Marketing Soccer Through…Basketball?

By: Laurie | July 11th, 2009

Remember the “World Series of Football”?

Oh, come on. Of course you do. It was a four-team round-robin competition born in 1991, revived in 2005, where three international clubs would come to the US in their off-season and play each other and an MLS team. Last seen on US shores when an overhyped David Beckham debuted as the savior of MLS, promptly reinjuring his already-badly-injured ankle and knocking him out for his club for pretty much the remainder of the 2007 season.

Small wonder that the World Series of Football seems to have been allowed to die a silent, lonely death. (Seriously, I can’t find anything anywhere that says it’s dead. In 2007 it just…ends.)

What do we have instead? Instead, we have a group of games that ditches the MLS part and simply has the big names play each other. Which is what essentially everybody except die-hard MLS fans wanted to see in the first place.

R.I.P. World Series of Football. Long live the “World Football Challenge,” described in the press release as:

[giving] soccer fans the unprecedented opportunity to see global superstars such as John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ronaldinho, Gennaro Gattuso, Julio Cesar, Javier Zanetti, Pavel Pardo and Salvador Cabañas play live in the U.S. and experience first-hand the fast-paced, skillful competition that has made soccer the most popular sport in the world.

Teams participating this year are Chelsea, Inter Milan, Club America and AC Milan.

Pretty cool, huh? If you’re a fan of European footy or Club America, I’m guessing you’re salivating right now.

But it’s apparently not cool enough. Because the organizers are hedging their bets for the Chelsea vs. Inter match in LA (played in the Rose Bowl, which is, to use a technical term, really, really big) by sponsoring a contest that allows one lucky fan to spend the match sitting next to an NBA star.

NBA. As in basketball.

International soccer powerhouse Chelsea Football Club have partnered with the National Basketball Association to give one lucky fan the opportunity to experience Chelsea’s match versus Inter Milan at the Rose Bowl on July 21 with an NBA player.

Fans that purchase tickets to any World Football Challenge match between July 10 and July 17 will be automatically entered for the chance to win VIP match tickets to sit alongside an NBA player at the Rose Bowl on July 21, roundtrip airfare to Los Angeles, two nights’ accommodations, a signed Chelsea FC jersey and a signed NBA team jersey.

Erm…okay? Because dangling a basketball star is the obvious way to convert the non-fan.

(Or at least to sell a few extra tickets.)

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Category: World Football

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Nolan

Plus they are the two sports I get crap about by American football and hockey fans for the use of diving/flopping for fouls.
Nolan

Basketball is easily my favourite non-football sport, and I don't think it's a crazy combination, as there are a lot more close relationships between football players and basketball players than any other American sport.
Applesauce

This is obviously a scam on the part of either Steve Nash or Kobe Bryant to gain free admission to the game. :D
Jonathan

The biggest problem in this country is that sports fans have bought off on the anti-soccer bias built by other professional sports and the media. They've never been to a professional game. Basketball was my favorite sport before I discovered soccer. I still love basketball. If sitting next to an NBA star is incentive for them to come to a soccer game - so be it. I've seen many sports fans who have never been to a professional soccer game who came to Dynamo games and were hooked.
Weston (@wpazzurri)

damn, the milan v. america game is right near where i live but of course i am going to be unable to go... did anybody vote for the #1 fans? i voted for all of the teams (even the inter one, lol) except for america b/c i have only taken one year of spanish so far; why didnt they have a translation?
omar

one basketball has a rule tht disallows or prohibits the use of feet to make contact with the ball..nuff said
laurie i was half hopin u cud get us another cool pic like dat other one...:)
Andrea

Club America is going to get killed.

Doesn't Chelsea have that "sit on our bench" thing going on too?
John

Matt you make some good points but you don't have to be abrasive about it. It didn't look to me that Laurie was being unfair, certainly not wanting it to be dumb.

There are certainly parallels between basketball and soccer, but I'm not sure that this ticket promotion is going to do anything. Maybe some soccer fans will buy more tickets for the offchance of sitting next to an NBA player, but I doubt non-soccer fans will buy a ticket because of it.

I will also point out that this particular giveaway is in LA, where the glitzy star-studded lifestyle holds sway. Maybe there will be more interest from the rich socialites this way, who knows?
b-52

Soccer and basketball are extremely similar. I play both, rather poorly, so I'm always trying to figure out how to play better. When I'm playing poor basketball, I tell myself to play more like a soccer player (focus on retaining possession, positioning off the ball etc) and when I'm playing poorly at soccer, I tell myself to play more like a basketball player (better control of the ball, more direct in my passing, better footwork). Then I play a little better, then I get bad again. Sad cycle. Seriously though, there are a lot of parallels between the sport. If some of these kids that come up as point guards switch to soccer, there will be a whole lot more classy center midfielders out there.
matt

and i bet it's an nba player that actually LIKES soccer...if it's in la it could be kobe bryant (grew up in italy) or pau gasol (spanish)or it could be steve nash (who is a lifelong spurs fan...he could be there to spit at joe cole)
matt

instead of acting like this is a terrible idea you might want to actually look at the parallels between the games. basketball is the only american sport to have gained a nice foothold in the rest of the world. you could argue that baseball has as well but it's only really in this hemisphere and in certain asian countries. about 2 seconds worth of googling would inform you that europe is considered at WORST a proving ground for nba athletes...and that hardcore basketball fans, not to mention the athletes that go over there to play are becoming more and more interested in the european leagues in general. what does that have to do with soccer? well for starters real madrid has a basketball team, alot of spanish sports clubs do...people start wondering about that, they start asking questions they start wanting to know more about who real madrid et al is etc etc. also an american who was drafted in the top 10 this year opted to play in rome instead of at a college. other kids are thinking the same thing...you think that kid could walk around italy during the serie a season without catching a glimpse of some of great soccer being played over there, i think he may over even gotten diving lessons from some pro over there named frankie or something? steve nash hosts a soccer game in nyc every year at which some random french guy named something like terry plays in right? you do realize all this stuff gets reported on basketball sites and blogs right? i know that this is a ramble but really...the nba has a much bigger scope than america, they want to be tied to brands that are big in europe, nba fans aren't oblivious to all of this...they want to know and participate and one up each other with knowledge of obscure leagues just as much as soccer fans do. it's not nearly as dumb as you'd like it to be.
Laurie

I guess I could have made it more obvious where to go for more info. But yes, the link will take you where they'll tell you everything you need to know.
Rory

D.S follow the link, sheesh
D.S

Are the games gonna played in the U.S and if so are there any gonna be played in ny?
ar126

I'll be at the game in Baltimore.
Johonna

*whole
Johonna

yep. sick isn't it. That stupid Jack promotion also included a hole bit about how soccer was sort of like basketball.

Sure it is... Well, there is a ball and a net on either side and guys in shorts. Yep, just like basketball.