Delran’s Carli Lloyd to Be on Sports Illustrated Cover
Sports Illustrated is honoring the 2015 U.S. Women’s World Cup championship team in a way no other team has been honored before.
In an “unprecedented” move for the nationwide sports magazine, SI is giving all 24 members of the U.S. Women’s World Cup team — including coach Jill Ellis — each their own cover. A 25th cover features Delran’s Carli Lloyd in a group shot which also includes Julie Johnston, aka Zach Ertz’s squeeze. (See the covers here.)
“On Tuesday, July 7, we alighted on the idea of one cover for each of the 23, plus a 24th for the coach,” said Chris Stone, Sports Illustrated managing editor. “The USWNT has plenty of recognizable, even famous names, but we couldn’t think of a group so thoroughly identified with a team as this one. We could go two ways: a team shot, which seemed a little conventional here, or something different and fresh: honoring not just one or two players, but all 23 of them with their own cover.
SI’s Simon Bruty, who shot the covers, was reportedly headed to his home in Washington, D.C. from Los Angeles when the team arrived there from Vancouver to celebrate its victory. SI says they were lucky that New York City planned a ticker-tape parade — which it traditionally only does for New York championship teams — down Lower Broadway for this past Friday, which is when SI shot each of the players and coach holding the World Cup trophy.
For now, you can view the gallery of covers on SI’s website (they’ll be made available when the issue hits stands this week), and watch a behind-the-scenes video of the shoot below.
As mentioned above, New York City on Friday hosted a nationally televised ticker-tape parade down the famed “Canyon of Heroes” on Lower Broadway from Battery Park to New York City Hall. The World Cup winners received symbolic “keys to the City” from Mayor Bill de Blasio and much fanfare from fans lining the streets and holding up signs, and the champions stood, waved and blew kisses from atop their floats as streamers fell from office windows towering above.
Watch video of that celebration below:
The parade was a special honor for the women’s team, as these parades have only ever featured New York professional men’s teams. This particular parade was also only the second in 30 years to celebrate athletes not playing in New York, the New York Times reported. In 1984, New York City bestowed the honor upon U.S. Olympians from that year’s summer games in Los Angeles.
Lloyd also tweeted #CHAMPIONS from Times Square.
#CHAMPIONS pic.twitter.com/PZLGEiGZoO
— Carli Lloyd (@CarliLloyd) July 10, 2015
Congrats, Lloyd and company. You deserved this.
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