How would you improve Soccer America?

[Throwins]

More emphasis on US soccer!
They ignore A-League and lower.
Do a section on new stadia and how it helps cash flow.
(Crew stadium, Stavanger, Perth, Livingston etc)

Any other ideas?

[FoxBoro 143]

More emphasis on US soccer!
They ignore A-League and lower.
Do a section on new stadia and how it helps cash flow.
(Crew stadium, Stavanger, Perth, Livingston etc)

Any other ideas?
Now I can't imagine why they would ignore the A-league and lower divisions.

For the most part, the magazine is decent. It's the business side of the company that need's to improve.
The reason I no longer subscribe to it is because it is way overpriced. Now I am sure that they are offering the best price they can but it's ridiculous. They have good writers(Kuhn's and Woitola,) and controversial but worth reading writers (Gardner,) the thing they need is a better business plan.

[Stephen1164]

We are already doing it, note how many kids play Soccer as compared to Baseball. Youth baseball is fighting to get more kids to play Soccer is expanding their number of youth teams. The Children are the future of USA Soccer.

[galaxybg]

Cut it down to 12 issues a year. Make the special issues that youth players want to see - photo annuals, product reviews, etc.

Feature collegiate players, and stad-out youth clubs - content that youth players can relate to.

include a pullout poster of an MLS star in every issue. that will get kids putting the SA brand name on the walls of their bedrooms and in their school lockers when it's next to a great photo of landon scoring in an MLS or international match.

expand the # of pages each issue and move to a perfect bound binding - a much more attractive package on newstands. stress on supporters of american soccer to support the media! a $40k investment over a year to support the mag is a drop in the bucket compared to the six-seven-even eight figure investments some companies make in supporting leagues each year...

[FoxBoro 143]

Cut it down to 12 issues a year. Make the special issues that youth players want to see - photo annuals, product reviews, etc.

Feature collegiate players, and stad-out youth clubs - content that youth players can relate to.

include a pullout poster of an MLS star in every issue. that will get kids putting the SA brand name on the walls of their bedrooms and in their school lockers when it's next to a great photo of landon scoring in an MLS or international match.

expand the # of pages each issue and move to a perfect bound binding - a much more attractive package on newstands. stress on supporters of american soccer to support the media! a $40k investment over a year to support the mag is a drop in the bucket compared to the six-seven-even eight figure investments some companies make in supporting leagues each year...
I think it is impossible for a news magazine to survive as a once-monthly. Just look at what happened to soccer digest. SA woul dhave to change it's format to more of a product/youth mag because nobody wants old news these days.
And yes, the poster in every issue would really be good. I remember they occasionally did this when i subscribed, I still have the US-Jamica roster poster from 2001 in my basement. It would be cool to collect a bunch of MLS/USMT mini posters.

[galaxybg]

I think it is impossible for a news magazine to survive as a once-monthly. Just look at what happened to soccer digest. SA woul dhave to change it's format to more of a product/youth mag because nobody wants old news these days.
And yes, the poster in every issue would really be good. I remember they occasionally did this when i subscribed, I still have the US-Jamica roster poster from 2001 in my basement. It would be cool to collect a bunch of MLS/USMT mini posters.

The internet killed the news periodical star. Unless you're Newsweek or the morning paper, there's no sense in printing news anymore...and they will likely be obsolete in 20 years.

For now, I've got to think the majoirty of fans are younger ex-players and current players. The soccer market is a new thing in the US , which means players are the fans - people in the US aren't raised as fans of soccer yet. In 5-10 more years when more competitive players stop playing, they will likey turn into avid fans, and when there's more and more fans, it will be cool to be a fan for fan's sake (mob mentality) and we can rely less on players to be fans and more on the mass market.

Long story short - soccer in the US has young supporters and youth want to be entertained, not informed. Give them posters.

[Beau Dure]

The internet killed the news periodical star. Unless you're Newsweek or the morning paper, there's no sense in printing news anymore...and they will likely be obsolete in 20 years.

And yet newsstands are overrun with hundreds of magazine titles.

Granted, many of them feature a woman pointing her cleavage at the reader on the cover, but still, someone's reading this stuff for the articles ...

For feature stories, print is simply better. People generally don't sit down and read long stories on the Web.

[Benito]

Have every US soccer coach at the pro level have to spend 3 yrs in a place like Germany to help learn the game then spend another 3 yrs in Argentina learning the game.

I wonder if any US coach has every done that?

[galaxybg]

And yet newsstands are overrun with hundreds of magazine titles.

For feature stories, print is simply better. People generally don't sit down and read long stories on the Web.

I agree. Feature stories are different than news though - research, thought, and opinion versus fact reporting.

SA has had some great features in the recent history...I think they should spend more time creating them, target the content and visual presentation toward a younger audience, drop the scorelines, and cut their overhead by lowering the frequency to monthly. Add a couple special issues like a product guide and poster book to appease sponsors and stoke out younger readers.

Definitely keep and don't change the trade books though! Great resources.

[Beau Dure]

I agree. Feature stories are different than news though - research, thought, and opinion versus fact reporting.

SA has had some great features in the recent history...I think they should spend more time creating them, target the content and visual presentation toward a younger audience, drop the scorelines, and cut their overhead by lowering the frequency to monthly. Add a couple special issues like a product guide and poster book to appease sponsors and stoke out younger readers.

Definitely keep and don't change the trade books though! Great resources.

I agree with the reasoning, and I think that's what SA was going for with the switch from weekly to biweekly, which coincided with a switch from newsprint to glossy. I just think that going to monthly might make them too invisible.

Perhaps instead of monthly with special issues, they can stay biweekly and take the holidays off. The difference is probably about 10 issues a year (25 instead of 15).

The thing I'd probably improve is the Web site. They're getting closer -- they're terrific if you want to follow the college game while also browsing their MLS news updates.

[GutBomb]

We are already doing it, note how many kids play Soccer as compared to Baseball. Youth baseball is fighting to get more kids to play Soccer is expanding their number of youth teams. The Children are the future of USA Soccer.


Have every US soccer coach at the pro level have to spend 3 yrs in a place like Germany to help learn the game then spend another 3 yrs in Argentina learning the game.

I wonder if any US coach has every done that?

not "how would you improve soccer in america?" "how would you improve Soccer America the magazine?"

[geordienation]

I think it is impossible for a news magazine to survive as a once-monthly. Just look at what happened to soccer digest. SA woul dhave to change it's format to more of a product/youth mag because nobody wants old news these days.
And yes, the poster in every issue would really be good. I remember they occasionally did this when i subscribed, I still have the US-Jamica roster poster from 2001 in my basement. It would be cool to collect a bunch of MLS/USMT mini posters.


Lots of magazines survive as monthlies.

MOST magazines are monthlies, as a matter of fact.

What it boils down to is this: the mission of a publication is to tell people something they don't already know. Inevitably, that means you have to do more features and analysis at a monthly. It requires more work, better planning and smarter editing than a weekly, which is 9 parts hustle and 1 part invention b/c you have news to report.

The model is Four Four Two. Is it an interesting read? Very. Is it something I can't live without? No. I get my daily soccer fix from newspapers and the internet. But I consistently pick it up or subscribe to it because I always find something in there that I didn't know. Sometimes it's great writing, sometimes it's a feature on someone I hadn't heard of, sometimes it's an analysis of a situation, team, league or competition.

Soccer America has an identity crisis, indeed.

[ur_land]

They obviously need more hispanic writers and editors. The northern european ones they have now just aren't exciting enough.

[bigredfutbol]

Have every US soccer coach at the pro level have to spend 3 yrs in a place like Germany to help learn the game then spend another 3 yrs in Argentina learning the game.

I wonder if any US coach has every done that?

Putting aside the fact that you've misunderstood the thread title (it's the magazine we're talking about), I fail to see how being removed from the US soccer scene and the people in it for over half a decade could possibly help anyone contribute the sport in this country. I think we need hands-on work, not foreign training.