The confetti flew once again in New York City Friday as the U.S. Women's Soccer Team was honored for winning the World Cup championship with a traditional New York ticker-tape parade up the Canyon of Heroes in Lower Manhattan.

It was the first ticker-tape parade celebrating an entire women's athletic team.



The parade stepped off at 11 a.m., taking the traditional route up lower Broadway to City Hall, where a special ceremony was held.

The team was joined on the lead float by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Hundreds of thousands of soccer fans lined the parade route - many of whom wire red, white and blue and chanted "USA, USA, USA!"

Speaking to the crowd gathered outside City Hall, de Blasio said the team's win sends a powerful message to all Americans.

"When they brought home that trophy they also brought back a message about the power of women, about the strength of women and about the need to create a more equal society for all," De Blasio said.

Team members each received keys to the city by the mayor and first lady Chirlane McCray.

Captain Carli Lloyd, a New Jersey native, told the crowd their World Cup win was "a dream come true, but having this parade in New York City was one of the best moments of my entire life."

"We've had a lot of amazing experiences, I have throughout my career, but this absolutely will go down as one of, if not the best thing I have ever been part of in my life," said U.S. Women's Soccer Team member Abby Wambach.

The U.S. women's soccer team beat Japan 5-2 in the final on Sunday to become the first women's national team to win three World Cup championships. They previously won the World Cup in 1991 and 1999.

TICKER-TAPE PARADE FACTS



The parade was projected to cost $2 million. $1.5 million of that was projected to come from the city, and $450,000 was projected to come from private donations.

The parade featured 12 red, white and blue-themed floats. National team players rode on multiple floats.



The NYPD said more than 3,000 officers lined the parade route and were in Lower Manhattan.

More than 12,000 people entered the lottery for tickets for the 1 p.m. ceremony. City Hall Plaza holds approximately 3,500 people.

Approximately two tons of confetti rained down on the parade.

The Department of Sanitation said they had more than 400 workers assigned to parade cleanup, and that they would utilize 14 collection trucks, 10 front-end loaders, 100 backpack blowers and 66 rakes.



HISTORY OF TICKER-TAPE PARADES:



Friday's ticker-tape parade was the 206th ticker-tape parade held on Broadway since 1886.

The first ticker-tape parade was held in 1886, an impromptu celebration of the Statue of Liberty's dedication. The first fully organized parade was held in 1889 to mark the centennial of George Washington’s first inaugural address.

For decades thereafter, ticker-tape parades were held rather often, usually to celebrate and honor politicians, foreign dignitaries, returning soldiers and heroes.

This is the first women's team ever to be honored with a ticker-tape parade in NYC. The first parade held for a female athlete was held in 1926 for Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel. The last parade held exclusively for a female athlete was held in 1960 for women's Olympic figure-skating champion Carol Heiss.

The city held nine ticker tape extravaganzas in 1962 alone, including one for John Glenn, the first American to orbit earth, another to celebrate the creation of the New York Mets, one to honor the Yankees for winning the 1961 World Series, and parades to cheer the leaders of Brazil, Panama and Iran.

The most recent ticker-tape parade to be held before Friday's was held for the Giants when they won the Super Bowl in 2012.



Parade costs can vary. The 1990 parade for Nelson Mandela cost more than $1 million. Some have come in cheaper, with private companies helping to foot the bill. The Giants' 2012 parade cost about $1.7 million; of that, there were $330,000 in private donations.



More than 56 tons of debris were collected from city streets after the 1999 Yankees World Series win. The Giants' 2012 parade resulted in about 35 tons of debris.

