During the month of August, one of the premier sporting events was the woman’s world cup played in Australia and New Zealand. In many aspects, the tournament was very successful about 2 million people paid tickets, for game between Australia and England approximately 70% of the TVs were tuned into the game and if you did not know Spain beat England 1-0 to capture the title. Behind the scenes is where sports can be interesting, if you watched the game the jerseys of England and Spain as well as all the other countries had a brand on it, what was the brand?

In an article by Katerine Masters, Amy Tennery and Helen Reid of Reuters, two of the largest sporting apparel manufacturers were represented in the final. Nike sponsored England and Adidas sponsored Spain.

In 2019, the last Woman’s World Cup, the US won the cup and Nike’s home jersey became the top-selling soccer jersey, for both men and women, ever sold in a single season. Nike executives told investors. Overall revenue in the 1st quarter after the tournament grew 10% including double digit growth in woman’s business. Sales were made after the tournament.

In 2019, the woman’s apparel business was 4 times it was in the 2015 world cup.

Of the 32 teams in the tournament, Nike had backed 13 teams and Adidas had 10.

Australia was the co-host of the tournament and their woman’s team went to the semi-final. This translated into 13 times as many jerseys were sold were compared to 2019. The semi-final game was the most watched TV in 25 years with up to 11.15 million viewers.

Adidas said it sees continuing demand for Spain jerseys and came out with celebratory apparel.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in sporting events the appeal has to translate past the normal audience that will tend to go to or watch the game. When the public catches the event, many will pay for something to remember the game or the experience. In Australia, there was a large marketing promotion, but the Australians believed in the magic of the team and regular people made a difference. Companies send millions of dollars on trying to find the magic and you only know when it happens, but when it happens consumers open their wallets. Hopefully for a sporting event you have been caught up in the run for the magic. As an investor, if you see it, there are ways to make some money along the way, there are opportunities to be found.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.