Terraces not tailgates: US owners desperately need a new playbook for UK football fans

However, just like Donald Trump and Theresa May holding hands on the White House lawn, it can be uncomfortable viewing at times, US owners have often failed to read the room when it comes to UK football fans. The Super League debacle, when a cabal of clubs attempted to launch a breakaway European league driven in part by Manchester United’s and Liverpool’s American owners, was the most notable of these missteps and plunged the game into crisis.

So, what does your budding Premier League owner need to consider when snapping up a soccer franchise on these shores?

Lesson 1: Receptives v Selectives

Problems occur often due to a desire to template what works in the US and apply it to the UK.

Fandom differs all over the world. Failing to evolve your strategy based on deep insights into your domestic fanbase is a recipe for disaster in any sport. This can be particularly nuanced with football, where fans are more receptive to sponsorship and brand activity in less mature markets than in the UK.

At MKTG Sports + Entertainment, we track receptivity – the frequency and level of engagement of fans with sponsors and the commercial elements of the club. US soccer fans are considerably more receptive than their UK counterparts. Meanwhile, UK football fans are also more likely to be non-receptive (30% v 21%), meaning that these football fans are not at all interested in brand and sponsor activity.

Does this mean that Premier League club owners should not bother trying to sell shirts and activate commercial partners? No. It just means you need to work harder to prove that you offer utility and enhance the fan experience. Fans that look for this before deciding whether to be receptive, we call ‘selectives’ and crucially 52% of football fans fit into this category – on both sides of the Atlantic.

Lesson 2: Sentiment Matters

Owners of football clubs must take time to understand the fans, particularly the local fans, who are intrinsic to shaping the culture and heritage of the club. What are their shared values and expectations around the club and its future?

Fans don’t want to be marketed to when the team is not performing and will demand transparency over the financial benefits the owners are taking out of the club. American owners have brought wealth into the game, but we have seen tension and ethical questions around, for example, the Glazer family leveraging debt off Manchester United and Todd Boehly’s erratic spending and stewardship of Chelsea, with six different managers in just two years accompanied by some of the worst football seen in recent years.

When results aren’t going well, some of the clunkier, commercial aspects that Boehly brought into the club, such as promoting a movie made by a production company he owns – Argylle – only exacerbate tensions. Chelsea fans were not happy seeing toothbrush-wielding ‘flash mobs’ on the Stamford Bridge terraces, branded rucksacks being worn by players, and beleaguered manager Mauricio Pochettino sitting with an action figure beside him at a press conference while the team was languishing in the bottom half of the table.

It all added to the sense that this owner is leveraging the club for his own benefit.

Lesson 3: You Say, ‘Tomato,’ I Say, ‘Don’t Tell Me How To Support My Team.’

Yes, football clubs are brand systems and leveraging their IP is part of football, but they are so much more to people and carry a deep heritage in communities. There are also elements intrinsic to fan culture in the US – tailgates, music performances before games and at half time, T-shirt cannons and cheerleading, for example – which have been tried out here and have failed because fans can smell inauthenticity and something that feels disconnected from the club’s DNA from a mile away.

On a recent visit to Inter Miami, I was mildly amused to see words on a jumbotron imploring fans to ‘make some noise’ as Lionel Messi stepped up to take a free kick.

If you tried that in the UK, you would end up with a smashed jumbotron.

It would be unfair to say that sport in the US means less to people – it’s at the very heart of American life, and even if it is common for franchises to move cities and states, they are still connected deeply to communities. US fans are generally more comfortable with that position of sport as entertainment and have a more pragmatic approach to its role in capitalism, whereas we tend to be more po-faced about how it’s done here – certainly when it comes to football.

American owners can liken UK football more closely to college football in the US, where fans are highly engaged, and teams are closely linked with local pride and identity. Just like the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers appeal to fans of different demographics with different sets of values, meaning the way the franchises communicate and the characteristics they adopt will vary widely, so too is this the case for UK football clubs.

What works for West Ham, with its roots in working-class East London and underdog/community club feel, will not work at Chelsea, which leans more into the wealth and glamour of West London’s Kings Road, where the club is situated. They are as different in their marketing as McDonald’s and Burger King.

For an agency such as MKTG Sports + Entertainment, understanding fans and tribes is the starting point for everything we do. We have worked with owners who are less familiar with the culture around their new club to help them gain a deeper understanding of the fanbase, and this can help shape strategy and lead to commercial activations that do not ruffle feathers.

My mega-wealthy US friends should not be too dismayed. Younger fans are certainly less precious about these things and more receptive to commercial activity if it is adding to their experience - so expect new ideas to be tested and some to be adopted.

Fans are changing, and football culture is evolving… the important thing is to understand the fanbase and evolve rather than clumsily introduce elements that may work in another market, and therefore, you wrongfully expect them to work here without doing your homework. That way, you will get a lot more bang for your buck.

Amar Singh is SVP, content & creative at MKTG Sports + Entertainment and writes and produces the The Sports Marketeer newsletter and podcast.