“No World Cup.”
That was the trending topic on X last Wednesday morning as many American sports fans woke up to the reality that, for the first time in 27 days, there would be no World Cup matches to watch. By this time next week, the tournament will be over entirely.
Some of those fans may not watch soccer again until next summer’s Women’s World Cup, or even the next men’s World Cup in 2030. Others will be looking for a place to channel their newfound interest in the sport.
MLS is hoping to capture the attention of those individuals this week as it rolls out its largest national marketing campaign, which the league has characterized as a “significant eight-figure investment.” It will also resume its regular season on Thursday and Friday — off days between the World Cup semifinals and final — with both Friday night matches airing on Fox in addition to streaming on Apple TV.
Titled “Thanks World, We’ll Take It From Here,” the creative, developed with Ogilvy, debuts digitally Monday and will air nationally during Fox’s telecasts of the World Cup semifinals and final this week.
The main 60-second spot begins and ends with MLS’s biggest star, Lionel Messi, who is back in his pink Inter Miami kit after starring for Argentina in the World Cup. The ad also features 33 other MLS players, several of whom are shown returning from the tournament by taxi or airplane. The most recognizable include LAFC’s Son Heung-min, the South Korean forward and former Tottenham Hotspur star, and Charlotte FC’s Tim Ream, who captained the U.S. men’s national team.
Set to a newly recorded version of “Can I Kick It?” by A Tribe Called Quest, the spot features the players and other personalities asking whether they can “kick it” or responding, “Yes, you can.” It also includes cameos from celebrity team owners David Beckham of Inter Miami, Matthew McConaughey of Austin FC, Magic Johnson of LAFC and Kevin Durant of the Philadelphia Union.
In addition to the national spot, 15 of the league’s 30 clubs opted to have Ogilvy create localized versions of the spot they can deploy with ad buys in their own markets.
“This campaign is really a statement of confidence in everything we’ve done up to this point, but also in what we have to offer fans coming out of the World Cup,” said Camilo Durana, chief business officer at MLS. “From the world-class broadcast product and the experience that we offer via Apple TV, to the incredible atmosphere in our soccer-specific stadiums — but we’re also making it really easy for people to join us.”
On top of the league-level effort — to which each club has committed between $500,000 and $1 million, according to sources — many MLS teams are putting their own localized plans into action.
Twenty-two clubs plan to offer a “First Match on Us” promotion that invites new fans to a match for free. In addition, many teams have been engaging in on-the-ground efforts to connect with fans during the World Cup. Twenty-eight clubs have hosted Soccer Celebrations during the competition, welcoming fans to watch World Cup matches while promoting their brand.
While some teams held smaller day- or weeklong events, others spent millions creating spaces that would remain open for most or all of the tournament. Those clubs have added tens of thousands of soccer fans to their databases over the course of the World Cup that they can try converting into fans of their teams.
In Chicago, the Fire have hosted more than 65,000 fans at Recess, a multilevel sports bar located just two miles from the site of the club’s forthcoming soccer-specific stadium, McDonald’s Park. Dan Moriarty, the Fire’s chief marketing officer, said he expects the team will have added more than 50,000 fan records to its database by the end of the tournament.
“We know this is the right sort of audience,” Moriarty said. “We picked Recess intentionally, knowing it was in the right part of the city. It’s the right sort of audience that we know we need to get involved in the club to help continue our growth trajectory.”
Austin FC has seen similarly strong results. Andy Loughnane, the team’s president, said Austin FC has had 70,000 unique registrants for its watch events across two venues, 46,000 of whom are new to the club’s database.
“Creation of new fans ultimately will hopefully lead to a new, multigenerational group of Austin FC fans,” Loughnane said. “The single most important outcome is that we have been able to introduce ourselves to a new group of people. At the same time, I think we’ve been very successful in creating a cultural and community hub that has allowed Austin FC to be front and center and very much in the discussion here within Austin throughout the tournament.”
Earlier this year, Commissioner Don Garber said that, while he expects MLS to see increases in interest and attendance following the World Cup, those won’t be his measures of success.
“To me, it’s more important than that,” Garber said. “It’s being in a position where there’s more respect, there’s more global energy and more opportunity for every member of the MLS ecosystem to become more valuable.”
After years of preparation and investment, MLS now has its opportunity to make Garber’s ambitions a reality.
Alex Silverman can be reached at asilverman@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
