticket sales effort, as well as a source of volunteers for ceremonies and certain other stadium operations. For World Cup '94, the largest blocks of tickets were sold to organized youth programs.WSW: What are your plans for building interest and participation in 1998 to ensure the success of the Cup?
JB: It is important to realize that there will be fewer tickets available locally for all the Women's World Cup matches than for just two of the World Cup '94 or '84 Olympic matches, all of which were played at Stanford. Ergo, we have about 144,000 seats available, at a time when soccer popularity in the Bay Area is the highest ever.Consider also that interest in top flight women's competition has never been higher. World Cup '98 is a lead-in event, the U. S. Women will be pursuing their third consecutive World Cup medal, and shortly thereafter a repeat Gold Medal at the Olympics in Australia. On the strength of the foregoing there will be a huge amount of interest in the Women's World Cup, the games are likely to sell out rather easily.
We have amassed a huge marketing budget made up of both traditional and non-traditional media of practically every conceivable type. These commitments have come from local media, universities and colleges, soccer organizations, etc. We shall coordinate closely with the Organizing Committee relative to the commitment of those resources, and to determine the progress of ticket sales through the private or advance sale.Once we know which matches need additional support we shall begin to commit our resources accordingly. Due to the nature of some of the commitments, they will lend themselves better to inclusion in specific flight timing (e.g.- athletic department mailings at the universities and colleges timed to just lead the specific season).
Prospective volunteers who are interested on serving on the Host Committee can contact John Boesch, Chairman, Bay Area Host Committee by mail at: P.O. Box 193730, San Francisco, CA 94119-3730 or fax (415) 956-2911© WSW March/April 1998
