Is MLS serious about promoting the sport....? If is so when is MLS having a section within the bigest retailer in the planet
Academy and a Walmart near houston(bear creek) have several MLS items. Of course el tri shit is right next to it though. I bought my lil sister a dynamo t shirt for like 6 bones.
I do live in Houston but so far I have not seen any kind of promotional stuff from MLS or USSF never the less if we talk about cities with MLS team like RSL. I am working right know here in Salt Lake City I go walmart once a week and NADA....
That would be perfect ....an MLS/USSF shelf I remember during the world cup they have all the highlights on their monitors ....
My wife and I were in Target a few weeks ago. I noticed the MLS duffle bags. This mom and her daughter were talking to a Target associate about soccer shoes. They only had one or two pairs of off-brand, plastic shoes left on the shelf in bigger sizes, and the guy was telling her that it would cost her a bunch to get them at a specialty store for her kid. After he left I introduced myself to her and asked her what she was looking for. She was like most parents, wanting a good quality shoe for a decent price. Her daughter was going to play for the first time. I directed her to the local soccer shop in town and told her that quality shoe brands in her daughter's size would be about the same price range as what she was looking for in a department store, plus they would be fitted better by the knowledgeable staff there. She thanked me and went on her way. Just doing my part for the beautiful game!
You need to go the 110% Just as u finished, you should have told her...."And...btw....have you considered buying this hand crafted MLS duffel bags? They are exquisite and are good for carrying your tyke's soccer shoes."
And then gotten her in contact with your local MLS club's ticket rep and coerced her into buying season tickets.
Two things. Do you understand the process of having merchandise sold in retailer (ie WalMart, Target any other chain)? It's not just the supplier going to a chain and saying I want you to sell my merchandise. It's a long drawn out process. And usally this process is taking place behind the scenes. So it's very possible that MLS has been working with WalMart to have their merchandise placed there. And really it's not just MLS that will get the merchandise placed. It would be a combination of MLS and their various vendors (such as Adidas) that would work with the variuos retailers. This whole process isn't as cut and dry as most people think. The second part is that having merchandise placed at WalMart is one of the harder retailers to have merchandise placed in. As you said they are one of the largest retailers in the world. So they hold all of the cards. You really have to show that they will make money.
Actually there's a Dick's in Charlotte at the North lake Mall that has some t-shirts. No jerseys though. they had a big soccer display at the start of spring when they sell their soccer "Packages" ; Ball, Cleats, and Guards. They prominently displayed the Addidas replica MLS matchballs, and had some t-shirts; DCU, Fire, And Kansas City if I remember right. Interesting combo.
And honestly, if Wal-mart were to start selling MLS gear, the only people that would make money would be Wal-mart... Remember Huffy? Once upon a time Wal-mart asked them to make a bike for them. Huffy bit. Huffy sold a lot of these cheap bikes, but made no profit because Wal-mart kept demanding they be sold lower. Huffy hasn't made a bike in the states since 1999 (true story) Now if MLS throws the bone to some off brand clothing company and simply sold their name, then MLS has no worries. I wonder how that would interfere with the contract with adidas though.
The Dicks (I figured i'd get over the childish humor, but nada) here in colorado all sell rapids stuff, but they have more ties to the rapids and to colorado than to anything else.
last I checked, the best time of the year for Dynamo t-shirt sales is right before Halloween. I guess the parents buy them for the kids as safety colors at night time.