Soccernomics: Los Angeles Football Club and Carlos Vela - The New King of LA
It seems absurd that a football franchise can gain a million fans overnight, but that is just what Los Angeles Football Club managed to achieve when they signed Carlos Vela back in August. Despite the club never having played a competitive match and only having a handful of players on the roster their future looks bright.
Vela begins his tenure with his new teammates on January the 1st, and the run up to the franchises first match accelerates over the next four months before they take on the Seattle Sounders at home. Their home which hasn't yet been built.
In true American style, there certainly has been theory behind the signing of Vela and one that clearly taps in to the ethnicity of not only Los Angeles, but also to the breakdown of the run-of-the mill MLS viewer. This year alone there was a 75% increase in viewership on ESPN alone, and a 38% rise year-on-year across the play-offs. Football, or soccer, is gaining serious momentum in the United States and the expansion franchises (Minnesota United, Los Angeles and Atlanta United) have been better than previous at understanding where their designated players should come from.
When the likes of LA Galaxy tried to crack Europe, and to a lesser extent the US, by signing David Beckham they missed out on one of the largest markets in the World - and it on their own doorstep. 36% of all MLS viewers hail from a Hispanic background according to a report from 2014 and those figures have risen since then due to a deal with Univision to broadcast games in Spanish.
Mexican and Hispanic markets contribute almost as much in terms of revenue to the game as American fans do. For example, the latest match between Mexico and the USA was split 65%/35% towards Mexico despite this being listed as a home fixture for the Americans. The Gold Cup continues to be played on US soil every year, not just because of the infrastructure in place, but also because the attendees of the games, mainly Hispanics, live in the most heavily populated parts of the US. According to another report, Hispanic, Mexican-Americans and Black attendees of MLS games outnumber Americans 3 to 1.
Like Atlanta United before them, Los Angeles FC recognised that they needed to tap in to the biggest market at home and across the border, hence the signing of Vela who had spent the last 8 years with Real Sociedad. According to reports, LAFC had approached a number of high profile superstars from South, Central and North American's but finally settled on Vela after missing out on Andres Guardado (Real Betis), Javier Hernandez (West Ham), Jonathan Dos Santos (LA Galaxy) and Wesley Sneijder (OGC Nice). You will notice that there is a trend here, aside Sneijder.
Initial signings also point heavily to appealing to the massive Hispanic population in Los Angeles with arrivals from Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico and Uruguay. There is method behind the madness, and it is a certainly a case of "soccernomics" at play. With the franchise barely existing in it's current state, they needed to build a fanbase quickly and signing one of the biggest poster boys of Mexican will certainly go some way to achieving just that. So will having a website and Twitter handle in Spanish alongside English before the franchise was even approved by MLS.
Although Vela has had a contentious relationship with the Mexican national team in recent times, he is now very much back in the fold and, somewhat ironically, his last goal for El Tri came against the USA. Despite playing the majority of his senior career in the Basque Country, Vela is still adored by Mexicans who have access to La Liga via their huge television deals.
On the pitch, Vela will offer the same experience and broad shoulders that David Villa did to NYCFC in their first franchise years. Vela admits that he leaves Sociedad with a heavy heart but most importantly with a family and as a man. He will provide LAFC with a face of the franchise on the pitch and you can expect him to propel LAFC's goal scoring threat along with 19 year-old Diego Rossi who has arrived from Penarol in Uruguay.
There is so much more than footballing talent to go with this signing, but LAFC undoubtedly have a stellar forward and more importantly a franchise player in their ranks, along with a talented coach in Bob Bradley. Good things will happen in LA, especially with King Vela in their ranks.
Vela begins his tenure with his new teammates on January the 1st, and the run up to the franchises first match accelerates over the next four months before they take on the Seattle Sounders at home. Their home which hasn't yet been built.
In true American style, there certainly has been theory behind the signing of Vela and one that clearly taps in to the ethnicity of not only Los Angeles, but also to the breakdown of the run-of-the mill MLS viewer. This year alone there was a 75% increase in viewership on ESPN alone, and a 38% rise year-on-year across the play-offs. Football, or soccer, is gaining serious momentum in the United States and the expansion franchises (Minnesota United, Los Angeles and Atlanta United) have been better than previous at understanding where their designated players should come from.
When the likes of LA Galaxy tried to crack Europe, and to a lesser extent the US, by signing David Beckham they missed out on one of the largest markets in the World - and it on their own doorstep. 36% of all MLS viewers hail from a Hispanic background according to a report from 2014 and those figures have risen since then due to a deal with Univision to broadcast games in Spanish.
Mexican and Hispanic markets contribute almost as much in terms of revenue to the game as American fans do. For example, the latest match between Mexico and the USA was split 65%/35% towards Mexico despite this being listed as a home fixture for the Americans. The Gold Cup continues to be played on US soil every year, not just because of the infrastructure in place, but also because the attendees of the games, mainly Hispanics, live in the most heavily populated parts of the US. According to another report, Hispanic, Mexican-Americans and Black attendees of MLS games outnumber Americans 3 to 1.
Like Atlanta United before them, Los Angeles FC recognised that they needed to tap in to the biggest market at home and across the border, hence the signing of Vela who had spent the last 8 years with Real Sociedad. According to reports, LAFC had approached a number of high profile superstars from South, Central and North American's but finally settled on Vela after missing out on Andres Guardado (Real Betis), Javier Hernandez (West Ham), Jonathan Dos Santos (LA Galaxy) and Wesley Sneijder (OGC Nice). You will notice that there is a trend here, aside Sneijder.
Initial signings also point heavily to appealing to the massive Hispanic population in Los Angeles with arrivals from Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico and Uruguay. There is method behind the madness, and it is a certainly a case of "soccernomics" at play. With the franchise barely existing in it's current state, they needed to build a fanbase quickly and signing one of the biggest poster boys of Mexican will certainly go some way to achieving just that. So will having a website and Twitter handle in Spanish alongside English before the franchise was even approved by MLS.
Although Vela has had a contentious relationship with the Mexican national team in recent times, he is now very much back in the fold and, somewhat ironically, his last goal for El Tri came against the USA. Despite playing the majority of his senior career in the Basque Country, Vela is still adored by Mexicans who have access to La Liga via their huge television deals.
On the pitch, Vela will offer the same experience and broad shoulders that David Villa did to NYCFC in their first franchise years. Vela admits that he leaves Sociedad with a heavy heart but most importantly with a family and as a man. He will provide LAFC with a face of the franchise on the pitch and you can expect him to propel LAFC's goal scoring threat along with 19 year-old Diego Rossi who has arrived from Penarol in Uruguay.
There is so much more than footballing talent to go with this signing, but LAFC undoubtedly have a stellar forward and more importantly a franchise player in their ranks, along with a talented coach in Bob Bradley. Good things will happen in LA, especially with King Vela in their ranks.
Comments
Post a Comment