Women’s soccer has been steadily gaining popularity, but Sunday’s UEFA Women’s Euro title match between England and Germany has taken fan interest to a new level.

England’s 2-1 victory drew more than 17 million viewers on BBC One. An Ipsos poll found that 44% of British people and 64% of British soccer fans are more interested in women’s soccer in the wake of the contest.

• Companies are already showing heightened interest in investment, according to a Financial Times report.
• UEFA expects to raise $60.9 million in sponsorship money from the Women’s Euro tournament, but that number is expected to rise in future years. The men’s tournament raised $1.9 billion.
• An October match at Wembley stadium between the England and U.S. women’s teams sold out all its general admission tickets in record time, with only hospitality packages remaining.

UEFA ran a loss on the tournament as a whole, saying it is happy to make a long-term investment in the sport.

The Swoosh Bounce

The surging interest in women’s soccer could pay dividends for Nike, which has made substantial investments in the sport. The company sponsors 12 of the 23 players on England’s team.

Nike doubled its investment in women’s products over the past two years, seeking to close the gap of $8.3 billion to $18.8 billion in women’s and men’s respective product sales for the 12 months ending May 31.

The Oakland A’s encountered another roadblock to staying in their home city.

A lawsuit challenging a key vote was filed on Friday, arguing that the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission violated environmental law.

• In June, the commission voted to redesignate the Howard Terminal area, where the team seeks to build, to be not exclusively for port use. 
• The lawsuit challenges that decision, saying the commission failed to take the environmental impact of the A’s proposed development into account.
• The A’s seek to build a $1 billion stadium as part of a $12 billion development that would include housing, retail, restaurants, hotels, and a park area.

Beyond the lawsuit, the major remaining hurdle is to strike a deal with Oakland’s city council. The council is on recess until September.

Any delay in the process could be consequential: Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf has been the A’s strongest backer in city government, but she is termed out and will be replaced following November’s election.

Visit from Vegas

Casino magnate Phil Ruffin reportedly traveled to the Bay Area on Tuesday to discuss a potential Las Vegas stadium site with A’s executives. 

Ruffin owns Circus Circus and the neighboring Las Vegas Festival Grounds. The festival grounds were considered a potential site for a Las Vegas stadium, but seemed to fall by the wayside over the course of the A’s search. 

Ruffin’s visit suggests that the site has reemerged as a possibility. Previous reports stated that the A’s had narrowed their Vegas search to two sites.

Despite strong returns in recent months, Allbirds is setting part of its “Flock” free.

On Tuesday, the direct-to-consumer footwear brand confirmed that it was laying off 23 employees. The dismissals were first posted on startup layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi and reported by SFGATE.com.

“We have thoughtfully evaluated roles and processes in each department, and in each market, to ensure our operating structure is set up for the next phase of growth,” a spokesperson told SFGATE. “In this process, we looked for ways to streamline workflows, reduce duplicative efforts, and put past learnings and operational insights into practice.”

The company has seen its stock drop 70% year-to-date.

Still, the staff cut comes in stark contrast to the company’s robust last two quarters.

• In February, Allbirds reported a record $97.2 million in revenue for Q4 2021 and a 27% year-over-year increase in full-year revenue.
• In May, it reported $62.8 million in Q1 2022 revenue — a 26% year-over-year increase and a 49% increase from Q1 2020.

Flock Flying Away

In context, Allbirds’ cuts were not incredibly drastic.

As of December 2021, the company employed 710 people — meaning this week’s layoffs accounted for only about 3% of its workforce.

The company is providing severance for the departed employees, though it would not comment on the specifics.

“The decision to say goodbye to members of our Flock is not one we made lightly, and we are supporting impacted team members to give them a soft landing,” the spokesperson said.

Nintendo failed to meet expectations in the company’s latest earnings report. 

The video game giant reported $2.3 billion in sales for the three months ending June 30, 2022, down from $2.4 billion for the same period last year. Its operating profit reached $758 million during the quarter, compared to $894 million for the three months ending June 30, 2021. 

Nintendo posted lackluster results behind supply chain disruptions and the semiconductor shortage plaguing the tech industry, leading to a reduction in hardware and software sales. 

• Wall Street analysts projected Nintendo to report $2.5 billion in sales during the quarter.
• Analysts also estimated the gaming company would post $860 million in operating profit.
• Software sales fell to 41.4 million units, down from 45.3 million for the same period last year. 

The report also revealed that the company is behind schedule for production of its Switch console, sales of which also took a hit during the quarter. 

The Switch — 111 million total units sold since its March 2017 release — saw sales reach 3.43 million units, compared to 4.45 million units for the three months ending June 30, 2021. 

Nintendo expects to have Switch production return to its normal pace by the end of the summer. 

Saudi Investment 

The Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s roughly $600 billion sovereign wealth fund — which has an extensive gaming portfolio — acquired a 5% stake in Nintendo for $3 billion in May.

The investment makes the PIF the video game company’s fifth-largest shareholder.