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Why European soccer headed to the U.S. for preseason – and what comes next?

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4 weeks ago

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Why European soccer headed to the U.S. for preseason – and what comes next?

Through the torrential downpour and thunder rolling in the sky above MetLife Stadium, 82,154 fans bore the brunt of a mid-summer storm to watch Barcelona beat Real Madrid 2-1 in a thrilling preseason friendly between two rivals that has become somewhat of a tradition in the United States.

It did not matter that some of the Spanish clubs’ biggest stars were either still on vacation, resting from the recent European Championship and Copa America, or absent on Olympic Games duty for their countries in France. This was still El Clasico and the crowd reveled in watching young stars including Barcelona’s Pau Victor and Nico Paz and veterans such as Real Madrid’s Ballon d’Or winner Luka Modric battle it out on the muddy pitch across the Hudson River from Manhattan for 90 minutes of pure entertainment.

Spectators sang along to the club’s chants and stadium staff set off fireworks for every goal scored, even those that were later ruled out for offside. It was an impressive reception for a match that, as far as official record-keeping goes, meant close to nothing. But that match last weekend, and dozens of others like it throughout the United States, have come to mean a whole lot to the international soccer ecosystem.

“This is preseason and it’s totally different than the normal Clasico,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told reporters afterwards. “You can see that a lot of players are missing (from) both teams, but at the end (of the day) it’s also really good to have all these players here. The young players… it’s fantastic to have them here.”

Considering the hype seen in New Jersey that night, players’ absences did little to deter fans from flocking to a venue that is the home to New York’s two NFL teams — the Giants and Jets. Enthusiasm for the match was not impacted, even when it was halted after just 12 minutes of play because of severe weather, not resuming for an hour.

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Fans took shelter at MetLife Stadium when the Barca-Real match was suspended (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)

Flick was addressing reporters inside a glass-enclosed conference room, with fans gathered around and peering through those translucent walls at the stadium which will host the 2026 men’s World Cup final. The supporters’ cheers muffled journalists’ questions, with security repeatedly asking them to quiet down. Fans lingered in and around the stadium long after the game ended.

This was just one of the many high-profile soccer friendlies that took place across the U.S. this summer, with European football clubs jet-setting coast to coast to compete on pitches inside MLS, NFL, college football and even MLB stadiums. Teams from the English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, Serie A in Italy and the German Bundesliga (plus Wrexham of the English Football League) held glitzy press tours and community events across the country. The painstaking preparation for Wolverhampton Wanderers’ three-match tour — estimated to have cost £1,050,000 ($1,344,000) in total — was detailed by The Athletic.

A week before Barca-Real, Manchester City and AC Milan played inside Yankee Stadium before a crowd of 46,122 fans. The Italian side won 3-2 with U.S. men’s national team captain Christian Pulisic coming on in the 80th minute. Pulisic has understandably been the face of Milan’s own tour, while City boasted players including Norwegian striker Erling Haaland and England international Jack Grealish at fan events around New York City in the lead-up to matchday.


Erling Haaland runs out at Yankee Stadium last month (Stephen Nadler/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

This was a big footballing spectacle, yet the business relationships between the professional clubs and baseball’s Yankees run deep.

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In 2013, Manchester City and the Yankees announced plans to establish an MLS expansion side, NYCFC. City Football Group owns both clubs, as well as a portfolio of others around the world.

As for Milan, the team also has deep ties to American businesses. The club is owned by New York-based RedBird Capital Partners and, in 2022, the Yankees purchased a minority stake. That same year, the two teams announced plans to begin selling AC Milan products inside Yankee Stadium. Milan’s CEO Giorgio Furlani said to reporters in New Jersey last week: “I would confidently say we are the most American club of Italian clubs, and we’re very happy to be here.”


Barcelona and AC Milan played in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 6 (Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images)

Wrexham, a Welsh club from the English third tier made globally famous by a documentary series about them and co-owned by American actor Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, the Canadian star of the Deadpool movie franchise, have played Chelsea, another Premier League club in American hands, in the States in successive summers. When the sides met in July 2023 at Chapel Hill in North Carolina, 50,596 were in attendance. Twelve months on, for a 2-2 draw at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the announced attendance was 32,724.

How many times can these teams keep going back to the U.S. well?

American ownership in international football has become a growing trend, with a prominent example in Premier League side Arsenal’s owners, the Kroenke family, through their Kroenke Sports & Entertainment company (KSE). As well as Arsenal, the KSE sports conglomerate includes the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams. The Rams’ SoFi Stadium has also become a home of sorts for Arsenal, having played there in the past two preseasons. Arsenal Women is also going on a U.S. preseason tour this month, albeit on the east coast, to play NWSL side Washington Spirit and Women’s Super League rivals Chelsea.

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The U.S. is a key market for Arsenal and there are more synergies between the twin jewels in the Kroenkes’ multi-sport crown.

The two sides held a ‘Football meets Football’ community event at the Rams’ training complex, with Rams head coach Sean McVay and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta both taking part, as well as the two team captains, Martin Odegaard and Cooper Kupp. KSE figurehead Stan Kroenke and son Josh, an Arsenal director, were also present. McVay, only 38, and Arteta, still relatively new to Premier League management at 42, have a good relationship and speak fairly often.


(Left to right) Josh Kroenke, Kupp, Arteta, McVay, Odegaard and Stan Kroenke on July 26 (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
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The 62,486 crowd for Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Manchester United at 70,000-capacity SoFi two weeks ago was, however, a little down on what might have expected and Arteta commented afterwards on the small dimensions of the pitch, which had only recently been laid in the NFL arena and will be replaced by the time the 2026 World Cup, which the U.S. will co-host with Canada and Mexico, comes to town. The cheapest tickets were more than $100 (£78) each, with a 10 percent emissions tax on top of that.

James T Butts, mayor of Inglewood, the district of Los Angeles where the stadium is located, wants soccer to keep coming back to LA. “I may be biased but I think this is the pre-eminent stadium in the world right now,” he told reporters. “I’ve discovered that soccer fans are more rabid than NFL fans, and so we love every time there is a soccer game. It adds to the ambience of the city. Adds to the viability of the project. We love it.”

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The ability to watch two top-tier European clubs play in your local stadium remains a rare experience for Americans.

The University of South Carolina hosted Liverpool’s 3-0 win against Manchester United last weekend, with a recorded attendance of 77,559. In Philadelphia a few days earlier, Liverpool beat Arsenal 2-1 in front of 69,879 fans at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles — the largest crowd for a soccer match at the venue.

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Liverpool also has U.S.-based owners in Fenway Sports Group and chose to base themselves in Pittsburgh (where they beat Spain’s Real Betis 1-0 before a 42,679 crowd), Philadelphia and Columbia, South Carolina this summer as they returned to American soil after a five-year absence. “It’s an incredibly important market, and one that we still think has tremendous opportunity for growth,” Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan told The Athletic last month.


Manchester United and Liverpool walk out in Columbia, South Carolina (Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

Beginning next year, clubs from Europe and elsewhere will be coming to the U.S. in the summer for games far more important than a few preseason friendlies.

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“For the fans, it becomes even more special because they see the two big teams, two big clubs play against each other,” says Sweden legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who works as an adviser for AC Milan’s U.S. ownership, having played in the States for LA Galaxy of MLS. “Especially over here in the U.S. — because normally this (such a fixture) would be a Champions League game.”

But as the market continues to grow, with the first edition of the revamped and greatly expanded Club World Cup to be played in the United States next summer, a Champions League-level match happening here does not appear that far-fetched.

In May, an attorney representing soccer’s world governing body FIFA said in federal court that a rule change allowing domestic league matches to be played abroad could come “before the end of the year”. This was declared during an in-court status conference for an ongoing antitrust lawsuit between New York-based promoter Relevent Sports and U.S. Soccer, the game’s national federation.

At the time, FIFA declined to elaborate on the specifics of what its attorney was referencing. Just two weeks later, however, at its annual congress in Thailand, FIFA approved a working group that was tasked with considering rule changes for “authorizing interclub football matches or competitions”, and the criteria to be applied for signing off on such competitions.

That lawsuit filed by Relevent stems back to summer 2018 when it attempted to level up from U.S. preseason friendlies.

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The promoter announced plans to host a regular-season La Liga match between Barcelona and Girona in Miami, Florida. But Barcelona later withdrew from this commitment when FIFA announced a policy barring domestic leagues from playing regular-season games outside of a club’s home territory.

A few months later, Relevent attempted to host two Ecuadorian clubs for an official league match on American soil. U.S. Soccer denied its sanction, citing FIFA’s policy. Relevent then sued FIFA and U.S. Soccer on antitrust grounds – and while FIFA is no longer a defendant in the suit, Relevent and U.S. Soccer are slated for a settlement conference in this matter next month.

While the antitrust lawsuit crawled through the American legal system, reaching the Supreme Court last year, the business of international friendlies in the States only grew larger. But a preseason friendly is not the same as an official match that truly matters, as many coaches referenced in their preseason tours this summer.

That becomes trickier to imagine, though, when considering the already-congested football match calendar. Any trip over from Europe or South America would have to be an isolated occurrence, similar to how the NFL hosts only a handful of international matches each season.

But those in the game see the existing crowded calendar as an inevitable part of football’s growth. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said as much when asked about players struggling to play at their peak in every match because of the schedule.

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“The clubs have to travel to make our brand (known) around the world,” Guardiola said from the Yankees’ press conference room. This may be the new norm, but it didn’t happen overnight. “It happened for five, six, seven years,” Guardiola said. “It is what it is, and we have to adapt.”

It seems inevitable that, pretty soon, they will have to adapt yet again.

(Top photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)

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Culture

Do You Know These Sports Books That Became Movies?

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5 hours ago

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September 9, 2024

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Do You Know These Sports Books That Became Movies?

Welcome to Great Adaptations, the Book Review’s regular multiple-choice quiz about books that have gone on to find new life as movies, television shows, theatrical productions, video games and more. This week’s challenge is focused on sports books that have been adapted into films within the past 25 years.

Just tap or click your answers to the five questions below. And scroll down after you finish the last question for links to the books and their movie adaptations.

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Cardinals’ DeeJay Dallas scores first kickoff return touchdown of 2024 season under new format

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12 hours ago

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September 9, 2024

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Cardinals’ DeeJay Dallas scores first kickoff return touchdown of 2024 season under new format

The NFL saw a record-low 22 percent of kickoffs returned last season, and only four of those were returned for scores. The NFL introduced significant changes to its kickoff rules for the 2024 season to boost the incentive for more players to return kickoffs — while limiting touchbacks and injuries.

In Week 1 of the new kickoff format, Cardinals returner DeeJay Dallas ignited the comeback with a thrilling 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Slicing through three tackles at the 40-yard line, he dashed toward the end zone, diving past kicker Tyler Bass to score. The Bills, leading 31-20 with 8:44 left, regretted kicking deep. The Cardinals then capitalized with a successful two-point conversion by James Conner, narrowing the gap to 31-28.

The touchdown marked Dallas’ first career kickoff return in his NFL  and collegiate careers, although he has return experience, having returned kicks in all three of his seasons in the league.

Although the new rule had a slow start, the first Sunday of the NFL season still delivered excitement with three kickoff returns exceeding 50 yards. In 2023, there were only 10 returns of 50 yards or more.

The Bills held on to their lead to start the season 1-0 as they beat the Cardinals 34-28. Buffalo will face AFC East rival Miami on the road during Week 2 of “Thursday Night Football.”

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(Photo: Brooke Sutton / Getty Images)

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Mandel’s Final Thoughts: Georgia, Ohio State and Texas at the top. After that, guess again

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19 hours ago

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September 9, 2024

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Mandel’s Final Thoughts: Georgia, Ohio State and Texas at the top. After that, guess again

And now, 18 thoughts on an early September Saturday that dared AP voters to just blow up their ballots and start over.

1. Two weeks in, I feel confident that Georgia, Ohio State and Texas are the correct top three teams. After that, I’d be guessing just the same as you. A lot of highly ranked teams had close calls against inferior opponents. And one top-five team flat-out lost at home to NIU as a 28-point favorite.

2. This was supposed to be the year Marcus Freeman led Notre Dame back to national title contention, not to yet another Week 2 home loss to a Group of 5 opponent. (2022 Marshall, meet 2024 NIU.) He already had a stacked, veteran defense before landing renowned offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock from LSU and transfer quarterback Riley Leonard from Duke. But on Saturday, Leonard went just 20 of 32 for 163 yards and two interceptions against a MAC opponent. NIU took advantage of that second pick to sit on the ball for five minutes before hitting a last-minute field goal to stun the Irish 16-14.

From Day 1, Freeman has been unofficially auditioning for the job he already landed, at age 35, after Brian Kelly bolted. After a rough Year 1, he was trending in the right direction. But Saturday was an absolute confidence crusher that sapped all the momentum from Notre Dame’s season-opening win at Texas A&M. If anything, it brought back questions long ago assumed buried about the state of Freeman’s program. Yes, Notre Dame can still reach the 12-team Playoff, but only if Saturday’s game proves to be a complete fluke.

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3. A team like NIU will never experience a national title but winning at Notre Dame Stadium as a huge underdog surely feels as sweet. The Huskies coach, Thomas Hammock, himself a former NIU star running back, was sobbing during his NBC postgame interview. The program has had its moments over the last two decades, most notably the Jordan Lynch era circa 2012-13, but this was by far its biggest win. I would not have suggested before the season that the MAC could produce the G5’s CFP rep, but I can’t imagine another G5 team will earn a more significant nonconference win.

4. No. 10 Michigan came out Saturday against No. 3 Texas wearing the same uniforms and playing in the same stadium as the 2023 national champions — but that’s where the resemblances ended. The Longhorns’ 31-12 rout at the Big House confirmed the most dire concerns about the Wolverines’ depleted offense. Much more stunning was the ease with which Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers (24 of 36, 246 yards, three TDs, no INTs) shredded a Michigan defense that still boasts star power.

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The Horns controlled the line of scrimmage, and Steve Sarkisian was his usual masterful self in scheming guys open, most notably tight end Gunnar Helm (seven catches, 98 yards). It should be a nice confidence boost for Texas as it embarks on its first-ever SEC schedule.

5. New Wolverines head coach Sherrone Moore, who took over when Jim Harbaugh left for the Chargers, succeeded in keeping the defending champs’ roster together, but he didn’t do much to upgrade it either. I was surprised last spring when he did not bring in a transfer quarterback to compete for the starting job. Two games in, I’m bewildered by it. Davis Warren seems like a serviceable backup who’s been thrust into the starting job, which does not speak well for the guy he beat out, Alex Orji. We’ll see if Moore gives Orji more reps next week against Arkansas State.

6. Nebraska’s 28-10 rout of old rival Colorado was exactly the kind of party long-suffering Huskers fans have been thirsting for. Five-star freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola looked the part (23 of 30, 185 yards, 1 TD, no INTs), and Matt Rhule’s second team looked faster on offense and fiercer on defense. For Deion and Shedeur Sanders, on the other hand, it was a depressingly familiar plot. Colorado gave up six sacks and ran for just 16 yards, leaving Shedeur Sanders (23 of 38, 244 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) and Travis Hunter (10 catches, 110 yards) to play their own game of catch after the outcome was long decided.

The Buffs defense has improved from 2023, but there remains a considerable gap between their offensive skill talent and their offensive line. Maybe AFLAC can help close it.

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Stewart Mandel’s 12-team Playoff projections after Week 2

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7. The best player in the country so far has been Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, who followed up a 267-yard, six-touchdown clinic at Georgia Southern by running for another 192 yards and three TDs against No. 7 Oregon. It wasn’t quite enough to top the Ducks, who won 37-34 on a last-second field goal, thanks in large part to an 85-yard Tez Johnson punt-return touchdown and 100-yard Noah Whittington kick-return TD.

Without those, Oregon might have been in trouble, as its normally explosive offense is not clicking. Following key losses on the inside of their offensive line, the Ducks through two games have already allowed seven sacks. That’s two more than they gave up in either the 2022 or 2023 seasons.

8. On the night Alabama dedicated Nick Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the Tide’s offense gave a performance that would have frustrated their former coach to no end. Fourth-ranked Alabama scored on just two of its first 11 possessions against pesky USF and led just 21-16 with 6:45 left before exploding for back-to-back-to-back long touchdowns to win with a deceiving final score of 42-16. Kalen DeBoer’s team is not lacking for weapons, such as running back Jam Miller (15 carries, 140 yards) and freshman receiver Ryan Williams (four catches, 68 yards), but on this night, the Tide’s offensive line brought back troubling memories of its rocky 2023 campaign.

9. Saturday night’s Tennessee-NC State game in Charlotte was shaping up to be Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s coming-out party, but his defense upstaged him. The No. 14 Vols shut down Wolfpack quarterback Grayson McCall, the former Coastal Carolina standout, and held No. 24 NC State to just 143 total yards in a 51-10 blowout. We knew Tennessee had an elite pass-rusher in James Pearce, but nose tackle Omari Thomas and the rest of the Vols’ D-line dominated the Wolfpack. Iamaleava (16 of 23, 211 yards) had his moments as well, but he also threw a pick six that became NC State’s only touchdown.

10. Here’s one I did not see coming: South Carolina, a week removed from eking out a 23-19 home win against Old Dominion, going on the road and suffocating Kentucky in a 31-6 beatdown. The Gamecocks D, led by five-star freshman pass rusher Dylan Stewart, notched five sacks and a pick six of Wildcats quarterback Brock Vandagriff while allowing just 188 total yards.

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In addition to starting 1-0 in SEC play, Shane Beamer’s team, 5-7 last season, messed things up for ESPN’s GameDay. The show was expected to be in Lexington next weekend for Georgia at Kentucky. Now: LSU at South Carolina.

11. Former star quarterback Brock Purdy led Iowa State’s ascent under Matt Campbell a few years ago. Enter Rocco Becht, a sophomore in his second year as the starter. Down 19-7 against rival Iowa’s notoriously salty defense, Becht hit Jaylin Noel for a 75-yard touchdown, then in the final minute, connected with Noel again for a 30-yard gain to set up Kyle Konrady’s game-winning 54-yard field goal. With the 20-19 victory, Campbell has beaten Kirk Ferentz two of the past three years after losing his first five Cy-Hawk games.

12. The Big 12 dodged a pair of upsets in the early window Saturday when No. 16 Oklahoma State, down 21-7 at one point, held off Arkansas 39-31 in double overtime, and No. 17 Kansas State, down 20-10 at halftime, survived 34-27 at Tulane.

The losers of those games will be kicking themselves for some time, though. Offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino’s Razorbacks racked up 648 yards but lost three turnovers and got stopped twice on fourth down. Meanwhile, Tulane redshirt freshman quarterback Darian Mensah put on a show, with four 30-plus-yard completions, and it appeared he’d thrown a tying TD with 17 seconds left. But officials negated it on a non-existent offensive pass interference call. Mensah then threw a dagger interception.

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Perhaps one or both quality wins will end up boosting the Big 12’s at-large chances.

13. Clemson heard all our mockery after last week’s Georgia game and took it out on respected G5 team Appalachian State. Behind a near-perfect performance from quarterback Cade Klubnik (24 of 26, 378 yards, five TDs, no INTs), the Tigers scored 35 points in the first quarter and 56 before halftime in a 66-20 blowout. It served as a friendly reminder that despite losing its opener 34-3, Clemson could well turn around and win the ACC. And also that Georgia remains a holy terror.

14. The offensive wizardry Hugh Freeze showed at Ole Miss and Liberty has yet to make an appearance at Auburn. In the second game of Freeze’s second season, visiting Cal smothered the Tigers passing game, picking off Payton Thorne four times and holding Auburn to 286 total yards in a 21-14 win. Auburn fans will surely call for the head of Thorne, who has never been able to replicate his great 2021 season at Michigan State, but it’s hard to say how much of the problem is him and how much is the Tigers woeful offensive line.

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15. A year ago on this same weekend, Illinois went to Kansas and fell behind 34-7, losing 34-23. So it was a big deal for Bret Bielema’s team to not only win Saturday’s rematch, 23-17, but also to stifle the 19th-ranked Jayhawks veteran offense. Kansas’ star quarterback Jalon Daniels finished just 18 of 32 for 141 yards and threw three picks against the Illini’s defense. Perhaps this means Illinois is poised for another season like 2022 when it won eight games and gave Michigan fits. Or perhaps KU is not yet ready for preseason Top 25s.

16. Last week, Syracuse coach Fran Brown joked that he should send a bottle of champagne to Ohio State’s Ryan Day for letting quarterback Kyle McCord become a free agent. McCord looked even better in his ACC debut, going 32 of 46 for 381 yards, four touchdowns and no picks in a 31-28 home win over Georgia Tech. Brown, formerly Georgia’s defensive backs coach, was fairly unknown before getting the job last winter but earned instant credibility from the fan base when Syracuse became the surprise landing spot for the Buckeyes’ 2023 starter. It looks like the pair will be a factor in their new conference this fall.

17. The realignment gods tried to kick Washington State and Oregon State to the curb, but they’re not exiting quietly. The Cougars throttled Big 12 foe Texas Tech 37-16 in an AfterDark game on Fox, with quarterback John Mateer responsible for 197 of his team’s 301 yards on the ground. Next week brings a mid-September Apple Cup against Washington in Seattle. Meanwhile, the Beavers won 21-0 at San Diego State in advance of a huge grudge match at home next week against the hated Ducks. That one is also on Fox.

The two programs’ futures remain uncertain. For now, they’ve opted against continuing their Mountain West scheduling partnership next season, presumably to schedule more P4 opponents. For one week at least, it will feel like old times on those campuses.

18. Finally, when UAB savior coach Bill Clark had to step down for health reasons before the 2022 season, offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent stepped in as interim head coach and went 7-6. That wasn’t good enough for UAB, which made a big-splash hire with Trent Dilfer, despite his never having coached college football.

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Vincent is now the head coach at Louisiana-Monroe, which on Saturday whooped Dilfer’s Blazers 32-6. Dilfer, the former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst, has three FBS wins in his first 14 games at UAB.

As always, the splashiest hire is rarely the best hire.

(Photo of Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers celebrating after a touchdown: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)

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