Follow The Money: U.S. Now In Vogue With Soccer

During the past few weeks, America is suddenly in vogue in regards to soccer. The latest development is that representatives from UEFA attended this year’s Super Bowl in Miami to see how they can take some of the American ideas and make them work for the UEFA Champions League final scheduled in Athens this May.

According to The Guardian newspaper, UEFA executives were particularly impressed by how the NFL handle the entertainment and spectator experience.

In the artlcle, UEFA’s marketing and media rights director Philippe Le Floc’h also discusses how much money the Champions League tournament brings in from marketing and their philosophy about how they give advertisers a better product at the end of the day.

In the past few weeks, Arsenal formed a partnership with MLS team Colorado Rapids, Liverpool was acquired by two American owners, and ESPN announced that Chelsea will be playing a friendly against LA Galaxy in Beckham’s debut.

At the end of the day, it’s all about money. UEFA representatives are looking to see how the NFL does business at the Super Bowl so they can make the Champions League Final more of a spectacle and find new ways to bring in revenue.

Now that Chelsea recently announced their plans for China, I wonder if their attention will turn back to America where they’re considering the launch of a US-only Chelsea web site to sell merchandise (to hear more about this, listen to the EPL Talk Podcast where we broke the news back in November).