US Soccer Marketing Strategy

Picture from: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1197741-usa-vs-scotland-cultural-differences-between-two-continents

Today’s post I want to touch on the Marketing strategy of soccer or the lack of it here in the USA.  After living in a country that lives, breathes, and eats soccer, it makes me wonder, is there even a true marketing strategy here in the US for soccer.    Like I said in yesterday’s post, the US has some outstanding players, a hard working national team, but there seems to be no drive or fight within US Soccer’s leadership/owners to capitalize on the most watched sport in the world.

Yes, bringing big name players to the country to play the beautiful game does help with news coverage from time to time; lets take an outstanding spokesperson and player of the game, David Beckham, he came to the US back in July of 2007 and at the time got lots of news coverage, yes he has increased the fan base of the LA Galaxy and made many children around the country take a look/interest in the sport.  However, the US Soccer leadership have not capitalized on it, the answer isn’t spending money on big name players from around the world, it is about spending the money on marketing the sport to their own great countrymen and children that play the sport, turning more of the young children that think American Football or Basketball is the only sport that is the only respected sport over to Soccer should be the number one goal. That way tomorrow’s National team has a larger section and a greater fan base.

So you know… You can make the same kind of money if not more playing soccer over American Football!

We need to find the way to get the single minded view that soccer is a “girls sport” out of the minds of the America people.  Even if more of the best players in the world came to the US to play soccer it wouldn’t help.  The issue is with leadership, marketing, money and the TV/news coverage.  For a country that has so much love and passion for every sport their countrymen and woman compete in around the world, they just can’t get their mind and hearts behind the sport of soccer.  If they could, the US soccer team would be #1 in the world one day…

In my post yesterday, I said in yesterdays post the way I found out about the US Men’s Soccer team playing an international friendly game against Scotland here in Jacksonville, Florida.  I shouldn’t have to read the headlines of a UK newspaper to find out about an upcoming game here in the US, and this was for the US Men’s National team, very sad that it isn’t even worth 30 seconds news coverage.

Even this evening the US Men’s National team are playing one of the greatest sides in the world, Brazil, wait for it… on Fox Sports there is nothing about the game, however there are three interesting storys:  EURO 2012 Preview: France, EURO 2012 Preview: Italy and the best of all Meet the “David Beckham of Polo”.  It is good to see news on Soccer, it would be more fitting of a country news company to back its own countrymen to have something about the National team, even if it is just a friendly match…

You’re right, I should read things like sports illustrated, oh wait a minute, I do, with my life being busy these days, I only get to glance at the headlines on sports illustrated and to find soccer, and if you don’t know, you need to go to its own section of the website to find out anything important… However, I don’t need to do that for NBA, MLB, NFL, NASCAR, NHL or even the NCAA.  Yes, this shocks me for sure; college football is looked at higher than the most watched sport in the world…  I can even learn about high school American Football on TV.  However, I would be lucky to see 3 US professional soccer games a week or see anything on daily news coverage.

I know reading this, you are thinking I should be going to places that focus mainly on US Soccer, but my point here is; you cannot increase people’s interest in a sport when high school/college football is seen as the #1 sport over soccer.

US Soccer has a great time ahead to make a difference; the run up to the 2014 World Cup tournament, the US will be hosting games like Real Madrid vs Juventus, Real Madrid vs Glasgow Celtic and Real Madrid vs Los Angeles Galaxy, these are just a section of games this summer being held in the USA that any person that is not used to soccer would find great joy in watching or attending…

One of the things we do have to look forward too as a country is the new head coach on the US Men’s National Team, Jürgen Klinsmann, a player that is highly respected around the world, has played at the highest level and knows what it is like to win the world cup.  If any coach could bring so much passion to a team it would be Jürgen Klinsmann.  The US Men’s National team has an outstanding chance under Jürgen Klinsmann.  All they need is a little more support and respect from their own country!!!

Each day I hear about how much passion the US has for its countrymen and woman…  Well the men playing soccer around the world are your countrymen also.  A country that likes to dominate in everything they do, surprises me that the nation (I am not including the the small fan base) doesn’t feel the love or passion to unite behind their National team in the sport that is played by every country in the world!

A little respect to the countrymen that play soccer would be taking the time to learn more about the sport; that they play as a way to support their families and the love they have for their country… That country is your country the United States of America!!!

 

Welcome

Welcome to US Soccer from Zero to Hero!  This blog is to help me understand and hopefully help the great people of the United States of America unite behind their US National Men’s Soccer team!

The name Zero to Hero comes from the point of view that it seems to me that a large section of Americans have no interest in the National Team or Soccer!

I moved to the great country of America from the United Kingdom back in April of 2007.  A long time fan of Soccer (Football to rest of the world) and yes, soccer was like a religion to me, I spent more time watching it than anything else on the weekends…  Just like all American’s each weekend when the seasons start for the NFL, College Football, NBA, MBL or even NASCAR.

However, only this past Saturday May 26th, 2012 did I release the lack of interest in the beautiful game; from a country like America that is nothing but passionate about all its other sports; the Men’s Soccer team and your own countrymen are representing the US at the highest level of the “Worlds” sport.  I am not saying that there are no fans in the USA that enjoy Soccer, what I am saying is; where has the United of the Untied States of America gone when it comes to your countrymen playing Soccer?

I was reading a UK newspaper last week when I first learned that the US Men’s Soccer team were playing an international friendly game against Scotland here in Jacksonville, Florida.  Only after a long internet search did I find out where it was being played and what TV channel I could watch the game on (I live in Florida and didn’t know anything about this game).  Yes before you ask, I work in the IT field and yes I know how to search the internet.  For a country that is passionate about its sports; the marketing for the Soccer is nowhere as near as passionate as is would be for an NFL or College Football game.  Soccer seems to be marketed to 14-year-old girls in high school and America Football is marketed to the country.  This is just one section I am going to research to see where the lack of passion in Soccer is coming from…

Now if you put Tim Tebow’s name out there as being in Jacksonville to watch the Soccer game between the USA vs Scotland, it would have been talked about in almost every office up and down this beautiful country, the news stations would have picked it up and no I am not saying we need big name NFL players to market Soccer…  What I am trying to say here is; if the game was in Scotland and we were talking about the Scotland team it would have made the news for a number of reason, but mostly for the fact that Landon Donovan was about to set a new record with his 125th start for the United States making him to most started player in the country.

The marketing is not the main issue I have with Soccer in the USA, it is with the lack of interest in their own National Team, the Major League Soccer (MSL), their own countrymen that play in the MSL and around the world and the fact that people see soccer as a woman’s sport.  I truly could understand this single-minded view; if the USA men’s team were the worst team in the world, if no-one in the soccer world rated any US home-grown player as being good enough to play for their team… But the fact of the matter is; The USA has some outstanding players, a hard-working national team and that was provided in the April of 2006 when the US Men’s Soccer team were ranked 4th in the world by FIFA!  Yes Brazil, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands were 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectfully, putting teams like England, Spain, France and Argentina to just name a few below the United States in the world rankings…  I would love to see what could be of the US Soccer team if they had the full support of their country.

Over the coming days, weeks and months I will be adding information that many people will not agree with, will not support and I really hope you will comment and get this debate started.  If this gets one person in America to take more interest in their own countrymen playing Soccer… then I see this as time well spent.

Here is hoping that the US Men’s Soccer team makes the 2014 World Cup tournament in Brazil and the great people of America take notice!

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