‘It’s got to be credible and authentic’
Since he left NFL International, MLS Commissioner Don Garber has spent much of his time learning about the sport he is responsible for marketing.
SOCCER AMERICA: What have been your primary tasks during the past three months?
DON GARBER: I have to explain who I am, and convince people ù to the media, to the fans, to the players and coaches and teams ù that I’m a smart guy, that I’m not going to put [football] goalposts and cheerleaders on the field. The owners picked me for a reason, and that reason is to move the business ahead.
I’ve been spending a lot of time with the fans and a lot of time with the media, and have been visiting the individual teams.
SA: Why do you feel this canvassing of the fans, the media and the teams is so important?
DG: I can’t imagine how any commissioner or any business leader in any field could come in, at a time when we’re going through a transition and a relaunch, and not feel the constituents have an important field of view.
I believe you have to talk to our customer. The NFL doesn’t necessarily have to do that, because the customer has bought into the concept.
We’re asking fans to attend more games and watch more games, to pay attention to our teams and make us more important. How you can do that and not find out what is important to them is a bad first step.
SA: How much of a detriment are MLS nuances such as the shootout?
DG: What I found is, clearly the rules are a problem. The league was conceived ù I think not unintelligently ù to create a sport that was positioned for the soccer-savvy fan. Getting players early on like Jorge Campos in L.A., players they could relate to and give them a taste of what they have at home.
At the same time, we changed the game they loved so much, so we were giving them a mixed message. We were saying, “Buy into us, because we are what you identify with, but you know what? We want you to buy into the American version of it.” And I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.
SA: League officials have talked for years about satisfying the American sports fan as well as the soccer contingent. How successful have they been?
DG: What does that mean, taking care of the soccer people? Does it mean giving them a new version of the game we think they’ll like, or a scoreboard that works like it does in football, or a conclusion that is contrived, though it did come from the NASL?
The most important thing we need to have going forward is credibility. For any sport or any product to be accepted, it’s got to be credible and authentic.
In time, American soccer can establish its own authenticity. I’m not sure that we have now the level of authenticity that soccer fans are looking for. They’re able to get authentic soccer from around the world now, much more than even in 1996.
Value asset: ‘To connect internationally’
SA: How can you sell MLS in so competitive a soccer marketplace?
DG: I think we need to respect the fact that one of the great equities that we have as a league is that we are part of the greatest sport in the world. To the extent that we continue to improve the quality of play, and to connect internationally, that’s a valuable asset for us to build upon.
We do have an ability to build upon an increasing level of success, to capitalize on the face we are much more competitive on the national team level. That’s a real asset that didn’t exist in the early ’80s.
SA: What’s your opinion of the league’s attempts to lure Hispanic fans?
DG: It’s hard for me to react to that because we’re not doing any of it. We’ve not been able to market to that segment. We’ve spent part of our budget with ad agencies to advertise our brand, but I’m not sure that’s ultimately what we need to do.
We need to get closer to that community. We need to get our players out in that community. We need to work with Univision on stuff beyond just programming. There’s a whole litany of things of marketing to the Hispanic audience we need to work on.
They blame it on the change of the makeup of our players. It’s a lot easier to get Hispanic [fans] when you have Campos. He’s exciting and he’s a huge star. It’s easier to get Salvadoran fans out in D.C. if [Raul] Diaz Arce’s there, but it might not be the right thing for the coach.
That audience needs to be massaged and it needs to be committed to, and we need to focus our resources to get them back.
D.C. United: ‘Dallas Cowboys of MLS’
SA: Is there a team that comes close to the model of what you’d like to see in MLS?
DG: D.C. are the Dallas Cowboys of MLS. They perform well, they’re important in the community, they compete internationally and do reasonably well. They’ve got great brand-imagery ù a terrific logo, their uniforms are good, they’re colors are good ù and they’ve got a great fan base. They’re the whole package.
When I go to a game at RFK, I feel like I’m at a professional sports match.
SA: What do you say to fans who bring up the great players who played in the NASL?
DG: Some of the best players in the world were playing here in the NASL. That’s not going to happen in our league and that’s not going to happen in our economic model in the near future. It’s a different world.
From what I’m told, the quality of play has improved dramatically from 1996. Efficient management of that within the limited financial budget that we have is an astronomical feat.
We’re managing teams on budgets that are less than what First Division players are making, and I feel pretty good about that.
SA: How can you attract the hardcore fans who follow the game avidly?
DG: One of the most powerful arguments that the game isn’t the same quality as it is in other places around the world: “It’s not the best soccer in the world, so why should I watch it?” That’s their real complaint.
Nobody is saying that the players aren’t good guys, that the teams aren’t working hard, that the media’s not doing their job.
I could give you a hundred things, but at the end of the day, they’re saying, “This is the United States, I’m a Salvadoran or I’m a Mexican or I’m a German or I’m a Brit, I love this country and I love the game, and if you want me to connect with your game, you’d better give me that which I am used to.”
That’s a challenge. But we have to wait for the evolution of quality on the field.
by Soccer America senior editor Ridge Mahoney