Are you in a position to play some football?
And no, we’re not talking about football, with tall men dressed in layers of cover and helmets and beating each other up at full speed and with bad intentions. We are talking about the game that the rest of the world calls football. in which human-sized humans more commonly use their feet and don’t hit each other as much, though perhaps with bad intentions.
And some of the world’s most productive clubs are eagerly invading American shores this week with a series of mid-summer exhibitions that satisfy the desire to see in person for almost every soccer fan on the continent.
The Olympics have already begun this week, at least for the opening men’s and women’s soccer matches, with matches in Nice and Marseille already underway ahead of the Games’ opening ceremonies on Friday night in Paris.
But we are a long way from the United States, where starting this weekend the teams of the English Premier League, the Italian Serie A and the Spanish League will play live in front of the American public, as part of the Soccer Champions. Tour, a series of “friendly matches” in stadiums mainly on the East Coast.
The Champions Tour groups include four-time EPL winners Manchester City, as well as Chelsea, Italy’s AC Milan and Spanish classic powers Real Madrid and Barcelona, in a six-match series at venues that They range from New York to Chicago Orlando.
“When you have the chance to see your favorite team come to town, it creates that point of excitement,” said Russell Wolff, managing director of Sixth Street, the sports-focused investment company behind the Champions Tour. “We are taking advantage of this technological change that has allowed young people to become true enthusiasts of remote clubs, something that was not imaginable before. “
Wolff, who spent 26 years at ESPN as a senior executive, and added five as ESPN’s general manager, said the live, in-person experience is connecting enthusiasts to a game in a lasting way.
“Little kids who 20 years ago couldn’t watch soccer, those kids, my kids, can watch any European soccer game they want,” said Wolff, whose holdings come from sports event control giant Legends Hospitality and Bay FC . Soccer League franchise in San Jose, California. “Your ability to see almost everything creates fan lust for those clubs. “
Prior to the tour, Manchester City opened a pop-up store at New York’s Rockefeller Center that will remain open until September 22, promoting a diversity of Puma collections, as part of the team’s North American charm offensive as it expands its visitor base beyond the United Kingdom’s borders. ” said Nuria Tarre, marketing director of the City Football Group.
“The United States is a very strategic market for us,” Tarre said. “A lot of European football clubs would say the same thing. “The market is huge and is developing as a brand. (The Champions Tour is a) chance to interact with American audiences in an original way at the local level. Normally, this year we do it with virtual activities for fans.
Although Tarre said it’s difficult to quantify the team’s expansion in the U. S. In the U. S. , there are increases in ratings on NBC and Peacock in the U. S. A U. S. increase in retail sales of the team’s products in the United States and stronger fan engagement on social media.
It’s vital to note that all of this is happening in a wealthy and giant market, where the bond with fans has yet to be built through decades of local affection and generational bonding.
“One in three enthusiasts didn’t decide on a team,” Tarre said. “There is interest in gambling, expansion in the markets. Over the next 3 or 4 years, we must double down. When you look at one in three (unengaged enthusiasts), it’s a wonderful opportunity, but it’s also a more fluid fandom. We see this as an opportunity for expansion.
Images of the Coupe des Ligues on Apple TV
In addition, 47 clubs from Major League Soccer based in the United States and Liga MX, the most prestigious in Mexico, compete in a total of 77 games in stadiums in the United States and Canada. in the so-called League Cup.
Apple, with its exclusive 360-degree TV rights deal with MLS, is broadcasting all of the games and is also sponsoring the Fest Game in Los Angeles, a gathering in downtown Los Angeles that features video screens featuring five of the games, starting with Atlanta United vs. Atlanta. DC United at five p. m. PDT and the LAFC vs. Tijuana will be played at 8 p. m. a few miles south, at LAFC Stadium, next to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
“It’s an exclusive tournament, a bit like the Ryder Cup (of golf): two nations, all the teams in a league play against each other,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president who oversees the elements. keys to the company’s large facilities unit, adding sports, Apple TV, Beats and music. “Most of the time you think of a league and one or two more sensible groups. We are very excited that in just one week all the teams will be competing against each other.
Schusser, following popular Apple practice, did not reveal any detailed hearings on the service, to say that the second year of the company’s full agreement with MLS and its Season Pass is in effect in the second year of the agreement on its season. initial.
“We are seeing significant expansion year after year, but our project is to stay for the long term,” said Schusser, a Munich-born German who remains an ardent football fan in its many versions of his home country’s Bundesliga. , to what MLS is creating. ” We invertissons. la league invests, invests. Nothing excites us more than bringing those things to the fans.
The Champions Tour is tricky to organise because many players in the five groups have just finished a career with their national team at the European Championship, Copa America or other tournaments in early summer. Simply put, groups can burn out if their athletes aren’t treated with care. An alternative is to hold all the games primarily on the East Coast, rather than places like Houston, which saves time.
“The team that runs us every day combines this patchwork of (venue) skills, practice schedules, on-field marketing skills and makes for a wonderful event,” Wolff said. “Part of it has to do with their schedules, how far they need to go and their skills. We’re working hard to combine this.
“Some might have said we were close to Peak Soccer before some of those (summer tours),” Wolff said. “I think it’s a question of schedule management. I think the main limitation in all this is the rest of the players. It’s not the desire of enthusiasts to see big clubs in big buildings.
The first year of the Champions Tour has generated a lot of interest in at least some matchups, Wolff said, pointing to the other 82,000 people who watched Real Madrid and Barcelona make a New World edition of their La Liga El Clásico matchups. This American match will be located at MetLife Stadium, home of the 2026 World Cup in North America.
Other matchups will be as much about the story as they are about the matchups. AC Milan and Real Madrid are celebrating their anniversary and will face off in Baltimore to celebrate the milestone.
Manchester City’s Tarre said this can be important for the team and for the players themselves. City Football Group, Manchester City’s parent organization, has invested $800 million in a New York stadium for its MLS franchise, New York City Football Club. The British team will face AC Milan of Italy’s Serie A on Friday night at Yankee Stadium as part of the Champions Tour.
And the normal season made vacations abroad “tricky,” Tarre’ said games in the United States will give the team a chance to showcase its young players and academy products. ‘Team.
“It’s a theme for them,” Tarre said. It’s a wonderful opportunity to see young talent. This makes it a little less difficult for those who register with us.
And not to be left behind, the most sensible team in the English Premier League, Arsenal, will play 3 friendlies with the United States in the coming days, adding two in the Los Angeles area.
Arsenal have adopted a multi-layered technique for the return of their players after summer internationals: those whose domestic groups failed to make it through the knockout stages were the first to return to the home club, while others who played until the end of the summer will not. We will sign up until the end of the tour.
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