Major League Soccer got its biggest boost ever when David Beckham joined the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007, bringing to the league soccer’s biggest name.
But soccer, while not sweeping the country, has actually been gaining in popularity for years, mostly among the young, many of whom were introduced to the game in elementary school. It's also gotten a big boost from the surge of immigrants from Latin America, where the sport is huge.
Now, between MLS, the U.S. Indoor Soccer Association and amateur teams, the game is being played in virtually every market in the country, often attracting huge Latino audiences to stadiums like The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., where the Galaxy play, as well as Chivas USA, a Mexican-owned team.
For the majors, MLS is building stadiums around the country, such as the Rio Tinto stadium near Salt Lake City.
Most stadiums sell long-term sponsorships, including naming rights to the stadiums, such as the 20,000-seat Pizza Hut Park near Dallas along with in-stadium sponsorships that typically include signage in the stadium and logos on related web sites.
But teams often handle their own in-stadium sponsorships. Typically, sponsorships include LED screen advertising, ads and logos in team magazines and on team web sites, and dasher-board ads surrounding the soccer fields.
To find out how to get your client’s message in soccer stadiums, read on.
This is one in a Media Life series on buying out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.
Fast Facts
What
In-stadium advertising at professional and amateur soccer stadiums.
How it works
Most sponsorships for professional teams are sold separately for the stadium and for the team, with both offering signage within the stadium, typically surrounding the field.
These sponsorships are generally handled by in-house ad sales teams, such as AEG for the Galaxy.
The U.S. Indoor Soccer Association coordinates multi-stadium packages for advertisers that can be tailored to certain regions of the country or cover virtually the entire country.
Most ads are purchased for a flat fee for the duration of the soccer season.
Markets
Major League Soccer has 18 teams, including the New York Red Bulls, the Chicago Fire, the Colorado Rapids and the San Jose Earthquakes.
The Indoor Soccer Association has 800 stadiums scattered around the country.
Numbers
Amateur games are sometimes attended by just a few dozen people per game, but attendance soars to a few million per year for MLS teams, including more than 3 million for the Galaxy.
ISA stadiums average an annual attendance of about 250,000 people, but some of its stadiums see more than 1 million visitors each year.
How it is measured
Most stadiums provide advertisers attendance counts but many also commission third-party research outfits to gather additional information, such as the demographic makeup of each team’s audience.
Audience figures from Scarborough Research, which conducts extensive research studies in markets around the country, are often used in negotiations.
What product categories do well
Products targeting men are big advertisers in soccer stadiums, including beer brands such as Corona, insurance companies, carmakers, airlines and home improvement stores. Brands targeting Latino consumers are also big advertisers at soccer stadiums.
Demographics
Families make up about 70 percent or more of most stadiums’ audiences, and these are often families whose kids play soccer. Hispanics on average make up 25 percent of a soccer audience, particularly for professional games, and that figure increases substantially in heavily Latino markets.
Making the buy
AEG handles advertising for the Los Angeles Galaxy, including dasher boards that surround the field and a magazine handed out at every game.
Colorado Rapids Soccer Club sells advertising for its stadium plus about two dozen fields surrounding the stadium, where amateur teams play soccer.
U.S. Indoor Soccer Association handles most media buys for its 800 stadiums, including dasher board ads, banners, on-net ads and on-field ads. Dasher board ads, typically 3 feet by 20, start at $500 per year.
Who’s already advertising at soccer stadiums
Advertisers range from local businesses to major national brands, including beers like Coors, energy drinks such as Red Bull, soft drinks like Coke, airlines such as Southwest, car companies like Ford and restaurants like Pizza Hut.
What they’re saying
“The facilities offer more frequency and longer exposure than a lot of established advertising venues. We’re talking about venues that attract hundreds of thousands of people over the course of a year.”--Don Shapero, president of the United States Indoor Soccer Association
Web site info
Major League Soccer
http://web.mlsnet.com/index.jsp
U.S. Indoor Soccer Association
http://www.usindoor.com
AEG
http://www.aegworldwide.com/home.html
Chivas USA
http://web.mlsnet.com/t120/index.jsp
Colorado Rapids Soccer Club
http://www.coloradorapids.com
The Home Depot Center
http://www.homedepotcenter.com/index.php
L.A. Galaxy
http://la.galaxy.mlsnet.com/t106/index.jsp
Pizza Hut Park
http://www.pizzahutpark.com
Rio Tinto Stadium
http://www.riotintostadium.com/real_salt_lake.php
