INTRODUCTION

Lady Footlocker is part of the athletic shoe and Apparel Empire owned by Footlocker. This includes other stores owned by the Footlocker chain such as Foot Action, Champs, and East Bay. Lady Footlocker was founded in 1982 in Joliet, Illinois. Lady Footlocker originates from the Woolworth family, as does Footlocker, and its other chain stores. Over the last quarter century, Lady Footlocker has risen to become the largest retailer of women’s athletic footwear, apparel, and accessories. Lady Footlocker has over 600 retail locations throughout the United States, Europe, and Canada. Most Lady Footlocker locations boast an average retail space of 2200 square feet. Lady Footlocker prided itself on providing the best in woman-to-woman service and product selection.

BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM Lady Footlocker is brand of Foot Locker, Inc. to meet women’s consumer’s needs in athletic footwear and apparel. Foot Locker, Inc. is an American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and operating in approximately 20 countries worldwide. Formerly known as Venator Group, Inc., it is the successor corporation to the F.W. Woolworth Company. Foot Locker, Inc. operates the eponymous “Foot Locker” chain of athletic footwear retail outlets (along with “Kids Foot Locker” and “Lady Foot Locker” stores), Champs Sports, Footaction USA, and Eastbay/Footlocker.com Eastbay/Footlocker.com own the rights to Final Score, ESPN Shop, AFL Store, and The United States Olympic Shop. The chain is known for its employees' uniforms, resembling those of referees. Now a days women are no longer different than men, but we think it’s vice versa because men do things now that women usually do, like taking care of the kids and cooking, as for women they do most of the things men do these times, they are actually more precise and motivated in terms of work attitude, but we believe women do have it harder because of the physical distinctions. But does that distinction stop them? We don’t believe so… A very good example is Ms Rebecca Lobo, born October 6, 1973. attended the university of Connecticut between 1992 –1995 as a Political Science Major. She became the school’s all-time leader in rebounding and blocked shots, while averaging 16.9 points per game. Playing center at Connecticut, Lobo was named the 1994 and 1995 Big East Conference player of the Year as well as an Academic All-American. In 1995 NCAA Championship she was named the Final Four Most Valuable Player. Lobo also received the Wade trophy in 1995 as consensus National Player of the Year. She was also the youngest member of the 1996 USA Women’s Olympic Team at Atlanta Olympics winning a gold medal. Also one of the starting line ups of New York Liberty in the WNBA in 1997.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Is there retail potential in a signature product built around an emerging professional women’s player such as Rebecca Lobo?

ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM The purpose of this paper is to examine the increase in endorsement marketability of professional female athletes. Professional female sports figures are becoming more popular and as a result are receiving larger endorsement contracts from non-sport specific and sport specific corporations such as Lady Footlocker. The 1996 Summer Olympic Games produced more female endorsers such as Rebecca Lobo than in any past Olympic Games. A growing trend among American corporations like Lady Footlocker is to increase the use of female athletes as product endorsers secondary to the growth of the female sports market and the stagnation and saturation of the men’s market. With the development of professional women’s leagues, corporations are interested in hiring these new sports figures. Lady Footlocker is competing for the use of sportswomen as advertising models in an attempt to boost product image, sales, and loyalty. However, female professional athletes are still well behind professional male athletes when it comes to product endorsement opportunities.
ALTERNATIVES TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM • Assess the athlete's marketability. • Locate a natural link between the athlete and the product, create an association recognizable to the market audience. • Determine how "hot" (popular) the athlete is at the present time. • Know if the athlete is truly likable. • Know if the sport celebrity will have real impact in conveying genuine conviction about the benefits of the product. • Know the athlete's past and present endorsements history, to ensure no marketing conflicts.
RECOMENDATION
We recommend that marketing personnel at Lady Footlocker should assess the athlete’s marketability to ensure product sales. The marketability of an athlete depends on tangible factors, such as level of skill and success in the sport. Marketability also depends on many intangible factors. Such factors include the consumer’s perception of the athlete's level of skill and success in his/her sport and individual characteristics, such as image, charisma, physical appearance, and personality.

They should also locate the link between the athlete and the product, for good or ill, a highly marketable athlete with an established association to a product also creates an association with the company in the mind of the consumer. They should also check the Image and history of the athlete because companies that feature female athletes as endorsers tend to show a more personal side of the sports figure. An athlete’s image can be a double-edged promotional sword, companies seeking celebrity athletes should exercise caution when offering endorsement contracts. Allegations of illicit, unethical, unusual, or even slightly unconventional behavior can tarnish the image of a corporation or brand name product. No sponsor wants the smoking gun of scandal or potentially unscrupulous characteristics to be tied to its precious brand name.

LEARNINGS In the past, corporations avoided giving endorsement contracts to female athletes on the basis that female consumers did not respond to female athletic images the same way men responded to male athletic images. Advertisers feared that consumers would view female athletes as overly "masculine" and react negatively to such an image. The advertising industry even used female models to portray female athletes instead of the athletes themselves. However, given the potential increase in media exposure for women’s sports, the already large and growing female sports consumer market, and the potential stagnation of the male sports markets, corporations should actively pursue female athletes as endorsers. Through endorsement deals, female athlete is finally beginning to be taken seriously by the corporate world and by the general public. Consumer product companies are always looking for the next certifiable, identifiable star. Increasingly, women are becoming these stars. Perhaps with the addition of a female professional basketball league, female athletes may have more opportunities to endorse consumer goods. As female professional sports become more common place in the media, than the value of female endorsements contracts will increase.
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Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law enacted on June 23, 1972. It was renamed in 2002 as the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most commonly known simply as Title IX. The law states that No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance...
—United States Code Section 20, Although Title IX is best known for its impact on high school and collegiate athletics, the original statute made no explicit mention of sports.