Lately I've noticed some more United States women's soccer (USWNT) players tweeting more sponsored tweets or those tweets that come off as obligatory ads based on a contract. Usually it's for a silly company and/or it doesn't seem like anyone tried very hard to mask the ad.
Very few women's soccer players are becoming millionaires just by playing the game, especially in the United States. (Of course I actually don't think professional athletes need to be millionaires, but that's for another day.) I credit those players who have been able to utilize agents and/or take advantage of their stock to secure outside sponsorships. In the latest version of women's professional soccer (NWSL) in the U.S. many players can't afford to live off of their salary. The USWNT players are paid by US Soccer, the national governing body, and many other players work other jobs, play overseas in the offseason and/or live with host families to make ends meet. I can understand that a sponsor might be helpful.
Typically, sponsorships are seen as a gauge to judge success. Businesses, colleges, athletes and more are looking for new ways to add sponsors. Sometimes the sponsor trades ad space for product, while other times the sponsor will pay for ad space or some form of promotion. An individual or a group's ability to add sponsors, typically showcases marketability and/or popularity. No one is knocking on my door to sponsor my blog based on my limited views, but the top blogs have the potential to be profitable with ad space. Very few Fortune 500 companies are seeking out the NWSL as a league or USWNT players to sponsor. Many will judge the league's success based on not only the number of sponsors and amount of sponsorship dollars, but the quality of the sponsors.
I want few things more than to see women's soccer players make a living playing the game they love. I just start to wonder when players are promoting Nesquik as a way to refuel after exercise and sending cheesy tweets about Cocoa Pebbles… Is this a sign that companies are willing to compensate women's soccer players or are players willing to sell out to make a quick buck? Are you going to buy Nesquik because I tweet about it? Are you more likely to buy it if Sydney Leroux tweets about it? Maybe all of these little kids are forcing their parents into buying it for them… but I must say I never used Pert Plus because Mia Hamm supposedly did.
Of course this could also just irritate me because I think it treads on the twitter landscape of "authentic" communication with people previously unreachable. Twitter succeeds when people feel like they're hearing from those people they may not have access to otherwise. Do your followers trust you when you sprinkle in sponsored tweets? Do your followers believe that you really use that product? Regardless, I'm interested to see where it goes. Will sponsored tweets continue to gain steam or will they fade? Will more USWNT players pick up sponsors if these others succeed? Can't wait to find out…
