For all of you that might be interested in the business side of indoor soccer (mostly MISL), here's a pretty good article on Media Life. The article was defenitely influenced by the MISL trying to sell the league to advertisers, but it has some pretty interesting info. http://209.61.190.23/news2002/nov02/nov11/2_tues/news5tuesday.html
Cool article. Some good numbers regarding demographics and what not. Demographics Fans at professional indoor soccer games are upwardly mobile suburban families, according to the MISL. Specifically: Audiences are 54 percent male and 46 percent female. The average age of an indoor soccer fan is 38, with 47 percent aged 35 to 49, 23 percent aged 18 to 34, 13 percent each aged under 18 years old and from 50 to 64 years old and four percent 65 and older. The average household income of indoor soccer fans is $63,000, with 29 percent each making from $20,000 to $50,000 and $50,000 to $75,000 annually, 17 percent making $75,000 to $100,000, 15 percent making $100,000 plus and 10 percent making less than $20,000. The average size of groups attending games is 4.7, according to the MISL. Of those 78 percent are family groups, 19 percent are groups of friends and three percent of fans attend games alone. IIRC, this seems to be much different than the average fan for MLS games. MLS seems to attract young 20 something males, but MISL gets more families. Perhaps that is just perception though.
Propoganda or not, it's got some good numbers. Business numbers are sometimes difficult to come by for soccer.
Oh my what lies I live in Baltimore and I have yet to see in any "retail store" MISL logoed clothing or the MISL ball or anything remotely related to the MISL. I can't even find the stinkin' dayglo orange ball at the games. Jersey's are way to expensive, $75. Any other town have the MISL gear for sale at "retail outlets"? As for the numbers. Those numbers were taken from a survey in 1999 when the MISL wanted to know their fan base and I don't believe those numbers. There are more kids under 18 than they say. What I would be more interested in is two things. One would be how many games do you attend in a year?, do you go to any away games?, and finally what do you like/dislike about the product on the field?
Re: Oh my what lies MISL doesn't even have an online store on their website. Mechandising, folks, merchandising. How do you think Man. U. got where they are? They know the power of having cool gear for sale where it is easily obtainable.
Re: Oh my what lies There is the problem. UNiform is too expensive. According to you that is. Every other league in the world charges these types of prices, MISL should be no different.
Re: Re: Oh my what lies Yeah, but who wants to pay that kind of money, for an at best 3rd division soccer league. If it was an MLS team or national team jersey then I could understand paying that type of money. But not the MISL
Re: Re: Oh my what lies Now, let me get this straight. If what you spewed from your rectum is correct, you want me to pay $75.00 for an OFF THE RACK jersey? The same $75.00 that I would pay for a Liverpool or some other high-quality club's jersey? I think not. Think about this Steve (and I know it's hard sometimes). These shirts MIGHT cost twenty bucks for Reebok to produce. You're telling me that I need fork out 300 percent more? Nah. Go back to worshipping at the altar of the almighty Steve Ryan. The rest of us who can see through the crap can do without it.
I have to agree that MISL cannot charge Liverpool or Man U.-style prices. The market just isn't there for it and nobody believes that MISL has the global cachet of the EPL, La Liga or Serie A. $55 is probably a good price that will move gear while making some $$$. Right now, it is more to the league's benefit to have kids seen on the street sporting a Wave, Comets or Sidekicks jersey and giving the league visibility than to soak the purchaser for every possible short-term dollar. Still, there is NO excuse for not having MISL teams' gear readily available at least from their own website. Hell, the A-League has an online store even! MISL needs to take a look at the websites and marketing practices of leagues around the world. Look at what kind of merchandise is offered by British clubs, for example. Even Nationwide Div 2 and 3 clubs usually have decent club shops with a wide variety of stuff. I even cruised the J-League sites and found online club shops. A few of them even had some English, presumably to encourage international sales! Part of the reason soccer is so successful in Europe is that is the fan's relationship with his team and the league as a whole isn't just something done once a week but it is, for lack of a better term, a "lifestyle". And merchandising allows the fan to bring that relationship with him wherever he goes through the gear he buys. If I wanted, I could outfit my entire bedroom with Man U. bedsheets, alarm clocks, wallpaper, waste baskets, throw rugs, curtains, etc. Now, I'm not saying that either MISL or MLS are quite ready for that level of saturation, but that's where they should be aiming, IMO.
Steve, I own numerous indoor and outdoor soccer jerseys dating way back. I got last year's Blast jersey for $20 last year, game worn by Henry Guttirrez. Now I'm willing to shell out some green for a jersey if it was priced at around $50-$60, but no way am I buying a jersey for $75. But even more than that is you can't get MISL gear at games much less retail outlets. I can go to soccer.com and buy replica jerseys for MLS teams but I can't find an indoor jersey. I support indoor soccer but I'm not spending all kinds of money on them yet.
You want people to actually buy and wear these boring-ass, cookie-cutter jersies (thank God the Wichita Wings and their Taco Bell Hell shirts aren't still around), that's the whole idea. So price them to sell. If there's a demand, then you can raise the price. You can't assume demand or create demand when there is precious little to begin with. Of course, one reason the stuff isn't readily available might be that the league can't find someone or can't convince their suppliers to make them in quantity that makes sense for all concerned. Unless the MISL (or stores) commit to buying x number, they'll pay a higher price, and if the demand doesn't meet that, they'll be stuck with a lot of Florida Thundercats jersies when whoever's next on the Island of Misfit Franchises goes away. I should know this, but are all MISL uniforms from the same supplier?
Exactly. Of course, it would help if the shirts and other gear were actually attractive in their own right but the importnat thing is to get people wearing them so that they are seen in public. You can't swing a short rope anywhere near Kansas City without hitting someone wearing at least SOMETHING Chiefs-related. Kids in freaking THAILAND wear Man. U. jerseys, for Pete's sake. That is the kind of visilbilty MLS and MISL should dream of here. but the first step is to get whatever gear you DO have out on the streets. MLS took a while to get their merchandising act together and they're still a long way from perfect. At least this means we're not stuck looking at all those horrible kit tops from 96. Anyway, before they try to sell gear in stores, they at least have it available on their own damn website and at their own games. Baby steps. I don't know either. Shows you how little merchandising they have.
All MISL uniforms are supplied by Reebok. This year they are pretty boring because the contract with Reebok was signed too close to the season to get anything more than cookie cutter stuff. Supposedly next year will be different.
Re: Re: Re: Oh my what lies Why should they give you a dicount??? The quality of the Jersey's are the same actually. The league quality is not the same level but the uniform production standards are the same. Not very well educated in the aspect of business are you??
Look Skeezix.... Why don't you just go back down on your knees in front of Steve Ryan. That way, it might keep your mouth shut. Seems like you're the only one preaching the company line.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Oh my what lies No team jersey one costs more than 10 dollars to make and after that you are paying those extra bucks based on the team image. now i do believe that if you want to get into the business side of this argument you should know what you are talking about...the image of a team or the players on that team will raise the price of the jersey because more people are willing to buy that jersey at a higher price..simple case of supply and demand,,now at the indoor level people simply arent willing to pay the same price..so why charge the same amount...you mention to richp that he needs to be educated in business...you have no clue what you are talking about..even for the best teams in europe 75 dollars is astronomical...get a clue moron