View From The Shires: All-Star Week Highlights
With All-Star Week in full flow, it’s been an eventful few days for MLS. The latest piece of major news came Tuesday afternoon, when the Columbus Crew and Hunt Sports Group announced that Precourt Sports Ventures (PSV) had acquired the operating rights to the Ohio-based club.
It means that AEG’s position as investor and operator of both the Los Angeles Galaxy and Houston Dynamo remains the only multi-ownership situation in the league – a far cry from 2006, when Phil Anschutz and Clark Hunt owned seven of the 12 MLS teams between them.
Combine this with recent news that D.C. United’s lengthy and often-maddening search for its own soccer-specific stadium may be nearing an end, as well as the announcement that MLS has agreed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Wells Fargo, and it’s funny to think about where the league was a few years ago and where it is today.
Make no mistake, MLS is always going to struggle to compete with the other major professional sports leagues for America’s attention, but, with crowds as healthy as they’ve ever been (18,000 avg.), TV viewing figures finally making some long-awaited progress and the upcoming arrival of New York City FC in 2015, it’s clear to see just how far things have come since those dark days of contraction, when the two Florida franchises, the Tampa Bay Mutiny and the Miami Fashion, were cast by the wayside.
Looking back, was that a move which ultimately saved MLS from the same fate as its predecessor, NASL? It’s impossible to say for definite, but since, with well-considered additions, such as Real Salt Lake and the Seattle Sounders, as well as the steady leadership of Commissioner Don Garber, the league has gone from strength to strength.
Certainly, though some like to downplay its influence, ‘Brand Beckham’ has played its part, yet it would also not be at all outlandish to state that no other league does as much to try to improve fan experience as MLS. One way it has sought to achieve this is by readily embracing social media, where huge strides have been made to offer unprecedented access to players and teams across the league.
Soccer’s smaller standing across the Atlantic undoubtedly means that MLS has no option but to make the extra effort, simply to be able to compete with its rival sports, but there’s no question that fans duly appreciate being brought closer to the stars of the league they see on TV every weekend. As the UK audience grows increasingly disillusioned with how detached Premier League footballers have become from everyday life, it’s certainly refreshing to realise that the majority of MLS players are merely normal, down-to-earth individuals, who are more than happy to give fans their time and in no way take their profession for granted.
That may be a statement which seems high-and-mighty to some but ask any passionate fan of MLS and they will likely tell you exactly the same – being able to relate to your favourite team and players and get that precious behind the scenes access is a vitally important part of fan experience and that’s exactly why the league is making such efforts to improve its social media footprint. We see it with the success of HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks’ and fly-on-the wall documentaries like ‘An Impossible Job’ and (to a lesser extent) ‘Being Liverpool’. This is the type of material which fans eat up and it’s exactly what MLS has been increasingly trying to offer its growing audience.
This is a fact which has become all the more evident during All-Star Week in Kansas City, where, with the league setting up its own Social Media HQ, the various goings-on have been a sure sign of MLS’ efforts to reach out to its fan base. Players have been giving fun and engaging interviews, interacting with fans, helping with local charities and development projects and even taking the time to put together the (intentionally) worst attempt at a rap video in human history.
In addition, both Don Garber and new Columbus Crew chairman Anthony Precourt logged on to Twitter to conduct live Q&A sessions with fans, while Monday evening even saw Macklemore take to the stage for a free concert as part of the celebrations. In fact, amongst all the festivities, you could be forgiven for forgetting that AS Roma had flown into town for a game of football.
That game against the likes Francesco Totti and Michael Bradley is of course what everyone has come to Kansas City for but (let’s be honest), much like the NFL’s Pro Bowl or MLB’s own All-Star game, the actual centrepiece event itself is usually a somewhat mundane affair. What’s more important is that MLS is visibly engaging with its growing audience, while increasingly attracting more lucrative sponsorship and business opportunities. It’s certainly been a long road but what we’re witnessing now is MLS in the healthiest state it’s ever been with the ability to attract big-name players such as Tim Cahill, Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane, full of capable and innovative owners with successful business models, and now finally making the next step from being labelled a “retirement home for has beens” to becoming the biggest league outside of Europe.
