Our team has spent the past couple years joining the hoards of marketers visiting Austin, TX for SXSW. While the launch of SXSports in 2014 was a catalyst, it certainly wasn’t the sole driver. The broader conference and curriculum has been invaluable as an incubator for ideas and as a platform to meet other thought leaders and now we feel it is our turn to give back and share.
Soccer, at the turn of the millennium, was still a slightly underground movement in the states. As a global product and interest it perplexed soccer fans all over the U.S. because it didn’t have a mainstream outlet for news and commentary. It left supporters scouring the Internet for news of their clubs and leagues. This turn to the digital sources was the seed that was planted for rogue media to grow.
It is the global and underappreciated nature of our sport that makes new media (podcasting, digital magazines, YouTube channels, etc.) a part of the DNA of soccer supporters. Here in the U.S.A. we are often over looked by major media (even though it is getting better) so we needed these outlets for global and local news. Our fans got in on the ground floor and pushed to innovate this space day-in and day-out.
In this panel GESM is looking to the experts in the field and working on bringing together The Football Ramble, 8 By 8, and others. Our relationships with these outlets and our background knowledge put us in the perfect area to bring one of the most in-depth conversations on this topic to SXSW. This talk would be lead by former Chicago Fire CEO and our president, John Guppy.
Categories: Agnostic, Event Seeker, Promotions