Red Bulls Gameday Feature

Anatomy of a friendly

We live in a culture where it isn't unusual for thousands upon thousands of people to crowd into one facility to watch their heroes compete - whether that activity be on the baseball diamond, basketball court or on the soccer pitch.

Welcome FC Barcelona. Today, thousands of people gather for a friendly between the storied Spanish side and your Red Bulls. However, the planning of such a "friendly" requires more than a mere phone call by the powers that be.

While the Red Bulls actually play several friendlies over the course of a season (by definition, a friendly is any match outside the regular MLS schedule and match that has no implication in terms of result) - including preseason camp as well as an exhibition on June 25 against Chivas de Guadalajara in Glendale, AZ - no friendly carries the anticipation that the Barcelona match does.

"In a game like Barcelona, there are two impacts," Sporting Director Jeff Agoos said. "One is on the field, the other is off the field. Off the field with the names that they bring in and the history of that club, there is a huge impact in terms of notoriety and exposure, and it's something that's obviously very good for Red Bull and very good for MLS."

Coach Juan Carlos Osorio seconded Agoos' notion, with the understanding that the Red Bulls have a crucial league game on Sunday against D.C. United. However, Osorio is committed to striking a balance between preparing a lineup to give Barcelona a run for its money, and keeping sharp for Sunday.

"It's exciting and very challenging to prepare for a game against an opposition of such stature and magnitude," Osorio said. "Playing time, yes, that's something to consider. But I can tell you that I will try to play a very strong team. Again, I don't think that it would be fair to the fans or fair to the club to go out with a weak team and just get pummeled."

Yet, the turnaround time from friendly to league game is still a short period of time. Enter Soccer United Marketing (SUM).

"SUM is the marketing arm of Major League Soccer," Red Bulls Managing Director Erik Stover explained. "They are far and away the largest promoter of soccer in the United States. They are the organization that brought the U.S.-Argentina match to Giants Stadium. We do the backhouse operations for them. They take the lead on front-end promotions."

While the Red Bulls did little to internally bring Barcelona to Giants Stadium (that was SUM's doing), a "good working relationship," according to Stover, is what helped bring you Barcelona for the second time in three years.

The SUM-promoted event is being played in the Red Bulls venue - Giants Stadium - therefore many game day tasks will be operated by Red Bulls staff. Stover notes, however, that SUM and the Red Bulls will work together to ensure that the friendly operates as smoothly as possibly.

"Whenever we manage an event for SUM, there's a lot of interaction and discussions," Stover said. "It's networking. Because (the Red Bulls) are managing the event and we have the opportunity to market to a whole different group of people, we're making sure we're putting our best foot forward on a marketing end."

New York's market is beneficial for this event for a simple reason: cost.

"One of the things that SUM likes to do when they bring over a friendly like this is they like to play the games against MLS clubs in their market where you have a built-in fan base where you have an opponent that costs less instead of having to bring Barcelona and then having to pay another quality club like Chivas de Guadalajara or Celtic," Stover said. "It keeps the expenses down but it's also a good marketing tool for the MLS clubs. There's synergy there across the board."

In addition to cost, the product on the field is number one. SUM's dedication to raising the awareness of the League's level of play parallels the quality of teams that the marketing arm continues to contact and set up friendlies with MLS competition. SUM was involved in the negotiation process in the Red Bulls' friendly with Chivas de Guadalajara, Mexico's leading club, on June 25.

"The most important thing is that we play quality soccer," Stover said. "There is a commitment on the club end when we do these friendlies to take them seriously. When we went to play Chivas de Guadalajara in Phoenix, we went in to win and we played well (1-0 result). I think that's the first step. Fans will see that this league has elevated itself."

One goal for the club is to display a connection between progress on the field with accessibility to that same club off the field.

"The second step is to provide the best quality service and be accessible to people," Stover said. "We have fan services tables and marketing people out on the concourse interacting with fans trying to give them the opportunity to get closer to the club. There are certain obstacles we will face before we get into our new stadium, but that is not an excuse to show the die hard soccer fan what we're doing."

Stover's largest project, Red Bull Park, scheduled to open in Harrison in 2009, will seat 25,000. According to Stover, these types of events are perfect for the Red Bulls', in addition to other larger clubs', business model.

"That's not to say that at Red Bull Park, a club like Barcelona won't play because there are 25,000 seats," Stover said. "There are benefits for all involved to having a game there even though the opportunity to make more money and play at a bigger venue is there. There are clubs that are going to want to market themselves in the United States where it would make a lot of sense to play in our building against us."