Amid positive jobs numbers, politicians hedge bets

WASHINGTON — The top jobs numbers for June would have seemed to be cause for some appreciation. After all, the unemployment rate dipped to 6.1 percent, the lowest in six years, and hiring showed five months of steady growth.

But the public continues to perceive the economy as poor.

So, heading into a midterm campaign season, the politicians on Thursday hedged their bets and pointed fingers.

"In the voting booth, economic perception beats economic statistics every time," Republican pollster Whit Ayres said.

Indeed, after five months of steady job growth and after hitting a six-year low in unemployment, the reaction in Washington Thursday was a collective, "Yeah, but ..."

Even President Barack Obama, who would be eager to take credit for an economy on the mend, felt compelled to throw in a dampening caveat as he drew attention to the 288,000 jobs created in June, to the lower 6.1 percent unemployment rate and to the fastest job growth since 1999.

"As much progress as has been made, there are still folks out there who are struggling," he said Thursday. "We still have not seen as much increase in income and wages as we'd like to see. A lot of folks are still digging themselves out of challenges that arose out of the Great Recession."

To be sure, there are real economic reasons to be wary, or at least not euphoric, over the most recent report.

The labor market remains weak, with a labor force participation rate stuck at 62.8 percent, the lowest since 1978. Construction jobs reached their highest since June 2009 but are still more than 1.7 million jobs below its 2006 peak, according to an analysis of jobs numbers by the Associated General Contractors of America.

Moreover, hiring has tended to be predominantly in low wage jobs, leading to stagnant wage growth, and the number of hours worked per week has not changed.

"The headline number masks the lingering structural weakness in the U.S. labor market," said Lindsey Piegza, a chief economist at the Sterne Agee brokerage.

"Even if we saw June's rate of job growth every month from here on out, we still wouldn't get back to health in the labor market for another 2 1/2 years," said Heidi Shierholz of the liberal Economic Policy Institute.

More important, beyond those statistics, are public perceptions of the economy.

An Associated Press-GfK poll in May, found that the share of those surveyed who called the economy "good" stood at 34 percent, while 65 percent described it as poor. That's about the same as it has been all year, though slightly above where it was during the partial government shutdown in October. Few expect improvement in the economy over the next 12 months, and more expected it to get worse.

The perceptions have a partisan hue, as well.

Economic confidence as measured by Gallup found Democrats had the highest and Republicans the lowest.

In the face of that, politicians are not likely to cheer an economic number.

Consider this from Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota: "Too many working families are still treading water. Our focus now must be on solutions that strengthen the middle class and give more hardworking Americans a fair shot by raising the minimum wage, making college more affordable and investing in workforce training."

And this from Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus: "We're glad to see some Americans found work last month, but we can't rest until jobs are easy to find. That's why Republicans have passed dozens of jobs bills in the House of Representatives. Sadly, Democrats in Washington, D.C., have other priorities."

What's more, Democrats and Republicans want to blame each other for not enacting policies they say would create more jobs. So Obama complains about Republicans not increasing the minimum wage and Republican House Speaker John Boehner says Obama has failed to lead on issues such as trade and workplace flexibility.

"In order for us to make real progress, the president must do more than criticize," Boehner said.

With the economy still emerging as the top issue of the day with a plurality of voters, each side will continue to brand the other as uncompromising obstructionists. And even if the economic trends show improvement, the fall campaign season may be coming too quickly to change the battleground.

"It takes a long time for economic statistics to be felt in people's pocketbooks," Ayres said. "It may be too late at this point to affect the political environment of the midterm elections."

What's more, neither side has an incentive to tout much progress.

"For Republicans, the reality is that they are not going to want to give credit for anything that Obama should be credited for," said Ken Warren, a political scientist and pollster at St. Louis University. "As for Democrats, when the public feels some way in the polls and it's not going to play well, even the Democrats in this case would see a downside.

"To contradict what the people think can be perceived as liability."

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Associated Press Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

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Follow Jim Kuhnhenn on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn

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Unions representing government workers are gaining

WASHINGTON — Unions representing government workers are expanding while organized labor has been shedding private sector members over the past half-century.

A majority of union members today now have ties to a government entity, at the federal, state or local levels.

Roughly 1-in-3 public sector workers is a union member, compared with about 1-in-15 for the private sector workforce last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall, 11.3 percent of wage and salary workers in the United States are unionized, down from a peak of 35 percent during the mid-1950s in the strong post-World War II recovery.

The typical union worker now is more likely to be an educator, office worker or food or service industry employee rather than a construction worker, autoworker, electrician or mechanic. Far more women than men are among the union-label ranks.

In a blow to public sector unions, the Supreme Court ruled this week that thousands of health care workers in Illinois who are paid by the state cannot be required to pay fees that help cover a union's cost of collective bargaining.

The justices said the practice violates the First Amendment rights of nonmembers who disagree with stances taken by unions.

The ruling was narrowly drawn, but it could reverberate through the universe of unions that represent government workers. The case involved home-care workers for disabled people who are paid with Medicaid funds administered by the state.

Also in June, a California judge declared unconstitutional the state's teacher tenure, dismissal and layoff laws. The judge ordered a stay of the decision, pending an appeal by the state and teachers union.

"The basic structure of the labor union movement has changed, reflecting changes in the economy," said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University. "Manufacturing is a diminishing segment of the economy. Also, a lot of the manufacturing that's being done today is being done nonunion."

Union members continue to be a powerful political force in politics, and Baker said he didn't see the role of unions diminishing. "I just think the colors of the collars are changing," Baker said.

In 2013, 14.5 million workers belonged to a union, about the same as the year before. In 1983, the first year for which comparable figures are available, there were 17.7 million union workers.

The largest union is the National Education Association, with 3.2 million members. It represents public school teachers, administrators and students preparing to become teachers.

Next is the 2.1-million Service Employees International Union. About half its members work in the public sector.

The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees has 1.6 million, followed by the American Federation of Teachers with 1.5 million and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters with 1.4 million.

There are 1.3 million members in the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

Until four years ago, the unionization rate was far higher in the private sector than in the public sector. Now the roles are reversed.

But it's been a bumpy road for public unions in some Republican-governed states.

In 2011, Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis., took on public sector unions forcefully soon after he was swept into office. He got enacted a bill effectively ending collective bargaining for most public workers in the state. He withstood huge labor demonstrations at the state Capitol and then became the first governor in U.S. history to defeat a recall attempt. The law has been challenged in court, and continues to be. But its main thrust so far has been upheld.

A sign of the decline of traditional labor unions came in May when the United Automobile Workers raised its membership dues for the first time in 27 years to help offset declining membership. Also, the defeat in February of the UAW's effort to unionize workers at Volkswagen's Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant was a setback to labor.

A 2013 Gallup poll showed that 54 percent of Americans said they approved of labor unions, down from the all-time high of 75 percent in both 1953 and 1957.

"Labor unions play a diminishing role in the private sector, but they still claim a large share of the public sector workforce," says Chris Edwards, director of tax studies at the libertarian, free-market Cato Institute.

"Public sector unions are important to examine because they have a major influence on government policies through their vigorous lobbying efforts. ... They are particularly influential in states that allow monopoly unionization through collective bargaining."

Since 2000, factories have shed more than 5 million jobs. Five states — Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina Georgia and Texas — ban collective bargaining in the public sector.

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Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum

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Solid US job gains pointing to a stronger recovery

WASHINGTON — The 5-year-old U.S. recovery is gaining momentum from a surprisingly robust job market and moving the economy closer to full health.

Employers added 288,000 jobs in June and helped cut the unemployment rate from 6.3 percent to 6.1 percent, the lowest since 2008. It was the fifth straight monthly gain above 200,000 — the best such stretch since the late 1990s tech boom.

The stock market signaled its approval. The Dow Jones industrial average surged 92 points to top 17,000 for the first time.

The breadth and consistency of the job growth are striking in part because of how poorly the year began. The economy shrank at a steep 2.9 percent annual rate in the January-March quarter as a harsh winter contributed to the sharpest contraction since the depths of the recession.

Yet employers have shrugged off that setback. They've kept hiring.

The unemployment rate dipped from 6.3 percent in May to its lowest level since the financial crisis struck with full force in the fall of 2008, when the Wall Street firm Lehman Brothers went bankrupt.

"This has now become a textbook jobs expansion," said Patrick O'Keefe, director of economic research at the consultancy CohnReznick. "It is both broad and accelerating."

At least one nagging doubt is dampening the enthusiasm: Can the stepped-up hiring lead to higher incomes? Wages have yet to outpace inflation for most workers. Eventually, analysts say, the falling unemployment rate should cause pay to rise more sharply. But no one knows precisely when.

The jobs report did make clear that, five years after the recession officially ended, the U.S. economy is showing more vitality even as major economies in Europe and Asia continue to struggle.

Last month's solid hiring followed gains of 217,000 jobs in May and 304,000 in April, figures that were revised upward by a combined 29,000.

Over the past 12 months, the economy has added nearly 2.5 million jobs — an average of 208,000 a month, the fastest year-over-year pace since 2006.

Economists say the steady U.S. hiring should fuel more purchases of goods from Asia and Europe and strengthen those economies at least slightly. Much of Europe is suffering from high unemployment. And China is trying to moderate its economy's growth without slowing it too much.

"If we have some momentum going into the second half of the year, it helps the world economy because we're big consumers," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services.

The U.S. job gains in June were widespread. Factories added 16,000 workers, retailers 40,200. Financial and insurance firms increased their payrolls by 17,000. Restaurants and bars employed 32,800 more people. Only construction, which gained a mere 6,000, reflected the slow recovery of previous years.

Local governments added 18,000 education workers. But that might have been a quirk: Many schools that had been closed for snow days stayed open longer than usual in June, said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial in Chicago.

Over the past three months, job growth has averaged a healthy 272,000. And in May, the economy surpassed the jobs total from December 2007, when the Great Recession officially began.

Researchers at the liberal Economic Policy Institute estimate that 6.7 million more jobs would have been needed to keep up with U.S. population growth.

One key challenge is whether the job gains will pull more Americans back into the workforce. Many people who lost jobs during the recession and were never rehired have stopped looking for work. Just 62.8 percent of American adults are working or are looking for a job, compared with 66 percent before the downturn.

The number of long-term unemployed has dropped 1.2 million over the past year to just under 3.1 million. But the government data suggests that numerous people without jobs have given up their searches — a trend that could drag on future U.S. growth.

And average pay has grown just 2 percent a year during the recovery, roughly in line with inflation and below the long-run average annual growth of about 3.5 percent.

The lack of strong wage growth means the Federal Reserve may not feel pressure to start raising short-term interest rates soon as a way of controlling inflation.

"We are still not seeing any significant pickup in wage growth," Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a research note. "We suspect that Fed officials will continue to cling to the view that there is still plenty of slack in the labor market."

However, the steady hiring means businesses are increasingly competing to find workers.

"It's becoming more difficult to find the candidates that we're looking for," said Brandon Calvo, chief operating officer at Cosentino North America, a Houston-based firm that sells materials for kitchen counters and bathrooms.

The job gains have intensified despite the slump that kicked off 2014.

The economy's contraction in the first three months of this year was the sharpest since the recession. Ferocious winter storms caused factories to close and prevented consumers from visiting shopping malls and auto dealers.

Still, the frigid weather failed to freeze hiring. Job gains ramped up with the warmth of spring and summer.

"We've seen hiring growth out of the winter because it was stagnant," said Richard Bitner, vice president of marketing for Visiting Angels, a home health care services firm headquartered in Havertown, Pennsylvania.

Most economists say annualized economic growth likely reached a solid 3 percent to 3.5 percent in the April-June quarter. Growth over the entire year should be about 2 percent, they say, similar to last year's 1.9 percent expansion.

Several other signs point to the economy's brightening health.

Auto sales rose at the fastest pace in eight years in June. Factory orders picked up last month. And home sales strengthened this spring after having sputtered in the middle of last year when higher mortgage rates and rising prices hurt affordability.

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AP Economics Writer Paul Wiseman contributed to this report.

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Wine shipping to Mass. buyers gets boost

State legislators took a big step this week toward allowing out-of-state wineries to ship directly to Massachusetts consumers' doorsteps, but current regulations still make that prospect financially unattractive for UPS and FedEx.

The House and Senate's proposed $36.5 billion state budget includes a provision for wineries to obtain licenses to ship up to 12 cases of wine per year to a Bay State consumer age 21 and over. The legislation, which would take effect Jan. 1, awaits Gov. Deval Patrick's signature.

"It has the bones of an excellent piece of legislation," said Carol Martel, northeastern counsel for the Wine Institute, a San Francisco trade group representing California wineries. "Everyone that was working on the legislation felt that what was enacted was a good first step."

Legislation enacted in 2006 allowed direct wine shipments to Bay Staters only by wineries that produced less than 30,000 gallons per year and hadn't used a wholesaler for distribution in the past six months. It effectively prevented shipments of 98 percent of the wine produced out of state.

In 2008, a U.S. District Court judge ruled the legislation had a "discriminatory effect" on interstate commerce and was unconstitutional. The U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision in 2010.

The current proposed legislation doesn't address what's seen as excessive state fees for FedEx and UPS to deliver wine that are levied per truck rather than for a fleet. "My guess is that's something that we'll come back at," Martel said. "We would have garnered some degree of opposition that we would rather not have at this point. Wholesalers balked at any talk of a fleet license."

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The Ticker

Amesbury woman gets probation for stealing $13G

An Amesbury woman who worked as a home health aide for a 91-year-old woman has been sentenced to two years of probation for stealing almost $13,000 from the victim.

Nichole Belluomini pleaded guilty or admitted to sufficient facts to 58 felony counts including larceny over $250 of a person over 60, forgery, uttering a false check and improper use of a credit card.

As part of her deal with prosecutors, Belluomini was sentenced to two years in jail with the entire sentence suspended for two years while on probation. She was also ordered to pay full restitution.

Uber gets an OK in London, but in Pittsburgh the service is stopped

Uber scored a victory in its battles with regulators and taxi unions yesterday, winning a favorable decision from London's transit agency allowing it to continue operations legally in the city.

Transport for London, known as TfL, rejected claims from the city's taxi drivers that Uber's smartphone app violated prohibitions on anyone other than licensed black-car drivers using "taximeter" technology. TfL concluded that smartphones running Uber's app are "not taximeters within the meaning of the legislation."

But in Pittsburgh, judges hit Uber (along with competitor Lyft) with a cease-and-desist order, stopping them from operating until they get the proper authority from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

Hospitals may get outpatient boost

The Obama administration proposed raising Medicare payments to hospitals for care they provide on an outpatient basis, part of a trend toward discouraging unnecessary admissions.

Payments for outpatient services would be increased 2.1 percent under a proposal yesterday from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Medicare, the health program for the elderly and disabled, paid about $37 billion in 2013 for outpatient treatment at hospitals and $139 billion for admissions.

Today

 U.S. stock and bond market is closed for Independence Day.

THE SHUFFLE

Baker, Braverman & Barbadoro P.C., a full-service law firm advising individuals, businesses and families in Quincy, Braintree, the South Shore and metro Boston areas, has hired Elizabeth A. Caruso as an associate. Caruso comes to the firm from the Law Office of Christopher P. Ryan, starting as a law clerk and working as an associate the past three years; with a concentration on estate planning. At Baker, Braverman & Barbadoro, she will work in the areas of estate planning and estate administration.

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Experts: Economic recovery picking up speed

The U.S. economy yesterday gave new hope the recovery is picking up speed as a booming job market sent the unemployment rate to its lowest level in six years and the Dow topped 17,000 for the first time — rays of sunshine amid record numbers of people giving up looking for work altogether.

"This is making (the market) feel very good. This ... is absolutely phenomenal," said Christine Armstrong, a senior vice president at Morgan Stanley in Boston.

"We were looking to move a millimeter, we took a foot," Armstrong said. "It's a blowout number."

Employers added 288,000 jobs last month, cutting the unemployment rate to 6.1 percent, the lowest since 2008. It was the fifth straight month of job gains over 200,000 and the best stretch since the 1990s tech boom.

On a light, half day of trading before the July Fourth holiday, the markets jumped on the news. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 92.02 points to close at a record 17,068.26 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index flirted with its own 2,000 milestone, closing at 1,985.44.

"We're back on the right track," said Peter Ireland, a Boston College economics professor. "Now, finally, we're beginning to see a real acceleration."

But many people who lost their jobs during the recession are staying on the sidelines. In June, the number of adults who were not working or looking for jobs climbed to a record high of 92,120,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only 62.8 percent of adults either have a job or are looking for one, the bureau said, matching a 36-year low. And many of those who are working don't have the high-paying jobs they once had.

"Think about the number of people who are off the unemployment rolls because they accepted a job where they make $25,000 a year," Armstrong said.

President Obama yesterday noted the positive jobs numbers, but cautioned people are still struggling.

"We still have not seen as much increase in income and wages as we'd like to see," he said.

Over the past 12 months, the economy has added nearly 2.5 million jobs — the fastest year-over-year pace since 2006.

Ireland said the employment gains will have a ripple effect on the rest of the economy. "It's suggestive of the broadening of our recovery," he said. "It's suggestive that prosperity is returning."

Employers added jobs across industries, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, including 67,000 jobs in the professional and business services areas, and 17,000 jobs in the financial sector.

"The employment report was especially sound in both the number of new jobs created and the broad-based nature of these gains," said Doug Handler, chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight in a written analysis.

The national numbers follow a strong May jobs report in the Bay State, with the local unemployment rate dipping to a six-year low at 5.6 percent. Gov. Deval Patrick, noting it was the highest level of employment in 24 years, said it's a step in the right direction.

"Frankly, if the recovery hasn't reached you, you could care less about the statistics," Patrick told the Herald last night. "Investing in education, innovation and infrastructure works and we just need to keep that going and keep it moving out so that it touches everybody."

Owen Boss contributed to this report.

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Orchestrate a move to Fiedler home

If you're conducting a search for a spacious family home, you might want to take a look at late Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler's former Palladian-style manor in Brookline.

Much of this 10,000-plus-square-foot pedimented brick mansion on toney Fisher Hill looks the same as when the famed conductor lived here with his family between 1942 and his death in 1979. Built in 1928-29 for the Chase family, who were in the brass foundry business, the home has had only three owners. The current owner, who has been in the home since 1980, is ready to pass the baton.

The Gatsby-like manor is a mix of formal indoor and outdoor spaces, ideal for entertaining, as well as informal areas with its warren of upstairs rooms children will love.

The first floor has a reception area with an elegant staircase, grand living and dining rooms and a butler's pantry, all with oak floors, mahogany woodwork and walls lined with paneled picture molding. Many of the rooms have wood-burning fireplaces. The living room spills out into an 800-plus-square-foot partially covered rear terrace that overlooks a backyard with an in-ground pool.

"It was a wonderful house to grow up in," said Peter Fiedler, Arthur's son, who is vice president for administrative services at Boston University. "It has a lot of character and I especially have fond memories of holidays there. We all loved the terrace, where my dad would sit out shirtless, studying his scores, and where I'd sneak out to during storms. And my mother would tend to her flowers in the adjoining sunroom."

In one of the few major changes made by the current owner, the home's kitchen was remodeled and an adjacent informal family room was added in 2002. The kitchen has cherrywood cabinets, dark granite counters, a wood island and high-end stainless-steel appliances, including a La Cornue stove. Off the kitchen is a screened-in porch with a built-in rotisserie grill. There's a custom wooden spiral staircase up a half flight from the kitchen to a "study" wing with a warren of office-sized rooms ideal for a home business or just homework.

"I would imagine that the buyer will want to preserve the home's charms while customizing it to their liking," said listing agent Jeannemarie Conley of Otis & Ahearn, who recently dropped the price from $4.5 million to just less than $4 million.

Conley acknowledges that certain areas of the house need upgrading, such as the bathrooms and the home's one-zone heating system. The mansion does not have central air conditioning.

The mansion's six bedrooms on the second and third floors have restored wood floors and lots of closet space. There's a wall of closets outside the master bedroom, which has an en-suite bathroom.

Arthur Fielder's second-floor study, where he kept his piano and often met with musicians, was recently transformed into an air-conditioned home gym complete with a sauna. In the basement is a custom-built 10,000-bottle wine cellar.

Underneath the terrace is an attached garage that will hold up to six vehicles.

Whether a new owner will opt for a buff and shine or a major renovation, Conley feels sure about one thing.

"I have the feeling that whoever buys this property will also remain here for a long time."

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Bottle bill heads to the ballot

Environmental activists have succeeded in getting a question on the November ballot to expand the state's bottle bill to include nickel deposits on not just soda and beer containers, but on bottled water, juice and sports drinks too — but opponents are promising a fight.

Secretary of State William Galvin yesterday said the proposal to expand the bottle bill will be the second question on the Nov. 4 ballot after activists failed to convince legislators to simply pass a new law — something they have spent more than two decades lobbying for on Beacon Hill.

George Bachrach, president of the Environmental League of Massachusetts, said 70 percent of redeemable bottles are redeemed and recycled, whereas only 30 percent of other bottles are recycled.

If voters expand the bill, "there's no cost to the consumer; everyone gets their nickel back," Backrach said, "and we end up with cleaner roads and cleaner parks."

But opponents say the measure is unnecessary because 90 percent of Bay State households already have access to some type of community recycling program, and it would add $60 million a year in collection and handling costs — money they say would trickle down to the consumer.

"We're going to run a campaign that's statewide and highly visible," Nicole Giambusso, a spokeswoman for Comprehensive Recycling Works, a group that opposes expanding the bottle bill, said, declining to specify how much the coalition intends to spend. "We definitely want to get our message out that there's a better way to recycle."

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Stealth World Cup ads raise sponsorship questions

In an ad for Beats by Dr. Dre stereo headphones, Neymar jams to Jay-Z's remix of the song "Jungle." Fans cheer, toast and pray across Brazilian neighborhoods and cameras flash while reporters shout questions, but the pounding rhythm of the rap drowns out distractions for the Brazilian striker and fellow soccer stars Jozy Altidore and Cesc Fabregas.

As the ad closes, cameras close in on Neymar's determined face for soccer's grandest tournament.

What's missing are the actual words "World Cup." That's because Beats Electronics, recently acquired by Apple for $3 billion, is not an official sponsor of the event. Soccer's international governing body, FIFA, closely holds the World Cup brand as intellectual property.

It hasn't stopped the company from marketing its way around sponsorship. And is isn't the only one doing it, prompting questions over how far soccer's international governing body can go in preventing non-sponsors from capitalizing on the World Cup, and whether pushing the boundaries of so-called "ambush marketing" diminishes the value of formal sponsorships.

Samsung's Galaxy 11 ads feature Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Landon Donovan playing a match against aliens with the fate of the universe on the line. Volkswagen USA uses legendary soccer announcer Andres Cantor to introduce the new VW Golf GTI. Gatorade has its #winfromwithin campaign featuring Messi set to the song "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo."

None of the companies are official World Cup sponsors.

"Obviously the big events are being watched by hundreds of millions of people, and (the World Cup) is the kind of event that everybody wants to be a part of in some way," said Bob Dorfman, a sports marketing specialist for Baker Street Advertising in San Francisco. "The ambush marketing becomes a way of getting in there and doing what you can without having to pay the big price, and maybe looking a little more clever in doing so."

Nike sponsors several soccer stars playing in the World Cup, including Neymar and Ronaldo. The company has produced several spots that also imply a connection to the tournament. But adidas is the official FIFA sponsor.

So far Nike is scoring big with its non-World Cup World Cup campaign #RiskEverything. Three online ads the company released have had over 380 million online views through different platforms, including Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, Nike reported. Two of the spots are ranked among the top 20 all-time for such brand campaigns.

To be fair, Nike isn't really going guerrilla in its marketing as much as some other companies piggybacking on the worldwide appeal of the World Cup. The Beaverton, Oregon-based athletic company is tied to the event because of its athletes, the shoes they wear, and the national team uniforms it designs.

"Although we're not a sponsor of the World Cup itself, we connect where it matters — by partnering with clubs, federations, and elite and everyday players," Dermott Clearly, Nike vice president/general manager of global soccer, said. "Ten teams at the tournament will wear Nike on the pitch in Brazil, including the hosts, along with hundreds of the players who will wear Nike boots. We're confident we will stand out on and off pitch better than any other brand."

In addition to adidas, other official partners include Visa and Coca-Cola. FIFA sponsorships vary in cost, but it has been reported that adidas is paying nearly $80 million a year. As a result of its deal, adidas creates the official game ball of the World Cup — this year it's the widely-praised Brazuca, giving the company endless exposure from television close-ups.

FIFA strongly condemned ambush marketing following an incident in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa when a group of 36 orange-clad women crashed a Netherlands-Denmark match to ostensibly promote a Dutch brewer, dubbed by many onlookers as "intrusion marketing." FIFA rules strictly prohibit any advertising at sanctioned events by non-sponsors.

Two of the women were detained under South African laws meant to protect intellectual property, but all charges were later dropped and the beer company agreed to respect FIFA's guidelines against such acts until 2022.

"FIFA strongly disapproves of companies who employ ambush marketing tactics to promote their brands at big sporting events without having contributed to the organization of those events," the sport's governing body said in a statement following the incident.

FIFA vowed to crack down on non-sponsors again this year, going so far as to tape over the band name of the hand dryers in stadium restrooms. Sponsors are the second-biggest source of revenue for the organization, behind broadcast rights.

FIFA banned players from wearing Beats in World Cup stadiums and official media events, distributing headphones made by official sponsor Sony instead.

There was also talk that FIFA was looking into whether Neymar's patriotic underwear — revealed when he went to swap shirts following a match with Cameroon — was a case of ambush marketing. The Brazilian undergarment maker, Lupo, sponsors Neymar.

FIFA declined requests for comment from the Associated Press about non-sponsor advertising until after the World Cup.

Given the increasingly blurred lines, FIFA can try to regulate it as much as possible. But in the end, there are other ways to make sponsorships valuable, Dorfman said.

"There are a lot of things that you probably don't see up front that can be included in a sponsorship deal, things like tickets to the event, opportunities for franchises or top customers to be involved, more business to business-type things," Dorfman said. "And those things always end up being very attractive to sponsors and help give them more reason to pay that big expense up front."

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Danish teen wins virtual World Cup

RIO DE JANEIRO — A Danish teenager has claimed the virtual World Cup by beating his English rival in the final of the online Playstation gaming competition, overcoming a field of almost two million entrants.

While his nation did not make it to the real World Cup, 18-year-old August Rosenmeier did his bit for Danish pride by beating England's David Bytheway 3-1 on Thursday to win the FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC).

The FIWC, played exclusively with EA Sports' FIFA 14 game and on a Sony PlayStation 3, has grown from 28,000 entrants in the inaugural tournament in 2004.

Rosenmeier, who said he "trains" four to six hours a day, won $20,000.

Far from the image of gamers being glued to screens in darkened rooms, Thursday's final had a glamorous setting, halfway up the Sugarloaf Mountain; one of Rio's most iconic tourist destinations.

Former players Dwight Yorke and Alan McInally were on hand as commentators, but the biggest attraction was former Brazil great Ronaldo, who gave the two finalists a pre-match pep talk.

Qualification for the final started back in October 13 for the first of six one-month long seasons played online, with competitors playing up to 900 12-minute games per season to accumulate as many points as possible. For those with less time on their hands, there was also a chance to progress based on the best winning percentage.

With the 2013 champion guaranteed a chance to defend his crown and the host nation given a slot, 20 gamers made it to Fluminese's home ground in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday.

The first surprise result came quickly as defending champion Bruce Grannec lost in the group stages. The lone Brazilian, Rafael Fortes, won all his group games, but lost in the quarterfinals. His countrymen hope that isn't a premonition for the real World Cup.

Four made it through to Thursday's showdown at Sugarloaf, and both remaining Dutchmen went out in the semifinals. The finalists were marked by very different approaches to virtual football.

"It's not the amount of hours you put in but who you play," Bytheway said. "I tend to play about five-eight games a week - not a lot - but because I am playing top players it keeps me at the top of my game. The 20 of us here, we all know each other so we can just ask each other for games."

Rosenmeier's approach was more about quantity than quality.

"When I am training, like for this tournament, I will play many hours, maybe four or six per day. In 2012 my mum and dad were like 'this is too much' but after seeing what a finals is like, they shut (up) pretty quick."

For Rosenmeier, online glory may be rewarding but he is still hoping to make it in the real thing.

"If I am honest, I prefer real football," said Rosenmeier, who plays for a local club in Denmark. "I am ambitious and I hope I can take some of my mental strengths here into the real game."

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