SBJ Unpacks: One way MLS seeks to cash in on World Cup

Tonight in Unpacks: Following the July 29 All-Star Game, MLS clubs may start wearing back-of-the-kit sponsorships. Inter Miami already has a deal secured, and others are looking to capitalize on World Cup buzz to sell this new asset, reports SBJ’s Alex Silverman.

Also tonight:

• YinzCam uses World Cup to innovate with daily features
• Adidas secures both World Cup finalists
• Atlanta eyes future opportunities after World Cup success

Listen to SBJ’s most popular podcast, Morning Buzzcast, where Josh Carpenter discusses how the World Cup keeps delivering exciting matches like Argentina’s thrilling 2-1 semifinal win over England and record viewership, thoughts on premium hospitality for the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, the Buss brothers’ interest in an NBA Europe team and more.

NEW YORK -- MLS clubs are looking to the newly introduced back-of-kit sponsorship placement as an opportunity to generate immediate incremental revenue coming out of the World Cup. Teams are able to start wearing sponsor logos on their kits after the July 29 MLS All-Star Game, but so far Inter Miami is the only club that has formally announced a deal, as the asset was included as part of its recent stadium naming-rights deal with Nubank.

NYCFC President and CEO Brad Sims, who announced Thursday that the team’s $780M soccer-specific stadium will open on July 17, 2027, said the back-of-kit inventory offers brands excited about the sport an opportunity to get involved right away.

“You have brands that are like, ‘I have to get in -- how can I get in now?’ And we’re like, ‘Oh, these other opportunities don’t start for a year from now, but this opportunity you can start immediately,’” Sims said.

Sims expects the club to generate between $4M and $5M a year over four to five years, likely more than most MLS clubs will be able to pull in based on market size and the increased visibility associated with the new stadium in Queens. Sims said the team’s research suggests the back-of-kit placement is “as valuable or slightly more valuable” than the right sleeve placement that teams have previously been allowed to sell to partners.

San Diego FC CEO Tom Penn said that he, like many of his counterparts across the league, is also shopping the back-of-kit inventory.

“Everybody’s in active conversations, and this should help get some significant CMOs to say, ‘Yeah, this is a place that we ought to invest and get on this train, get on this rocket ship,” Penn said.

Sims and Penn were just two of the high-level soccer figures at an MLS media event in Midtown Manhattan, where around 300 members of the domestic and global press were in attendance.

Speakers included MLS Commissioner Don Garber, Concacaf President Victor Montagliani, New York Red Bulls coach Michael Bradley, U.S. men’s national team captain Tim Ream and newly signed Orlando City SC star Antoine Griezmann. Orlando City owner Mark Wilf and President Jarrod Dillon were also on site, along with U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone, former U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati and outgoing MLS Deputy Commissioner Gary Stevenson.

Popular sports app provider YinzCam utilized AI and World Cup data to ship new features to its users every day over the first few weeks of the tournament. Playfully named “Ship Happens,” this rapid rollout has been documented in a series of case studies on the YinzCam website.

YinzCam founder & CEO Priya Narasimhan said her client roster has a strong soccer presence, including a half-dozen English soccer clubs (such as Brentford, Wolves, Birmingham City), more than half of MLS, Liga MX and the Mexican Football Federation. Though the individual clubs would be going dormant during the FIFA men’s World Cup, fans would naturally want to follow their teams’ players during the event, so YinzCam licensed Opta stats and turned to AI to expedite the creation of new features.

“Football may be global,” Narasimhan said, “but interest is local.”

Anyone opening the Philadelphia Union app could see how its four academy graduates and two other pro players were faring -- four on the USMNT and one each for Haiti and South Africa -- just as Brentford fans could see the results of their four athletes.

“We believe the strongest fan experiences are driven by intentional moments that deepen emotional connection,” said Kyle Mathiot, Philadelphia Union SVP/Technology & Analytics. “Highlighting six Philadelphia Union ties to the FIFA World Cup exemplified that philosophy, allowing us to take a global sporting event and make it locally relevant. Rather than simply celebrating the tournament, we celebrated our place within it -- giving supporters another reason to feel pride in their connection to the club.”

There were prediction games, live stats and an AI-generated daily recap. Each of the new products YinzCam developed became available to its entire roster of clubs.

“We’ll go build it and then we’ll release it so the whole platform benefits,” Narasimhan said. “Every client benefits from every client.”

Narasimhan, who is also a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon Univ., said this World Cup push follows her company’s ethos since starting. She has not accepted any institutional money, and her team has built features dictated only by whether they are good for fans. Among them, she noted, were integrations with Apple CarPlay, iOS Live Activities and ticketing providers such as Ticketmaster and AXS. YinzCam also produces season wraps akin to what Spotify or Apple Music create at the end of each year, only this shows how many games a fan attended or other such relevant facts.

“It’s built, designed, developed in Pittsburgh, and I decided not to take any venture capital because what I wanted was creative autonomy,” Narasimhan said. “What I wanted was the ability to build whatever we thought was right for the fan -- whether it made commercial sense or not was immaterial.”

Argentina’s World Cup semifinal win over England on Wednesday “crushed” Nike’s hopes of sponsoring a team on the tournament’s biggest stage on Sunday, according to Danielle Kaye of REUTERS. The outcome “represents an assured visibility boost for rival ‌Adidas,” which outfits both finalists: Argentina and Spain. Adidas had sponsored a total of 14 national teams in the tournament. None of Nike’s 12 teams, including semifinalists England and France, managed to secure a spot in the final match. Both companies have “invested heavily in the soccer tournament,” but ​Nike has been “relying on it for sales and visibility as it tries to right its ship amid ​years of steadily shrinking market share.” Adidas called the World Cup final a “proud moment” for the company, while declining to share sales projections. M Science research analyst Drake MacFarlane said that Adidas, an official World Cup sponsor, “is a ‘clear winner’ ​in the athletic footwear and apparel market.” He added that stronger momentum ⁠in the U.S. and Europe “helped the brand gain share from Nike in the second quarter.” World Cup demand has “offered a lift,” but Adidas’ improvement “extends beyond the event while Nike continues to face pressure in Europe” (REUTERS, 7/16).

A LOOK AT ROI: VOGUE’s Joe Bobowicz writes for Nike and Adidas, return on investment will be “scrutinized in micro-detail, guiding their approaches to future marketing in both sportswear and broader lifestyle categories.” CreatorIQ noted that Adidas “generated an earned media value (EMV) of $48.9 million from 6,700 posts and almost 3,000 creators between June 1 and June 21, whereas Nike landed on $28.9 million from 4,400 posts and 1,900 creators.” Nike and Adidas have “been the most talked-about brands during the competition.” Archrival Senior Analyst Peter Kalmbach said, “That attention is likely to extend well beyond performance products.” Bobowicz writes that is “good news for Nike” (VOGUE, 7/16).

Atlanta’s portion of the World Cup is over, and now “local leaders want more,” according to Henry Queen of the ATLANTA BUSINESS CHRONICLE. At halftime of Argentina’s World Cup semifinal win over England on Wednesday, Falcons owner Arthur Blank said FIFA President Gianni Infantino “couldn’t be more enthused, excited, supportive of what we’ve done here in Atlanta.” Blank said Infantino told him that he “wants to visit Atlanta again” to “discuss the possibility of expanding the relationship between FIFA and the city.” Blank recalled, “I said, ‘We’ll be honored and privileged to do that.’” Atlanta is gunning for the final match of the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which is “likely to be partially hosted” in the U.S. Queen wrote, though, Mercedes-Benz Stadium’s capacity “could be a hindrance to hosting a final.” Its World Cup-altered capacity is 68,239, while the World Cup final later this week at N.Y. N.J. Stadium “can host 80,663 fans.” U.S. Soccer Federation CEO JT Batson mentioned that Atlanta “should be in the running for the 2031 final.” Queen wrote zooming out, it is “possible that more conventions and meetings will be booked in Atlanta” as a result of the tournament. Centennial Yards President Brian McGowan said that the city “handled the entire tournament well.” He said that the “well-attended fan festival in particular has impressed business leaders” (ATLANTA BUSINESS CHRONICLE, 7/15).

BIG WINNERS: In Atlanta, Hansen & Yamanouchi note several Atlanta-based fixtures and city leaders emerged as “hometown winners” from the city’s successful staging of World Cup matches this summer: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Blank, FIFA Fan Fest and watch parties, downtown’s big projects, MARTA and Destination Atlanta, Georgia. Mercedes-Benz Stadium “got rave reviews.” Blank, the “force behind” the stadium’s low-priced concessions, was another winner as the prices sent “a message to visitors to Atlanta.” By the end of the World Cup’s group stage, the official fan festival “had sold out” its free tickets for the rest of the tournament. Other large watch parties across metro Atlanta “have similarly seen success.” Many of downtown Atlanta’s biggest development projects “are in full-swing” and “used the World Cup as their coming out party.” MARTA also “made a big push” to prepare for World Cup, including “doubling train frequency on the days of matches at the FIFA Fan Fest.” The city as a vacation destination was also a winner as volunteers in downtown Atlanta have “been greeting World Cup and Fan Fest goers” (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 7/16).

FINAL REMARKS: Blank, following the end of Atlanta’s hosting duties, said that it is now about “keeping the energy going that powered the city and stadium” through its eighth and final match in the tournament. Blank said, “We have to find a way to create the World Cup every day in our lives to bring that much joy to ourselves personally and to everybody else we’re connected to, and Atlanta’s done a great job of doing that. We’ve got to continue to do it” (SOCCER WITH DOUG, 7/15).

• Argentina faces the potential disciplinary action from FIFA after its players celebrated its 2-1 World Cup semifinal win over England with a banner backing the nation’s claim to the Falkland Islands (BBC.com).
• Several soccer officials believe that FIFA President Gianni Infantino will come out of the 2026 World Cup emboldened and that the Folarin Balogun-President Trump issue has blown over (The Athletic).
• A German court hit FIFA with an injunction ordering it to stop “manipulative processes” in the sale of World Cup tickets (London Guardian).
• The Bundesliga agreed to a three-year U.S. media rights agreement with Telemundo, marking the first time Germany’s top soccer league has sold its Spanish-language rights separately in the market, write SBJ’s Alex Silverman and Austin Karp.

• This week’s SBJ Sports Media Podcast features co-hosts Austin Karp and Josh Carpenter reflecting on the massive viewership around the World Cup quarterfinals as well as Bundesliga’s shift away from ESPN. They also examine Netflix’s debut production of MLB’s Home Run Derby. Later on, Chicago Sports Network President Mike McCarthy joins the show for RSN chatter.
• Mark Shapiro, the president and COO of TKO Group Holdings, hailed UFC Freedom 250 as a massive success. He’s also emphatic about the likelihood of a sequel event on the White House lawn: “We’re never doing that again,” writes SBJ’s Chris Smith.
• ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro was emphatic Thursday that his network would consider housing the NBA’s impending local streaming hub, after reading SBJ’s report this week that YouTube is already in substantive talks with the league, reports SBJ’s Tom Friend and Austin Karp.
• A day after SBJ reported that Adam Silver persuaded WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert to suspend Alyssa Thomas for putting a fist on Caitlin Clark’s throat, the NBA commissioner lamented that Clark has “become a bit of a political football in this country” and added, “I think it’s incredibly unfair to her,” writes SBJ’s Tom Friend.
• Sources also tell Karp that MLB’s Home Run Derby drew its lowest audience since 2003, with Netflix drawing just 5.3 million viewers for its debut with the tentpole event.
• Paramount Skydance says its streaming service averaged 6.1 million viewers, with a peak of 8.295 million, in the U.S. for the Saturday night card that featured Conor McGregor’s short-lived UFC return with an anticlimactic ending but big commercial metrics, reports SBJ’s Adam Stern.
• Knicks G Jalen Brunson said that he is “in the process” of building more of a media brand while discussing his off-court business at a Wall Street Journal Sports conference Thursday in N.Y., notes SBJ’s Joe Lemire.
• MLB officials said merch sales at the All-Star Village fan fest surpassed the previous high from the 2022 fan fest in L.A. by a double-digit percentage and a 45% increase from last year in Atlanta, writes SBJ’s Terry Lefton.
• Thursday’s op-ed contends that the next phase of growth in college athletics will come from universities operating more like integrated commercial ecosystems.