Two Metro Detroit companies have jumped into international soccer sponsorships, hoping to cash in on a sport that is bigger worldwide than pro football, which is the king of U.S. sports.
The deals by General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet brand and Warren-based Warrior Sports ? a sporting goods maker ? represent a possible shift in sponsorship dollars as companies feel the need to broaden their reach by targeting new consumers, said Attila Yaprak, a professor of marketing and international business at Wayne State University.
"For many of these companies," he said, "the future of their business is in other markets and not as much in the United States."
The more well-known of the two deals happened last month when Chevy inked a five-year deal sponsoring Manchester United in Britain, but the dollar amount wasn't revealed.
Warren-based Warrior Sports, acquired by New Balance Athletic Shoe Co. in 2004, earlier this year signed a six-year sponsorship agreement worth more than $200 million with the Liverpool Football Club.
Manchester United and Liverpool are two of the four largest apparel sellers among soccer teams, according to German market research company PR Marketing. Manchester United sells more jerseys worldwide than all 32 National Football League teams combined, Joel Ewanick, GM's global chief marketing officer, said last week.
The Warrior deal dwarfed prior sponsorships by apparel giants Nike and Adidas, but the two shoe and apparel companies often sign sponsorships two and three times longer than Warrior.
As part of the deal, Warrior creates all Liverpool home, away and alternate apparel and training gear ? more than 3 million pieces that can make up 320 unique styles.
The June 1 Liverpool launch was Europe's version of Black Friday. Scores of rabid fans lined up at retailers waiting for the chance to get their hands on team gear.
Pre-order sales skyrocketed 100 percent, the club said, compared with previous team gear. Orders came from more than 115 countries.
Troy native David Morrow, a former All-American lacrosse star at Princeton University and founder, CEO and president of Warrior Sports, said when news first broke of Warrior's sponsorship agreement with Liverpool, 3.5 million fans from 185 countries visited Warrior's website ? in 10 minutes.
Why suddenly are U.S.-based companies interested in soccer, a sport ignored by a majority of Americans?
The fan base for soccer worldwide dwarfs that of any other sport ? which attracts companies with global markets. And it stretches dollars.
Chevrolet is sponsoring a team with 659 million followers, according to a survey from market researcher Kantar, more than double the U.S. population.
"It's very smart on the part of these companies to invest into this," Yaprak said. "The amount of exposure and remembrance and liking on the part of consumers is immeasurable."
Soccer is the most played team sport among American youths, but its popularity lags far behind sports like football, basketball and baseball among Americans.
But GM and Warrior Sports, a company of about 650 employees worldwide and 140 in Warren, aren't targeting Americans with their soccer contracts.
Ad dollars are being shifted overseas because the U.S. sports landscape is too segmented, said Stephen McDaniel, a professor in sports and entertainment marketing at the University of Maryland. "The difference here in the U.S. and the difference in Europe is there are so many different sports here competing for eyeballs," McDaniel said.
In America, McDaniel said, the NFL's crown jewel ? the Super Bowl ? is watched by more than 100 million annually, according to Nielsen TV ratings. Soccer has an estimated 3.5 billion fans, or 35 times more people than the Super Bowl telecast.
GM recently announced it will not advertise in next year's Super Bowl, just days before its Manchester United announcement.
"The U.S. is an important market, but it's just a territory in the world," Morrow said. "When you get to the rest of the world, they only care about one thing: soccer."
Soccer is more favorable because there are no apparent limits on prominent ad placements, McDaniel said.
"European soccer has no problem with jersey logos," McDaniel said. "In the United States, that's about the only place with the exception of NASCAR that has remained sacred."
GM will have logos on chairs, benches and throughout stadiums; Warrior Sports has its logo on Liverpool jerseys.
The initial interest in the Warrior line will lead to similar deals for the Warren company.
"Our goal is to build a world-class soccer brand," Morrow said. "This isn't a one-hit wonder."
khenkel@detnews.com
(313) 222-2504
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