Peter Wilt on how to market soccer in America
On the website of the brand spanking new Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league it says “Countdown to Kickoff: 430:05:19:21″. That’s too many numbers for me to comprehend, but it’ll be happening some time in the spring of 2009. The question is, will those running WPS convince enough people to keep watching for it to survive longer than the previous women’s professional league?
It’s certainly true that many people think it will fail, as its predecessor the WUSA did. I can give you one reason why it won’t — the people who run it realise they have to earn your interest in it.
Peter Wilt, the Chicago Fire’s popular former GM and President who oversaw the club winning the Double (MLS and Open Cups) in their inaugural year, is heading the WPS team in the Windy City. Read his words, for in fact they would be well-heeded by all executives running soccer clubs in this country regardless of the gender of their players:
On the topic of excuses, the Women’s Professional Soccer Town Hall at the NSCAA Convention seemed to be full of them as panelists tried to explain why the WUSA didn’t survive and WPS will. The most popular one was “It’s the media’s fault”. That excuse was phrased a dozen different ways in the 90 minute forum. Suffice to say that room 338 at the Baltimore Convention Center was not a safe place for Barbaro, Sea Biscuit, Whirlaway or any other dead horse. We can not blame others for any lack of exposure and attendance. It is the responsibility of the League and its member teams to reach out to our audiences in other ways – new media and grassroots direct marketing – to connect our League and teams with people who are already emotionally and economically connected to the sport.
The other theme seemed to be the social cause of gender equity. You’ve heard the argument, “You must support this league, BECAUSE it’s a women’s sport and our daughters are entitled to role models and a place to play when they grow up.” I’m sorry, but that is NOT a solid basis to support any league or sport. It may be a convenient byproduct of a women’s pro sports league, but it is not a primary reason why anyone should attend WPS games. WPS will provide competitive, entertaining games featuring the best women’s soccer teams in the world at a fair price – THAT is the reason this League should be supported.
Photo credit: century council
Can we make this man president of FIFA? Now? That’s the most sensible two paragraphs I’ve heard from a football administrator since Henri Delaunay proposed cherry-flavored whistles. Great stuff.
Word. The “Draft Wilt” movement starts right here, right now.
I sort of groan every time women’s soccer gets press here in the U.S. My fear is that so much attention on women’s soccer is seriously retarding the growth of the men’s professional game here in the U.S. by turning off young males from football.
Young men are the ones who move a sports profile up or down. Women, on average, don’t spend money on sports, they don’t attend live games, they don’t buy merchandise and they don’t consume sports media like young males do. No sport is ever going to succeed by appealing to “families” the way MLS has tried to do.
My wife always tries to defend women’s sports to me. My response… “Will you actually buy tickets and go to a game?” Of course she won’t!
Joel, I know what you mean and to some extent share the same feelings. I think the trouble with a lot of women’s sports is that they’re covered in such a way (and promote themselves in such a way, sometimes) that you feel like following them is a kind of grim civic duty, like recycling or getting an emissions inspection for your car. Almost no one wants to follow a sport that makes following it seem like work, and the people who do are frequently so implicitly self-congratulatory and moral-high-ground-ish about it that only make matters worse.
But I think it’s clear enough that women’s sports can succeed with a large audience when they’re made to be entertaining, dramatic, and skillful, just like men’s sports (ideally) are; think of the difference between women’s tennis and the WNBA. I think all Peter Wilt is saying is that for women’s soccer to succeed, it has to show people that it’s entertaining and fun to watch, not that it “provides strong role models” or empowers your red-haired twin daughters. Whether it succeeds or not is another question, but to my mind it’s refreshing to hear someone talk about a new women’s sports league in a way that understands that it’s the league’s job to win you over, not your duty to follow the league.
Thanks Brian. i think Joel is mistaken to believe that stereotypical blue collar American men who want violence in their sports will ever become fans of soccer regardless of there being a women’s version or a steroid infused full contact version of the sport. That demographic has sailed away. The WPS target demographic demo is already emotionally connected to the sport, recognizes and loves it for what it is and won’t choose American football over soccer, because he’s perceived soccer as being a soft sport…his ignorant father might though.
Some interesting comments here guys on womens soccer in USA. As a spectacle, it depends on the level it is played at. Football Federation of Australia are proposing TO bring in a Womens national league in Australia next year. The Hyundai A-League has proven to be been successful in its short reign and I will be very interested in how the womens league takes off and the level of support it receives especially by the media!
I’m not a fan of mia talent