I'm excited about it for obvious reasons, though it will be a weird experience watching my two clubs play against each other. I tend to take these for what they are: an opportunity to see some big names in person and a decent day out. On the day, I tend to put the season aside and enjoy it, though if we've got important games coming up, I expect us to be conservative with our line-up.
Also, I watched United play yesterday against Bayern. There's no one on that team that strikes me as "must see" right now.
You know, I would end up going to both. Because the ManU game is at the Rose Bowl, there is no way to sell my tickets at a profit so if I am in town, I will wander over. But, yes, I get more fun out on any US Open Cup game that LAG participates in because it is part of the structure and ultimately the growth of soccer in the US, and it has history. I probably just have a blind spot here, but I have never gotten any pleasure out of the Real Madrid type games. They just don't move me. They leave me cold and bore me silly. Maybe I am wrong in thinking the Open Cup games are "meaningful." But I know I am right that these glamour friendly games are meaningless except as a money grab, and I can barely tolerate them on that basis - they provide my club with a few extra buck that can be plowed back into growing the US game.
I'm not sure of the wisdom behind a sports team hooking up with a brand called "undefeated" seems ripe for ridicule.
More on LA Galaxy x Undefeated. I don't know much about fashion and stuff, but seems pretty interesting. I would wear this shirt (I'd probably iron it first, personally): http://www.lagalaxy.com/news/2014/0...tyle-brand-undefeated-exclusive-collaboration
They needed some new variety in their apparel offerings so I'm glad they've tried to provide that. I'm fully expecting the prices to be beyond outrageous for some of this stuff when I see it at the stadium on Saturday. By the way... Black Flag: Someone going to get sued?
^How on earth did the stylist/photographer not iron or steam that shirt? It reminds me of an event I had to go to where we had to wear company shirts. I smelled a lot of plastic from people who didn't wash the shirts and just took it out of the plastic bag, and saw a ton of fold lines. C'mon photographer/stylist, really? If there's anything you take with you on a clothing shoot it's a steamer.
I am a little slow. Somebody explain to me what that cross-hatch symbol has to so with soccer? Is it a poor man's swoosh?
Precisely. It's Undefeated's logo which ironically I bet it cost a whole hell of a lot more and will last half as long. The fact so many people have made the association between it and Black Flag already relegates it to the scrap heap.
Not so sure about that. Lots of logos look like one another, and Black Flag is smaller than Raid. They've had no issues selling and are growing. Yes, we all want logos to be as unique as they get, but not sure a bug spray is going to stop them among their target. Hasn't so far.
Black Flag is a seminal So Cal punk band founded in the late 70's still going. There's a pretty big overlap in target demos to the point there are memes making fun of how similar their logo is.
Vocal minority (really, a band founded in the late 70s targets the same demo?). There may be memes, but the brand is growing and growing pretty well. That's the reason my brand looked at partnering with them a couple of years ago.
I’m not disputing they’re growing, that much is evident going from sneaker re-seller to custom designs. My point was the Undefeated logo was never going to reach the heights of Nike and was undoubtedly more expensive considering the designer was paid $35 for the “swoosh”. As for Black Flag, it’s another topic altogether, I’m not an expert, they’re before my time and I’m certainly not part of the scene. To dismiss Black Flag as “a band from the 70’s” really misses the mark, no pun intended. They were one of the defining bands of the American punk scene in the 80’s. One of their notable contributions was the use of strong, though primitive, graphic design including their logo which was appropriated by graffiti artists in the 80’s and 90’s. I don’t think their demographic is the same as Undefeated’s, but there’s absolutely an overlap especially here in Souther California. You only need look the number of people on this thread who thought Undefeated had some association with the band.
^I just don't think they are big enough, and most of us in this thread aren't the target (for the main brand, but LA Galaxy gear, absolutely). But you have a right to your opinion, so I respect that. Personally next time I visit I don't think there's an issue with trying to find more fashionable gear. I really liked the Adidas stuff, and this just adds to the more interesting clothing that's out there. I'll definitely check it out. I have to buy Men's small with the lack of women's items, so items that are a little more fitted are welcome for me.
I recently had the opportunity to talk with one of the head legal/business guys of another (small market) MLS club. He told me something that took me by surprise and I thought it was relevant to this thread. According to him, approximately 80% of the MLS teams still have to pay to put their games on regional TV and Radio. The Galaxy is one of the main exceptions, which really helps put in perspective the significance of our TWC SportsNet deal. Also, he said that because the national TV deal still isn't large enough to do anything more than reduce the individual clubs' required payment to the League (and it doesn't net it out completely), the teams' only revenue sources are ticket sales and sponsorships. Ticket sales have an upper limit, so sponsorships are the main place for real growth. Right now, the big thing among the more successful teams is to try to turn their marketing departments into profit centers where they promise to market merchandise on all of their digital and other media platforms. For local businesses, they are trying to get them to outsource all of their marketing to the club's marketing department by promising to throw in the in-game marketing as a bonus. A deal like this with Undefeated is viewed as not just a mere sponsorship, but a joint venture where they try to leverage the sport as a way to sell more merchandise. For much of MLS, this is their only chance to make real money (in the absence of a huge national TV contract).
^Super duper helpful. Also explains the lack of focus on the traditional marketing materials. I ache to help with that stuff but don't live in LA.
If you read the MLS tv thread on the MLS N&A forum it seems that a significant national TV contract is closer than any of us realized.
The other thing this guy said is that the national contract up until now has still been too low for the networks to view it as anything other than content filler. So, the networks haven't felt the price justified the investment in production values etc, like they do with the EPL etc. That changed a little in the last contract, but mostly because MLS piggybacked the games with national team games, which meant that MLS was considered more of a throw-in. His view was that it wasn't just bigger money that was critical with a new national TV deal, it is getting the networks to pay enough money to where it is in the networks' self-interest to market the games better and give them better production values. That is the real key to growth.
The latest latest Galaxy marketing info- graphic is eye rollingly lame. http://instagram.com/p/m5l6ojhRe4/