Soccer America looks at what impact, if any, Soccer United Marketing (S.U.M) has had on our domestic league. They’re very shrewd promoters, including clauses in contracts that teams coming over to play in friendlies, like Mexico or Manchester United, have to bring their first team regulars. It sounds like the impact on MSL is fairly mixed so far, but the SuperLiga later this year will be huge. Beyond the $1M prize for the winning team, the games will be broadcasted on Univision and Telefutura. At least, S.U.M. has managed to bring the attention of Hispanic broadcast media back to MLS, and that will help the league tap into that audience in the long run.
The combination of coverage on Fox Sports en Espanol (approximately 10 million viewers and TeleFutura (46 million) gives MLS a much greater reach into the Hispanic market through television. Cross-promotion between the Latino and Anglo soccer communities may boost Mexican-American attendance at MLS games.
HT: Dunord