The two most popular soccer leagues in North America are joining forces…again. MLS director Don Garber and Liga MX president Enrique Bonilla announced the start of an annual “Winner-Take-All” match between each nation’s, top league’s, championship winning team, via The Campeones Cup. The inaugural game will be held this September 2018 and will put the bragging rights of the best league on the table.
While the match itself is poised to be compelling, it is the strategic thinking that has gone into the match that should be highlighted. As MLS continually looks to develop their Hispanic and millennial market, an event like brings with it a myriad of opportunities. Equally, an event of this magnitude will present prodigious opportunities for brands and companies to engage with new, targeted, demographics. By working together with the two leagues
As the U.S soccer market grows, so do the opportunities to market to it. Along with a match being scheduled, the Campeones Cup will also include “youth and grassroots programs as well as philanthropic activities”. Campaigns like this will provide lucrative business development deals, in-roads to new demographics, sponsorships to activate around, and not to mention broadcast deals.
“The elephant in the room is the value of the U.S soccer market…we’re the ones investing in it…”. – MLS Commissioner, Don Garber
Coupled with Liga MX’s widespread popularity, a partnership between the United States’ and Mexico’s top leagues could hope to garner just some of the massive viewership numbers that the two nation’s World Cup qualifying matches achieved. Fox Sports 1, who broadcasted the matches in the United States saw 2,052,000 viewers tune in, and Univision, the Mexican broadcast channel saw a whopping 4.5 million viewers tuning in.
The North American soccer buzz continues to flourish, and this partnership looks poised to help grow and further establish the soccer market in North America. An opportunity like this will see the two leagues working to target and attract new supporters to the game. By engaging the best of both-leagues, The Campeones Cup will end with one champion on the field, but will spread the benefit off of the field. If the Campeones Cup is foreshadowing future marketing opportunities for North American soccer, we ought to be excited.
Categories: Campeones Cup, Hispanic Marketing, Liga MX, Major League Soccer, Soccer Marketing, Sponsorship