Columnist Steve Carp: They won the Cup — now what?

Steve Carp

Monday, July 12, 1999 | 10:32 a.m.

Steve Carp is a Las Vegas Sun sportswriter. Reach him at carp@lasvegassun.com or 259-4087.

You knew this was a big deal when a couple bridesmaids at the wedding I attended bailed out on the party to watch the round of penalty kicks that decided the outcome of the Women's World Cup.

And you knew it was big when 90,185, including the president of the United States, spent their Saturday at the Rose Bowl to watch. Virtually every newspaper in America gave it front-page coverage in the main section and all three networks led with it on the 6 p.m. news.

A group of highly skilled, extremely motivated female athletes have won our respect, admiration and love. We proved we are the best nation on the planet when it comes to women's soccer. Mission accomplished.

Great. So, where do we go from here?

That may be the most perplexing dynamic to come out of Saturday's 5-4 penalty-kick verdict over a fine and equally determined China side. How does U.S. Soccer, the country's sanctioning body of the sport, capitalize on what was accomplished?

Can it capitalize? And in what form? Or does it fade from our consciousness, left to be stored in the safety deposit boxes of our memory banks along with the Miracle of Lake Placid in 1980?

For those who support soccer, it's a nice dilemma to have. It would be great if something lasting can grow out of the roots of the Women's World Cup. But I have my concerns and doubts as two recent examples come to mind.

In 1996, the USA softball team with former UNLV great Lori Harrigan (remember her?) captured gold at the Atlanta Olympics. The nation went ga-ga over the gals.

What happened? A small, tidy pro league emerged and we basically forgot about softball. Come next spring when the Olympics return to your TV set, we'll catch softball fever again, provided the USA women can repeat what they did in Atlanta.

In 1998, we sent an excellent, exciting group of women hockey players to Nagano, Japan. They too, won the gold medal, causing a stir in the public's sports consciousness. They were similar to the USA soccer team in that they were highly skilled, extremely popular and successful.

Since Nagano, how much have you heard about women's ice hockey? There has been some talk that some colleges will add the sport to cover their Title IX butts, but chances are you won't be talking women's pucks until the Salt Lake Olympics in 2002.

Those are the odds women's soccer in this country will be trying to buck.

Can women's soccer remain in the public's eye? In this case, there's a good chance because the majority of this World Cup team could remain intact for next year's Olympics, where the USA is the defending gold-medal champion. That would keep the TV embers stoked.

The expert marketing done by the Women's World Cup committee could also have a carryover. There's talk of starting a women's pro league here. Excuse me, but isn't there already one (the "W League") already in place? And isn't it struggling to get people to its games?

A revamped pro league won't get the media attention and it's unlikely the support will increase, because what happens when Mia Hamm goes against Julie Foudy in a pro game? Who do we root for?

That's what will make the upcoming months so interesting. Let's see what U.S. Soccer can do to maintain the excitement and momentum. It's a challenge it probably wasn't banking on.