Friday, November 19, 2010

Money League Soccer

I read an intesting article last night about FC Dallas' sponsorship situation. FCD had 40 corporate sponsors for the 2010 season. Which is a fantastic number for a team that doesn't draw the most supporters in MLS. As a matter of fact FCD are near the lower half of the league despite playing excellent football, having an exciting team and being in Sunday's MLS Cup Final.
With FCD in Sunday's final sources say there are now well over a hundred sponsors beating down FCD's door to invest in the club next season. This includes a massive million dollar plus shirt sponsorship deal for the next few season. MLS is pushing extremely hard to sell the fronts of each teams' shirt as word has come out Sporting Kansas City (Wizards) may announce a shirt deal soon as well.
FCD has had a fantastic season while SKC had an up and down team that ended the season without making the playoffs again. But these teams in my opinion are not that different. Before this season FCD and struggled mightly over the past few seasons. They, however, have scouted in the right places bringing in the likes of 2010 MLS MVP David Ferreira (who they'll do well to keep after this season) and drafting quality players like Brek Shea. Meanwhile, they added quality MLS veterans such as Jeff Cunningham and former SKC/Wizard Kevin Hartman who has been fantastic in goal for FCD this season. KC is relying on a name change and a DP in Omar Bravo to turn things around. Yes, I know FCD were once called the Burn. But in truth the name change has never helped them gain new fans and even when NY Metrostars became the NY Red Bulls many fans turned their backs on the club. Gimmicks are everywhere in MLS. DPs, name changes, new stadiums, etc, but at the end of the day people come to see a winning football team. Let me remind you that no team with a DP has won MLS Cup. LA Galaxy and David Beckham came close last season, but ultimately failed. This season neither team has a DP and I think that's great. It's all about attacking football. Colorado and FCD show that the most complete teams from back to front win the MLS Cup. DPs are only marketing.

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