Footiebusiness

Time for some quick hits on business stories circulating the world of American soccer scene.  We’ll start with USWNT goalie Hope Solo, who has reportedly inked a mult-year deal with Gatorade to join their stable of spokesman/atheletes.  According to the Sports Business Journal, the deal is estimated to fall in the low six-figure (per year) range.  Solo has already signed a deal with Bank of America along with teamates Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach.  Solo has already topped 260,000 followers on Twitter (Morgan is at 210,000) and her involvement with Gatorade will complement Gatordae’s relationship with USMNT goalie Tim Howard.

Late last week the news broke that US coach Bob Bradley was dropped in favor of former German coach and forward Jurgen Klinsmann.  What surprised many watchers of the United States team, was the willingness of Sunil Gulati to cut ties with Bradley despite three years remaining on a $500,000 per year contract.  While the United States Soccer Federation could recoup some of that money by keeping Bradley on in some advisory capacity, that scenario seems unlikely.   As such, it appears that USSF will endure a substantial loss by offloading Bradley.

Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com offers this detailed look at the LIVESTRONG Sporting Goods Park.  McCarthy does a thorough job of looking at some of the finer points of the stadium layout.  One great nugget from the article; each player has use of a $4,000 chair in the locker room.

Before we get to the attendance wrap-up, here are some bonus business items from the press Q&A Commissioner Garber did with the print/online media at the All-Star Game.

1.  Still trying to put a second team in New York, but Cosmos are not the only option.  Believes the Wilpons would make excellent soccer owners and noted that Citi Field had hosted a WFC match the night before the ASG. Also noted that a Wilpon family rep was in attendance at the ASG.

2.  ASG not all about money, otherwise game would have been in Meadowlands.  Garber believes the Red Bull ownership group deserved the game because of all they had invested in their team and stadium.  “This was our opportunity to show our support for them….with something that cost the league a signficant amount of money.”

3. Philly will host an ASG soon as will some of the other markets that have added stadiums.

4. Doesn’t believe that the Summer friendlies have over saturated the market.  He believes that these teams will come anyway, so MLS should partner with them.  “Rising tide lifts all boats and we have more boats on the water than they do.”

5.  League has reached the stage where teams need to make their own decisions about friendlies in mid-season….they need to decide what is best for them (this was in the context of a question about the Red Bulls heading out to the Emirates Cup).

6.  At some point league calendar can be pushed back in March or even into February.

MLS teams were scattered to the winds this week, with Champions League matches, the All-Star Game, Red Bull in Europe and a full MLS slate of games.  The ASG saw a capacity crowd (plus) at RBA while more than 18,700 were in Chester for the Friday night game.  On Saturday, more than 27k packed Empire Field in Vancouver, while just about 18,500 were in Houston and Salt Lake City.   Portland also landed near 18,500 while KC saw more that 17k at LiveStrong Sporting Park.   Only San Jose failed to crest 17k on Saturday night, with just over 10,500 in attendance for an Earthquakes loss.  On Sunday in Dallas, just over 10k endured a furnace at Pizza Hut Park to round out the week.

WPS also enjoyed some big numbers this weekend. On Sunday, SkyBlue played host to more than 5,000 fans while magicJack enjoyed a sell out crowd of over 3k.  Philly enjoyed a recrod crowd of over 4k as the league continues to see a bump from the WWC.