Football Partnerships

By alex kotler

Both parties have good reasons for making the decisions they have, [but] the history of this type of separation in soccer is not positive. We need to find ways to work together rather than moving in different directions, further dividing the soccer community and the very limited resources, such as sponsors and fans, among multiple outlets. Historically, this has been a recipe for disaster!

-Jack Huckel: Secretary, Executive Committee, Board of Directors at the NSCAA

Secession movements, historically, are failures.

Take Tibet, Kashmir, Padania and Catalonia. Though each is occupied by culturally distinct and proud, independent people, each nation-state lacks the resources to sever ties with its “parent” and become a self-sufficient, recognized autocracy. (For argument’s sake, and to keep my friends in these regions, we will assume that the objective of secession is purely autocracy.)

Ultimately, if separatist nation-states cannot fully break free, they become like arthritis – ever present, costly to treat and painful reminders of what used to be (or might have been) but never will be (again).

Thus I draw the parallel with what is currently happening with what is/was the United Soccer Leagues.

A very brief summary
The United Soccer Leagues represent(ed) the second and third tiers of professional soccer in North America, along with amateur tiers beneath those. Nike purchased Umbro in 2008, which owned the United Soccer Leagues, but by 2009 wanted to focus on its core competence and, thus, sell its stake.

Several parties, including Major League Soccer, Traffic Sports, Team Owners’ Association (TOA) and Jeff Cooper (owner of WPS side Saint Louis Athletica), were said to be in the running. As the story goes, Cooper – who had amicable relations with TOA – was the high bidder, but NuRock Soccer Holdings, an Atlanta-based group with ties to the existing USL administration in Tampa, Florida, made a late offer and won Nike’s majority stake.

The nature of how and why the deal went down as it did remains unclear to the public, but the result is a shambles. TOA and Traffic Sports aligned with Jeff Cooper and his St. Louis expansion group, forming a breakaway league comprised of the Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina RailHawks FC, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, and the Vancouver Whitecaps. Certain teams loyal to the USL, the Charleston Battery for one, remained, while others, such as the Rochester Rhinos, waited for the recent USL AGM to hear NuRock’s plans for the upcoming season.

Now, the breakaway league claims to have up to 10 teams, including the Rhinos, Crystal Palace Baltimore and the Tampa Bay Rowdies, having re-branded as the North American Soccer League – the same known for the likes of Pele, Beckenbauer and Best.

The fate of NuRock’s United Soccer Leagues is yet unknown.

Is this the beginning of the beginning or the beginning of the end?
According to Greg Lalas on his recently-launched podcast, Waiting for Gaetjens, the USL was stale and in need of a shake-up and – while not suggesting that the manner in which this situation unfolded was favorable – it could represent an opportunity to elevate soccer in North America to a new standard.

Kartik Krishnaiyer, on this week’s Football Partnerships podcast, hoped for the same, although his measure of optimism was veiled with a layer of wariness.

I echo my colleagues’ sentiments and keep Jack Huckel’s opinion in mind. Across an already fragmented landscape, the song of the secession siren is a dangerous and lustful tune that typically ends for the worse.

Then again, I think of Singapore, of the Republic of Ireland and that tiny nation of the United States of America.

Maybe it can work.

IMG Licensing, a division of global sports and entertainment company IMG and Prime Licensing, the Brazilian company thatacquired the exclusive global rights to license the football legend and superstar Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Pele), announced today that they have joined forces for the worldwide marketing and licensing of the legendary Brazilian footballer’s name and likeness.

IMG Executive Vice President Bruno Maglione commented, “With next year’s Confederation Cup and subsequent World Cup in South Africa in 2010,interest in soccer is on the path to reach its quadrennial fever pitch; as the only player to have ever won 3 World Cups, it is a good time tore-introduce audiences around the world to the timeless attributes of Pele– the footballer, the athlete and the global goodwill ambassador. IMG will be seeking partners across a wide range of product licensing,co-branding and advertising endorsement areas both football andnon-football related.”

“No player before or since has ever personified the passion and spirit of’ the beautiful game’; those attributes and values represented by Pele have,if anything, grown in importance in recent years as we try to re-capture the fundamental principles which make football the world’s most popular sport,” said Paulo Ferreira President of Prime Licensing. “And we know that IMG is best positioned to take advantage of the tremendous and renewed interest in the compelling football story, as well as life story of Pele.”

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By Todd Benson

In Brazil, soccer is considered an art form. So it is only fitting that the sport Brazilians call “the beautiful game” gets its own museum.

This is the land that produced football greats such as Garrincha, Zico, Romario, Ronaldo, Kaka, and the most famous of all, Pele. It is the only country to have qualified for every World Cup, and the only one to win it five times.

But until now, Brazil has never had a truly national museum honoring the sport that has become synonymous with Brazilian culture. That changed last month when the Museu do Futebol, or Football Museum, opened at Pacaembu Stadium in Sao Paulo.

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