meh, uniforms come and go. And, those are designed by the shoe company. But, horrible attendance is a different thing. SUM is the one that wins/loses on attendance, right? They might have made this decision.
Here is the next call Carlos Cordeiro needs to make. Mark Tatum may not want the job, but I bet he knows who would be great in the job. USSF needs an outside hire from a successful sports organization to take the CEO role. Looking at the NBA is a good place to start. https://careers.nba.com/executive/mark-a-tatum/
No, it's likely a function of Cordeiro wanting him out combined with the glass door interviews giving him enough ammunition to end it. Despite people casting him as establishment, Cordeiro isn't completely that. It's clear he and Gulati clashed, and it's clear he's cleaning house of a lot of Gulati's people. It was reporting last spring/summer that he was not in favor of retaining Berhalter. When he was campaigning, he made few actual public statments. But of the ones he did, he's followed through. Soccer guys were hired to make soccer decisions. And the second was to bring more professionalism and expertise to the business side as well -- he repeatedly referred to being able to get more out of US Soccer's media rights and other assets as a plus for what he'd bring. Berhalter was making big money with his only experience being in US Soccer. I expect to see someone from the NBA or NFL or perhaps international soccer with more experience in media negotiations and that kind of thing.
I don't know why people think this. US Soccer gets the gate receipts. SUM gets paid to promote the games. SUM also paid a steady rate for media rights when no one else was willing to pay for them, but aside from that, SUM is a marketing service.
The more I think about this, the more I think it’s feasible. MLB, NBA, and NFL all have young-ish commissioners, so there won’t be an opening for a while unless something unexpected happens. I have to think Tatum would want to run his own organization. He’s proven he has the chops. His work with the NBA and USA Basketball would be a real benefit as US Soccer grows the youth game. The sports share a lot of similarities with people of all socioeconomic backgrounds playing the game. While I think Tatum’s work growing the NBA brand and media presence overseas would be big for USSF’s media efforts, I think his real value will be tackling the never ending issues of pay to play and finding ways to tap into player pools that are overlooked today. If I’m Cordeiro, I make Tatum say no more than once before looking elsewhere. If he does say no, I’m asking him who else I should contact.
I've actually briefly met Tatum through a mutual friend. Did not talk long enough to get any real impression, but my friend, who career-wise is incredibly impressive himself, could not speak more highly of Tatum. And right now, the NBA is the best run league in the US and very possibly the world.
Any more suggestions? I'll be surprised if he picks someone from The FA (Martin Glenn?) or another prominent, high-ranking executive from a well-known soccer nation.
Yes - I have several other ideas, some from within the US Soccer structure, some outside. John Thorrington - GM of LAFC Darren Eales - President of Atlanta United Natara Holloway - VP of Business Operations and Strategy, NFL Tony Petitti - Deputy Commissioner of Business & Media, MLB I'd also look at top executives of organizations like the KNVB (Dutch FA), Royal Belgian FA, as well as chief deputy executives (in other words, COO or second-in-commands) from top-flight European soccer leagues. The next US Soccer CEO either needs to have a strong background in player development (which is why the KNVB and RBFA intrigues me) or an excellent business/media background. The CEO then needs to hire a very strong person to handle the side that isn't the CEO's key strength. I don't think the US can or needs to poach a CEO from another FA. I think a second-in-command would work very well. I also do not think the hire even needs to be someone currently in soccer. The skills of top-level executives in professional sports - particularly at the CEO level - should translate well from other sports. The CEO is going to be more involved hands-on with major media deals, sponsorships, and vision-setting. He/she doesn't need to necessarily be a part of soccer. In fact, I think bringing ideas from a different sport would be very beneficial.
Money is necessary to grow the game. But there became a pursuit of money, at USSF, over anything else. This was personified in Jay Berhalter. He made USSF a lot of money, no doubt, but is also the one who penny pinched on youth coaching, probably other areas, and famously put in the place the policy of charging extremely high ticket prices for USMNT games. He personified the meddling in soccer decisions by the business people at USSF. It was Jay that thought it better to sell 4000 tickets at $400 than to sell 40,000 tickets at $40. When a fan base becomes aware of the name of the Chief Commercial Officer of a sports organization, that is rarely good.
This ^^^ As a Nation, if we want to win the WC, send hundreds and thousands of elite soccer players to the top clubs in Europe.....we need to get American soccer out of the suburbs and into the cities and ghettos. Where do you think our most talented NBA and NFL players come from? We need to go where the potential talents live, bring soccer to them.Give them soccer balls, and build fields for them to play on and we will find those rare gems (what we call world class players). The best Brazlian players usually come from the favelas or slums. That's their only ticket/way out of town and they will do whatever it takes.
It has indeed, about 6 million down overall since 2014 but at a lot of parks you can now get in for a better price. Just not the big markets. They price themselves out of filling a stadium but probably still bring in a lot of revenue for marketing. Lets say you have 2 kids, 2 parents. 4 tickets x 100, 25 to park, not counting food. So priced out right now, most people will pay 400 to watch a soccer game. Sure, some can and will. Lower that to 65 it becomes much more accessible. And the uppers down to 35-50 and youll see a surge back up in attendance. But you also run the risk of underselling if youve over saturated the market. Its a balancing act thats for sure, but I mean it really doesnt need to cost that much to go see a friendly. You can get cheap seats to UEFA for about 40 bucks a pop. So honestly they need better research to see what their price point in various markets should be. I dont really think Jay was very adept at this and I think he oversold the idea that the US fan would show up and be happy.
MLB ticket prices are still fairly stable and reasonable compared to NFL or NBA games. It's the attendant costs of going to a game (food, drinks, parking, etc.) that are increasing.
Maybe in 1990, not anymore in 2020. If he still think this way, he's not going to be a successful executive anywhere. The consumers had become much more educated and informed, and they are demanding much more satisfaction for their money. Whether it's someone shopping for an HDTV, a winter coat, car insurance, buying a home, a concert ticket, or sporting event, etc.
I’m shocked there is not a single article in The Athletic about this yet. I get they generally have more in depth analysis and coverage, but I would have thought at least one of their key soccer writers would be all over this.
good luck building fields in major cities. I think there’s plenty of space but not as much demand from the kids. Hard to beat the devices nowadays.