UEFA --> Marketing Football to North America Audiences

People...This is truly a great thing and I'd appreciate your help a lot.

So, I am doing a project for Union of European Football Association (UEFA) about marketing football (Soccer) to North American Audiences. It's not one of those projects that will be handed in to a prof and then go to archive once you get a mark...rather, on the presentation day which is in November, there will a live video confrence between our presentation room, and Switzerland with UEFA's Business Development Manager watching live and assessing it (If he buys into our strategies, Me and my 4 groupmates will be invited to Switzerland to discuss it there and then hopefully something special can kick off).

For all of you (especially those living in US/Canada, since you are here and know how Soccer is neglected), make your recommendations known/share it, considering key dimensions such as Participation/Calendar/Climate.Touch Point on the culture/Time Zone/ Social Media/ etc etc...as hint points about why this thing is not realizing its massive potential in North America.

In short, through research it assesses various aspects of fotball in North America, and in the end , based on data collected, and solutions made, it comes up with a business plan with objective to increase participation and consumption of football in North America, talking about long-short term tactics, an targets.

Asking for nothing specific, but would like your thoughts on why football is not appealing to NA audience as it should, key drivers of popularity of football in NA, cultural or social background, etc and overall, if you were a UEFA development manager in charge of marketing the sport to North America audiences, what ideas you would have come up with.

Appreciation in advance....I am super-excited by this project, the most amazing, important, and could be absolutely decisive in my future, by a long long time.

Cheers

I consider my old man to be a quite typical American dad, the reasons he doesn't watch soccer are simple:

Diving, time wasting, faking injury, crowding the ref, no video technology to review key plays

I'll give some more help when I get more time

Why football is not appealing to NA audience as it should?

I've done a term paper on this topic.

- One reason I think is because the game was not "officially" created in a North American nation (USA/Canada), all of it's roots are found across the Atlantic. Look at all other major sports (American Football/Basketball/Baseball/Hockey).

- Another thing is the media in a way *used to* and still kinda portrays football as a girly sport "see the USA women's squad". If you watch American based shows how many characters play football, if so then what gender are they normally. A typical jock plays all those other major ones I mentioned.

- I believe another obstacle are the sponsors/marketing. Compare the amount of commercial during a typical football match to all others major sports. A mere fifteen or twenty minutes is nothing compared to what other sports will give you.

I don't want to in depth, but questions like this get me worked.

As long as they call it soccer, I dont see any improvement.

well for starters, having to wake up at 8am or 5 am for a game wont help..

another important reason why soccer isn't popular here is because we americans have a domestic superiority complex. If we dont have the best here in america, then its not worth having. think about it: MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL are all the top leagues in the world, while MLS doesn't even compare to the top euro leagues. So because MLS isn't the best in the world, it (and soccer in general) is shit.

Along those lines, Americans won't buy into a sport where they have to go through the inconvenience of watching an 11am or 1pm start to watch the best soccer players in the world when the best NBA/NFL/MLB/NHL players in the world will play at primetime that same night. soccer will only reach the levels of MLB/NBA/NFL or even NHL (the least popular of the 4) if the US wins the world cup, because then we can say we're the best, and only then will it suddenly matter.

its not as easily accesible in us as in europe, for example i got to get some crazy tv package to have 1 or 2 channels that show football...

champions league is the best and most popular but no american teams play there, so they won't care!

WC is only once in 4 years

for short term, its just brining in popular players like Beckham and Henry to MLS, may be CR7 after his RM career.

introduce video technology !!
punish diving more harshly!!
(IMO)
coz americans like tough and all about justice and they like beer with their sports so time is an issue

good luck on the project, share with us what you come up with and how it goes

everest1 wrote:another important reason why soccer isn't popular here is because we americans have a domestic superiority complex. If we dont have the best here in america, then its not worth having. think about it: MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL are all the top leagues in the world, while MLS doesn't even compare to the top euro leagues. So because MLS isn't the best in the world, it (and soccer in general) is shit.

Along those lines, Americans won't buy into a sport where they have to go through the inconvenience of watching an 11am or 1pm start to watch the best soccer players in the world when the best NBA/NFL/MLB/NHL players in the world will play at primetime that same night. soccer will only reach the levels of MLB/NBA/NFL or even NHL (the least popular of the 4) if the US wins the world cup, because then we can say we're the best, and only then will it suddenly matter.

Pretty much hit the nail on the head....Hockey can even be used as a example for the USA....it is not as popular as the other 3 major sports because Americans are not the best at it (Canadians are ) hence why we are hockey mad in Canada and outside of the northern american states, no one really gives a shit.

and in regards to the other major sports i live in the Toronto area and blue jays games never sell out, we have a 60,000 seat stadium but because the Jays haven't won in 20 years only about 20,000 go to the games...the tv ratings are good tho, but no one gives a shit about anything but Hockey here, my Leafs haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1967 but they are the richest Franchise in all of hockey and sell out everygame and have the highest ticket prices in the league 300$+ for a front row ticket to a team that hasn't even made the playoffs since 2004. I'm guilty as the rest of them tho im a die hard leaf fan.

I think these guys got it "spot on" as the British say .. If you're not a football fan around here its tough to make you one for facts stated above, and if you are a football fan its a bxtch to experience the game to the fullest because of the BS TV packages like KMD said

There should be a company that has like 5+ channels that show football all day every day, kind of like Al Jazeera Sport which has like 8 channels (+1, +2, +3 etc and some HD channels)

GolTV (La Liga, Bundesliga, MLS, Brazil League) is GARBAGE, horrible presentation, horrible commentary, its straight ass, real talk

Fox Soccer (Serie A, MLS) sucks too

Setanta (EPL and Rugby mostly, some UCL) is the best channel but you only get 1 channel ffs, and they regularly don't show the "biggest games of the day" in the EPL ... Lets be real, most people want to watch the big 4 play.. Plus its like $16.99 a month, who the F do they think they are?

We need a multichannel Football network that ONLY shows football 24/7 in HD!!

i cant speak on behalf of NA audiences but the Australian perception of "soccer" isnt too different to how the yanks and Canadians see it
for me the main reason people in NA dont like "soccer" are
-already established cult-like supported sports such as Baseball, NFL, Hockey etc where as soccer is the new boy on the block

-also sports such as NFL and Hockey are high contact and highly physical "tough guy" sports, when the tradtional NFL fan sees players like bicuits etc falling around face clutching the game is perceived as weak, pansy or a womans game

-and probably the two other odd ones ive heard are "it take 5million passes to score one point, in football you get 4 points for a try" or "what kind of sport can end in a draw?

-i think the finals system used by the MLS is probably more appealing to the typical NA sports fan then a first-past-the-post europena style competition

hope it helps somewhat

Well I think a major point is that the championship isn't really played on U.S. soil.

Second point is the media coverage, the media here do hate the fact that only a 15 minute break exists so capturing audience would be hard. If the media actually backs it up in a better way then there will be a bigger audience.

I think if they will push the sport they won't be able to push it to the older generations [24+] but rather the younger one. Reason behind it is simple, its easier to change the views of the young than the old.

So many factors exist and it will need the support of the big channels, kind of like how the WC was marketed here. Don't try to push down the throats but ease it in.

I just wish ESPN would hold the rights to the CL, fox does seem to be trying but its sports coverage is really weak compared to ESPN. I think ESPN have the means to market it properly.

I enjoy the fact that the game flows like this:

Pre-game
1st half
Commercials
2nd half
Post Game

The fact that there's really only a small portion of the game where you're stuck watching commercials is a major plus.

There is a huge cultural issue here.

The "tough guy" image for sports is predominant in the U.S.

I generally find U.S. football fans to be more intelligent than the average American, and the perceived "geek", "nerd"m social classes seem to like football more than traditional sports.

However, among socially conscious suburban places, football is being widely introduced. Since football caters for different body types, and you don't get as obvious advantages/disadvantages as other sports.

Some excellent points so far.....thanks for the contribution, I'll be taking notes soon and hopefully some data

Also I think the fact that there are SO many European leagues trips some people out.. Here sports are spread amongst America and Canada, two big ass countries and you know you're watching the best the sport has to offer

Usually when it comes to Europe you have "the big 3" leagues, sometimes the "big 2" or "big 4" depending on certain factors .. It might confuse people since they want a flat out best

Then there are the continental competitions, it might be "too much" for most people to follow lol


EUROPEAN SUPER-LEAGUE FTW

ESPN & Fox Soccer Channel jerk off to everything that is EPL related around here. Tunnel vision is what I call it. Christopher Sullivan, & Max Bretos (who does't cover the sport now) are probably the only two who tend not to.

I asked my friends dad who has no knowledge off the game to name some teams. He replied with Man Utd & Liverpool. Then I ask what about Real Madrid? He replied I don't know but whose Fake Madrid....

Sir_Psycho_Sexy91 wrote:ESPN & Fox Soccer Channel jerk off to everything that is EPL related around here. Tunnel vision is what I call it. Christopher Sullivan, & Max Bretos (who does't cover the sport now) are probably the only two who tend not to.

I asked my friends dad who has no knowledge off the game to name some teams. He replied with Man Utd & Liverpool. Then I ask what about Real Madrid? He replied I don't know but whose Fake Madrid....

LOL

Trolldad

How'd you get this gig sepi, this is pretty big stuff

simple
make it available during times people can watch it
I know its difficult but 20:45 euro time is working time for us, approx. 2:45
another reason is all the diving and cheating
make laws that would banish cheating
allow more physicality
most american/canadian sports have alot of physicality, hence the goals aint the only highlights
plus
sell the rights to games to more businesses and not only 1 or 2
there is only 4 games/16 shown in Canada. Sportsnet only has rights to games. It would be nice if TSN, Score etc had more rights. The more it is shown on TV, the more people will watch it

The chances of football becoming popular in US is that of a chances of baseball becoming popular outside NA and Japan

Football:

-Lower scores, thus seen as less interesting

-Not as flashy as NHL and NBA, clutch moments are rare

-Big boys always winning it, but in NA you have a chance of a solid, but not an all star team winning it



Football should just stay as it is, Europe, Latin America, Rest.

If you ask me, I'd say the reason soccer isnt mainstream here in the U.S. is because of our culture. Our people aren't really that open minded and receptive to things that aren't the norms. A large number of people follow some sports i.e. Football, Basketball, etc. simply because others do and they'll just fall in line blindly because everyone else does so. I believe the same applies to the way many americans degrade the sport of soccer (others do it so they will as well). also lots of americans quite frankly just dont even respect europeans or any other cultures outside of there own. that arrogance is a big hindrance


for a start to get soccer (uefa) to become mainstream here, there are several obstacles that need to be overcome:

- find a way to communicate/translate the richness and tradition of the clubs, rivalries, competitions, etc.

- make it more tv friendly. broadcasting a match is a tv advertising nightmare. it may be the same way in europe, but the sport is already unappreciated here.

- make matches more accesible to american viewers. for soccer to be mainstream, americans will need to view the top/most prestigious leagues in the world (europe). it wont happen by televising mls games full of mediocre at best and washed up has been players.

- dont tolerate diving. that just disgusts average sports fans here, that will not be tolerated and reflects poorly on the game


those might help but they might still not be enough. we could develop the next messi here and win a WC and the sport would still be an afterthought imo. if you can find a way to overcome the cultural differences that dont lend americans to have interest in the sport, then that'll be a great start

For Northern Europe

Focus on Bundesliga and PL. That's the best they can do for now, and frankly, all they need.


South European
I'm so down to watch Ligue 1, Primeira, La Liga, and Serie A all in 2 channels.

Some people might want to check the attendance statistics for MLS and ratings for footy matches on television before telling how the sport cannot grow in the US...

non-european audiences like highly physical games too, fights, big hits and big collisions is what they want to see