Take a short walk from Times Square to the corner of West 50th Street, and you will see a familiar face. There is a mural of the Egyptian King on the side of a building. The slogan 'Larger than Life' was written underneath a colourful image of Salah. It is a striking piece of art among the seemingly endless flashing billboards and New York traffic, and one that shows the truly global reach of the artist. There is no reference to the city. The Beatles broke America in 1964, but the football club that shares the city's name is still trying to make a mark. There has been an approach over the transfer of Darwin Nunez to Manchester United. The Sadio Mane transfer offer was rejected by the Liverpool. For some years now, clubs have been trying to find ways to tap into what they saw as a potentially plentiful market in the US, trying to bank on the rise of soccer in the country. The growth hasn't arrived as quickly as they had hoped or expected, it has been more of a slow burner, but with a $2 billion TV deal in the bag for the next cycle, and with US capital now increasingly prevalent in English football, the growth that clubs had "After" data-placeholder-placeholder is a data-response-start data-type. Pre-season tours abroad for clubs in the premier league have been going on for a while. From America to the Far East, clubs have attempted to bring their brand to a new fan base, something that they hope will open them up to new markets and new commercial possibilities. It has worked well. The power of the pre-season tour, particularly to the US, was one of the first things that Manchester United did, and it is now worth more than $10m per season. The journey across the pond to bring the club to a new audience was the last one taken by the club, which was in Boston and New York in 2019. The American market is something that the hierarchy of the club knows all about. It is something that they have seen the growth in and something that they will be looking to make the most of. The head of global partnership sales, based in New York, is a key member of the commercial team and supports the growth of commercial revenues in that side of the Atlantic. The NBA and MLB both have retail stores on New York's Eighth Avenue, which is a shopper's haven and where the biggest leagues in America position themselves with their flagship stores. The flagship store for Paris Saint-Germain is located along that stretch of New York, with the French side building on their lifestyle brand push with Nike subsidiary Air Jordan, to bring the brand to a new audience. Despite American ownership and a global brand worth billions, there is no physical retail presence in the US. When that becomes a requirement, it will mark a milestone for the club, and given the movement that is occurring in the US with a move towards soccer, it could arrive sooner than later. The official store in New York City. What is the status of the US? Do they have to register with sports fans in the country? Is the market that has growth opportunities for the club that would help them deliver success on the pitch and aid transfer spending really the market? The challenge of getting the same kind of traction for the clubs that they represent is something that owners are trying to find an answer to. The willingness for NBC to pay $2 billion to keep the premier league as part of their premium live content suggests the answer might not be too far away, especially given that club owners in England had been expecting as much as $900 million less than the deal that was eventually struck with NBC to show games Scott Rosner is a Professor of Sports Management at Columbia University and he has watched the growth of the game with interest in the US. The USA '94 World Cup was the start of the growth of the game in the US, according to a football fan, who was part of the team. "If you think about Manchester United, they have a history of touring here, but I don't think that has much to do with the strength of their brand here, it's their history as a club." They have fallen on hard times, no doubt, and there is no immediate prospect of returning to 'glory, glory, Man United', but the appeal of having someone like CR7 keeps them relevant more than they otherwise would be. There is an interest in Christian Pulisic, who is thought to be the best American. Some of my friends and neighbours are fans of the same team. The New York City link through the City Football Group ownership isn't really a driver of interest over here, it's more about the quality of play, and that's why Manchester City have been so successful on the pitch. However, they are historically more successful than the other teams. US soccer fans have built up a pretty significant brand recognition. It is the style of play they play that has attracted US fans. You get down to ownership and having James as part of it. I don't know if it's positive or negative, but I know of Yankees fans who root against the Reds because of the RedSox. Over the past 25 years the US football market has matured. The World Cup in '94, the launch of our own domestic league, the MLS in '96), and it staying around past the first 10 years, which some people questioned as it has established itself among the US sports firmament, are some of the reasons why it has established itself. Increased investment in broadcasting from a number of different providers has come about. NBC launched their subscription streaming service Peacock as a result of this. That couldn't have pleased the powers that be in the league. On the final day in the US, you can watch all of the games on different channels. A lot of the American football matches are on Peacock. The title of 'championship Sunday' had a lot at stake. European football and the title of the English premier league were on the line. The content can be spread across all of their channels. The matches were on cable. NBC aired the Manchester City game while the USA Network aired the Reds game. There are some very high level matches that I would want to watch if I were not a Peacock subscriber. What is that thing? I have to go to either Peacock or Peacock plus to become a paid subscriber. They are being thoughtful in that. It could not have been very satisfying for the powers in the league to be there. There is a lot of work that can be done with the rights that they have now agreed to. It's important for NBC to have something that drives subscribers to a new platform. It is important for NBC to give you instant programming at a time of day that is higher than what you would get in the US because of the magnitude of the games. The shuttering of NBC is something that would have had to be altered. The linear operation at NBC Sport was shut down on January 1 and all games were moved to other channels. A lot of hurt and bruised feelings can be mitigated by money. There has been a shift in the US towards more participation in football, but it will be difficult to convert that to more eyeballs. The MLS is the most watched football league in the country, but it is not the most watched football league in the country. The rest of Europe's major leagues trail behind the premier league in terms of ratings and money paid to broadcast their competition. The game can now be seen in hundreds of millions of homes in the US, thanks to the fact that the time difference in some parts of the country means that the game isn't as well known as it could be. That type of exposure is very valuable to the commercial partners of the city of Liverpool. To watch a soccer game in the US, you would have to launch a satellite from your back yard, Kevin LaForce, managing director of FSG's 11 percent part owner RedBird Capital Partners told the ECHO. The advent of MLS in the US and its growth over the last decade means that you can now watch soccer on linear television. The entrance of the premier league in the US was a big event for European soccer, based on the first deal that they did with NBC. Being able to get up on Sunday mornings and watch some of the best soccer in the world is something I have experienced with my family. When we played pre-season games in Europe, LaForce was an executive and key to the NFL securing a $100 billion 10-year TV deal. The people didn't want to see pre-season games, they wanted to see the best players in the world play their best, and that's what the EPL is. With the support of NBC, people were able to learn more about the players, teams and history of the sport. The power of free-to-air TV in the US, as you are in 130 million homes, was widened by this. The fact that the most watched football league in the US is in Mexico makes more sense when you look at the demographic makeup of the US population. The Mexican league is the most watched league in the US. It's 40 to 50 percent more popular than the league. Mexican Americans in the USA think about football in a very secular way, so it makes sense. The MLS is watched by around 400,000 people per game. You can see that the MLS is the most watched league in the country. It's about two million plus. It's only for domestic leagues, not the CCL or the CSD. The pitch at Yankee Stadium was looked at by the manager before the Pre-Season match between the two clubs. The World Cup is coming to this place. I worked at the World Cup in 1994. In '94, the mission statement for World Cup USA was to put on the greatest World Cup in history and the US still remains the most attended World Cup in history. It was to leave a legacy for soccer in the country. The goal of the World Cup is to bring football in America to a new higher level. It's like an espresso shot if you give it the love and enthusiasm to take it to another level. I think the answer is yes. The increased financial package that has been negotiated means the league's teams have been able to strengthen their position, as a result of the new TV deal. The opportunity to maximize the potential of the club's brand in the US has been given to the owners of the club. The Reds put on a two-day 'Anfield Experience' exhibition in New York, using digital mapping to deliver a virtual experience to give US fans a taste of what the matchday experience is really like. It was an indication of the intent of the club to engage with their American audience. The man from Formby moved to New York in the summer of 2014). The lifelong fan has seen the changing nature of the game. One of the biggest indicators of how big it is getting over here is the coverage on NBC, they started doing live events. We've had a few in Miami and LA, as well as in New York. There were 10 different games on 10 different channels on the final day of the season when I was over there. NBC didn't just keep it to their sports channels, it was on NBC, USA, and SYFY as well. It was shown on all of these channels. The mix of genders is different in England than it is here. I've been here for seven years and I don't know what it's like to watch a game in an English pub but over here we have a good balance of men and women watching the games. Some of the players on the US women's team became stars outside of the game. A lot of kids are getting into football in the US because it is cheap to play football at a school. You just need a ball. The amount of equipment you need is significant and costly if you play baseball or American Football. The TV deal gives them a sound footing to realise the kind of growth they would like to achieve in America. It requires the buy-in of a new and existing audience in order to keep the high media deals going into cycles. The fervent passion that comes from nations globally where football is their number one sport is challenged in an American market where baseball, American football and basketball are the dominant forces for eyeballs and wallet. The NYOLSC's president said that the interest comes in crests and waves when big things happen like a Champions League or a title run. People pick up teams and support them in a passionate manner, but that devotion hasn't really taken off yet. It kind of moves in and out. How they grow and sustain that here in the US is the challenge now. There are new opportunities that are arising, however, and that's why it's important forLiverpool to make the most of them. A winning side, charismatic manager, recognisable world class players with appeal across demographics, and an ownership set-up that already has its roots firmly in American sport, and has the added cache of having a globally recognisable superstar in basketball legend LeBron James as part of the group and playing anfrom OhContent RSS - Sport Source https://ift.tt/Qhe6VTy
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