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Lionel Messi has raised the profile of Major League Soccer and the impending World Cup next year in North America will surely increase visibility of the league — and the sport as a whole — but MLS is going beyond just the action on the field to hook potential fans.
MLS executive vice president Camilo Durana explained to The Post that the league is pushing to find a place at the intersection of “culture, entertainment and sport.”
“What we found is that different fans have different journeys,” Durana said. “Some come across our product on broadcast, some come to the stadium for the first time and fall in love with it. Others connect to it in different ways.”
The MLS has tried to use that to their advantage, for instance, partnering with rap artist Doechii on a campaign that launched before the start of the season — she won the Grammy for Best Rap Album a week after the launch.
Another avenue has come through video games, in particular EA Sports’ soccer franchise, EA Sports FC.
The video game — previously known as the FIFA series that was changed because of the end of a licensing agreement between EA and FIFA after 2022 — is regularly one of the top selling games globally and a report by gaming industry data provider, Newzoo, listed EA Sports FC 25 the highest-grossing game worldwide last September.
“We found that gaming, particularly through our long standing partnership with EA, previously FIFA, now FC, title is actually a pretty important way of becoming a fan of MLS and the sport,” Durana said.
“That people experience gaming first experience our teams, experience our players, the excitement, learn more about the game and migrate towards Major League Soccer. It’s been a really valuable tool for us to build that relationship with EA and build properties like eMLS as a way of introducing people to MLS and the sport.”
eMLS is the league’s Professional Esports League that was born out of its partnership with video game maker EA and has taken MLS further into the gaming realm in order to build its brand.
eMLS players compete in leagues and tournaments, including the eMLS Cup, which took place at the Whitney Museum of American Art in downtown Manhattan in March.
The event in New York City not only included the gaming competition, but also a panel on fan engagement that included former NFL star Chad Johnson and a DJ concert.
At the heart of the league’s strategy remained the idea of being at that intersection of sports, culture and entertainment.
“These types of events are yet another way that we’re trying to connect with different types of culture, because we think that’s a way of engaging new types of fans,” Durana said. “It’s also reflective of the way people are consuming today the accessibility of content, the accessibility to just different types of forms of entertainment. Living in that intersect is a really interesting way for us to reach new audiences in meaningful ways that resonate with them.”
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