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July 29th, 2011

The Fans: Soccer’s 12th Man

The Timbers used real, diehard Portland fans for their "No Pity in the Rose City" campaign.

What happens on the field does not drive demand for MLS teams. The relationship between a team’s record and ticket sales in the MLS is much less elastic as it is in the MLB or NBA. Take for example the Portland Timbers (6-10-3): they’re second-to-last in the Western Conference, yet are posting the 5th highest attendance out of the league’s 18 teams and have a wildly loyal and proud fan base. A look into their marketing efforts and American disposition to the sport helps explain why this poorly-preforming team is one of this year’s biggest success stories.

This Timbers ad is completely fan-centric as it does not show a single player. The viewer has no idea who the face of the team is, but they do know what they’ll experience if they attend a match. Contrast that with an NBA ad and one is quickly reminded how important star players are to teams and the league itself. Since most MLS teams lack the crowd-drawing names like “Beckham” or “Henry”, focusing on the fan experience in their marketing is extremely appealing.

This “fan-centric” advertising should not be viewed as a handicap or necessary evil derived from soccer’s inability to market itself as a sport. Rather, it is an asset. The earlier mentioned Timbers ad and footage from the Sounders’ opener highlight something that no other sport in the US has: the irrationally loyal, highly-energized fans. Whether it’s entire sections linking arms or scarf-adorning fans marching to the game, there is something mysterious about soccer and the camaraderie between its fans that non-attenders want to know more about.

Americans’ curiosity in soccer fandom is certainly tangible. Our limited-and possibly skewed-exposure to the sport through media like Nike’s Write the Future, the book How Soccer Explains the World, and movies like Green Street Hooligans leaves Americans fascinated by soccer without a real, firm understanding of the sport, which is understandable given its late blooming here in the states. This curiosity manifests in a variety of ways: 35% of students abroad attending their first match, the heightened viewership of the 2010 World Cup, and FIFA 11’s place as the fastest growing video game in North America.

Granted the Timbers are located in the soccer hotbed that is the Pacific Northwest and Portland is not saturated with a NFL, MLB, or NHL team, their 2011 season proves how important the fans are in soccer. They determine a team’s reality because they — more so than in other sport — determine how others view the team.  And that’s why the Timbers are one of the MLS’ most popular teams and not just a 6-10-3 team.

Jack O’Hara is a Stone Ward intern and will be a senior at Providence College in the fall. He is our resident expert on Indycar, opera, and all things Austrian.


Posted in Other | by Tom Lillig
July 18th, 2011

Finding Silver Linings with Silver Medals

Both teams entered this game rightfully claiming the nickname, “team of destiny”.  Japan playing for their country still on the mend after devastating natural and nuclear plant disasters.  The U.S. having been the last team to qualify for the tournament and miraculously coming from behind to win a quarterfinal match in the final seconds.

But with the U.S. loss to Japan in penalty kicks after a heart-stopping 2 – 2 tie in the 120 minutes, it was clear that the team of destiny in this month-long tournament was Japan.

From a marketing perspective, we will watch closely over the next several days to see how the this game and this disappointing outcome affects the overall impact on women’s soccer in this country.  While America naturally loves its winners.  In the international arena, we also have grown accustomed to embracing our heroes that medal in the Olympics or display a sportswomanship and grace, even in defeat.

In forthcoming posts, we’ll examine the grace in the face of defeat of this extraordinary team and their words of support for the victors, as well as 2nd place female athletes that won marketing gold for themselves and their sport.

Posted in Other | by Tom Lillig
July 11th, 2011

Hope, a Header and a Whole Lot of Heart

My 5-year-old son and I watched all 120+ minutes on the edge of our seats. As a parent that hopes my children learn from sport many of the same lessons that I learned, this team and this game was the master tutorial for all of us to learn from: perseverence, humility, trust, teamwork, redemption, making the most of your talents, NOT diving, not letting the unfair calls ruin you, and never giving up.

At the end of the game, he asked to go to the store to buy something USA. He didn’t care if it was mens or womens. He just wanted to get something that represented what we just shared.

Posted in Other | by Tom Lillig
June 29th, 2011

NCAA Champion Reflects on ESPN’s Role in the Growth of the Women’s Game

USWNT Midfielder and University of Notre Dame alum Shannon Boxx

When I checked my phone after our first game at the College Cup in December, I couldn’t believe how many

Molly Campbell, Defender, University of Notre Dame

messages I had from people telling me they had just watched me play on ESPN. Many were from my friends at Notre Dame or from my soccer friends and their parents that I grew up playing with at home. Many, however, were from people that I never would have expected to watch a soccer game, much less even know that one was being played. And when I went home for Christmas, more people, even people I didn’t know well, told me they had watched the game. Over and over, people told me how great the games were to watch and how excited they were to see me playing.

This excitement about watching women’s college soccer, something I never expected, is why it is great for the game that ESPN is showing every game of the World Cup this summer. People had the chance to see 73,000 passionate fans pack the stadium in Berlin for the opening match between Germany and Canada. In the coming days, they’ll have the chance to watch teams of all different strengths and styles play against each other, and they’ll hopefully have the chance to see some upsets in games that might not have been broadcast in the past.

And the early results are indicating there will be a greater following in years past.  ESPN’s coverage of the U.S. win over North Korea in the women’s World Cup Tuesday drew a 0.9 rating, translating to 0.9% of households in the 56 urban markets measured for overnights. Predictably, that’s up over the U.S. team’s opener in the 2007 Cup in China, when it also faced North Korea. While Tuesday’s game coverage began at 11:30 a.m. ET, the 2007 U.S. opener began at 4:45 a.m. ET — and drew just a 0.2 overnight.  The U.S. women’s next match is on Saturday morning / early afternoon and with that weekend slot, the game will likely surge over the 1.0 rating point.

Showing that there are thousands of fans in Germany there to support women’s soccer shows that efforts to promote the game have not gone to waste, and that there are many who care about and love the sport.  It shows that ESPN is taking women’s soccer seriously and that companies would do well to invest in it and provide sponsorship to players or teams. It gives the WPS hope that just maybe it can survive; that maybe there is a future for women’s soccer. And as a women’s soccer player, it is inspiring to see that the world is taking an interest in the sport we’ve worked so hard at.

Molly Campbell is a Stone Ward intern and soccer player for the University of Notre Dame.  Not one to call herself an underdog, Campbell’s story still follows the trajectory of a dark horse.  In her youth soccer days, she was a member of the Kansas ODP “B” team, but went on to win a national championship with Notre Dame. Since being converted to a defender, some have gone so far as to relate her to the likes of the legend
Stonewall Jackson and his impenetrable line of defense.

Posted in Other | by Tom Lillig
June 16th, 2011

Adidas Helps Get MLS Fans “All-In”

With an energetic pulse and international star cameos, Adidas tries to bridge the gap between the world of MLS and the world of Messi in their new “all in” ad which debuted on ESPN last week during the Fire – Sporting game.  The talent gap between Juan Agudelo and Lionel Messi is more like a continental divide at this stage in their respective careers.  However, with some clever editing and dramatic footage, Adidas is able to weave a story that made me suspend my reality and allowed me to see the reigning World Football Player of the Year as a football peer with next great hope for a U.S. Soccer Striker.

The world might be laughing.  But I bought it.

And then I went online and bought some MLS tickets.  Adidas may or may not be the next boot I buy, but they certainly have positioned their brand well for the American soccer audience to consider them as a true ally.

Kudos to Adidas for attempting to trying to make me believe that MLS stars of the future might just belong with the international stars of today. No doubt it is a stretch for someone to believe that this bridge will be crossed.  But I think as part of our American mentality, we have to believe that the arc of soccer in our country is bending toward greatness.  I think deeply engrained in our American mentality is our ambition for a seat at the world football table.  And as part of that, we have to believe that one day that MLS will have a role in that and will be a producer of the top talent in the world.  And if not, why as Americans would we invest so much of ourselves, our spirit and our fan-dom in it.

Also posted in Video | by Tom Lillig
June 14th, 2011

Importing Soccer to Detroit: Could an MLS Franchise come to D-Town?

As the U.S. gets ready for its critical match with Guadeloupe this evening, the Americans  2 – 0 Gold Cup victory over Canada last Tuesday night looms large as that 2-goal margin of victory may be a factor in which teams advance to the quarterfinals tonight.  But for Detroit soccer fans and Triple Sports Entertainment owners, the game had possibly even greater significance.  That game was a huge step forward in their effort to finally bring an MLS team to Detroit.

Detroit has long been on the list of possible expansion cities, but has thus far been unable to gain serious consideration from the MLS. This may have changed after Tuesday’s game. The U.S. team drew 28,000 fans, a solid showing given that the game was only a group stage game and Canada was not expected to cause the U.S. many problems. Though the good turnout of this game is not necessarily indicative of how many people would be loyal supporters of an MLS team, it does show that there is a solid fan base in the area that could buoy the new team.

Detroit has a huge appetite for professional sports, making it an appealing location for an expansion team. They already support professional hockey, baseball, football, and basketball, so a soccer team would provide the final piece in making Detroit the ultimate sports town. Sports fans in Detroit, even those with little connection to soccer, would likely embrace the team if only to show off their city as the best in professional sports. Fans would also get behind the rivalries that have defined other area sports teams. The basketball and hockey rivalry between Detroit and Chicago would give the MLS owners in Detroit a marketing goldmine when the Chicago Fire comes town, and would give them the opportunity to entice fans to return to more games.  And Chicago wouldn’t be the only great rivalry—the Columbus Crew would provide another fierce rivalry that sports fans of any kind would show up for.

One concern, however, is that Detroit could be tapped out in terms of supporting another professional team. Can a soccer team really survive in the shadow of so many other more mainstream American sports? The key to this is may be marketing.   Connecting with fans in a personal way and giving them a more intimate experience than they would get from other professional sports. The owners of the Silverdome want to make this happen. They are placing the soccer field on top of two indoor stadiums, making the soccer stadium much smaller than its potential capacity of 70,000. Fans would be close enough to the field to get autographs from players, chat with them after games, and connect with them in a way that is not possible at NBA or NFL games. By giving fans a chance to interact with and get close to the players they’re cheering for, soccer can give Detroit sports fans a rare opportunity that other professional sports teams in the area cannot. This will allow the team to build up a loyal base of fans beyond just those who are passionate about soccer, and will set soccer apart from the many other teams there.

Detroit now has owners who are willing to spend the money necessary to make a soccer stadium a reality and enough fans to ensure long-term survival. Now, all they need is the MLS to finally accept their bid to join the League.

Molly Campbell is a Stone Ward intern and soccer player for the University of Notre Dame.  Not one to call herself an underdog, Campbell’s story still follows the trajectory of a dark horse.  In her youth soccer days, she was a member of the Kansas ODP “B” team, but went on to win a national championship with Notre Dame. Since being converted to a defender, some have gone so far as to relate her to the likes of the legend
Stonewall Jackson and his impenetrable line of defense.

Posted in Other | by Tom Lillig
July 28th, 2010

MLS All-Star Showdown with ManU — TONIGHT

English Premier League heavyweight Manchester United has been traveling the United States this week, taking on the Kansas City Wizards, and Philadelphia Union.  But Wendesday night at 8:30 PM, Manchester United will be the opponent for the main event:  The MLS All-Star Game at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

After beating Philadelphia, Manchester was handed a shocking 2-1 loss against Kansas City on Sunday night.  The British press has been relentless in their criticism of the wildly popular squad, calling the loss “an embarrassing defeat” and “a major scalp”.  Bear in mind, this Manchester team is not the same one that dominated the Premier League and was the runner-up in the championship last year.  Rather, this team is without its biggest names in Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Ji-sung Park, and others.  Many played in the World Cup and are still on leave, while others are still recovering from injuries.  Veteran ManU player and Welsh winger Ryan Giggs is the face of this traveling roster.

There is one exciting addition to the Manchester side in Javier Hernandez, the young Mexican sensation also known as “El Chicharito”.  He scored twice for his country in the World Cup and was recently signed to Manchester United by manager Sir Alan Ferguson.  ”El Chicharito” will be making his highly anticipated debut with his new team on Wednesday night.

While Manchester is not playing its biggest names, the MLS team is comprised of the league’s biggest stars.  The roster boasts LA Galaxy stars Edson Buddle and Landon Donovan.  Buddle, Donovan, and 3 other Galaxy teammates were among the first 11 chosen for the roster, but manager Bruce Arena has tough decisions to make.  The Galaxy are playing in the qualifying round of the CONCACAF Champions League on Tuesday night, and the All-Star players are flying to Houston just before game-time.  Arena has to decide how much playing time the tired players should have.  He’ll have to juggle their health versus their impact against a strong Manchester team.  Buddle and Donovan will certainly be missed if the coach decides they shouldn’t play too many minutes.

Buddle and Donovan’s playing time aside, the MLS All-Stars have an excellent track record against international clubs.  They have played – and beaten – Celtic FC, Chelsea, West Ham, and Fulham in the past several years. The only loss came last year, when the All-Stars fell to Everton in penalty kicks.

While this game is inconsequential in any league standings, this is a big game for the reputation and growing popularity of MLS.  Manchester United is the world’s richest football club according to Forbes.  With the $1.84 billion bank account comes an enormous number of fans, and Major League Soccer anticipated those fans when planning the All-Star game.

Most of the past All-Star games have been held in 20,000-person capacity stadiums.  This year’s committee chose Houston’s Reliant Stadium, with can hold more than 3 times that at 70,000.  So far, Manchester United’s appeal has brought in ticket sales, and the promise of Javier Hernandez is only increasing the hype.

With less than 12 hours before kickoff, the game isn’t a sell-out (yet!), but tickets are going fast.  In fact, with just a few thousand tickets left, Major League Soccer is on tap to break attendance records for an All-Star game and is confident they will sell out the stadium at one of the largest arenas in the country.

  • Major League Soccer All-Star Game vs. Manchester United
  • ESPN2 or TeleFutura
  • 8:30 ET
Posted in Other | by Tom Lillig