UPDATE | Thousands cheer US Women's Soccer team at NY parade

NEW YORK (AP) — Fans of the World Cup champion U.S. women's soccer team are gathered at City Hall in New York for a ceremony where Mayor Bill de Blasio will give the players symbolic keys to the city.

The ceremony follows a joyful ticker tape parade up Broadway's Canyon of Heroes.

Co-captain Megan Rapinoe danced and swigged champagne from aboard a float headed to City Hall.

Many paradegoers said they agreed with the team's push for pay equity with male players.

Patricia Rice Stella, of Long Island, says that "there's no closing their eyes or turning their back. It's time to make a change."

9:51 a.m.

NEW YORK — Soccer fans packed Lower Manhattan for today's ticker tape parade to celebrate the U.S. Women's Soccer team that won the World Cup in France. Many of them have brought posters and signs to cheer on the team, said CNN.

Some of those signs are encouraging Megan Rapinoe, one of the team's stars, to run for president.

Rapinoe – who has described herself as a "walking protest" – has skyrocketed to national prominence for leading her team's undefeated run to win the World Cup on Sunday and championing the lawsuit demanding pay equal to the men's team.