Glazer to take Manchester United
As Malcolm Glazer, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers American Football team, closes in on full control of Manchester United I have a dream about his intentions. I have been a Manchester United fan since my father took me to my first game in 1979 and they were the number one reason I played football as a child and still play each weekend to this day.
My dream is that Malcolm Glazer can take Football (soccer) to the next level in the US through his marketing experience. The action plan for me would be as follows:
- Wrangle the rights to the English Premier League from the grasp of Setanta. They have done nothing to promote the sport in the US. Charging extorionate fees to bars to show the game discourages anyone who can't see the business advantage from showing the games.
- Subsidize or work with the major US TV networks like FOX, NBC, ABC or ESPN to win the contract. Show the games each week for free across America and take advantage of the obvious ratings soccer would pull in. Saturday morning is when millions of American children get up and sit in front of the TV to watch cartoons. That is when the games are shown (9am CST). The most compelling reason this makes sense is that Soccer is the number one sport played in America by children.