FC Barcelona to tour the US according to agreement with MLS

According to this article on the Sports Illustrated website, La Liga's FC Barcelona, recently coming out of Champions League semifinal loss against Manchester United, has made arrangements to tour the United States later this year as part of a "five year agreement with Major League Soccer signed Thursday that will have the two-time European champion play six games in America over the next half decade."

The last time Barca was in the United States was two years ago when they played against the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium in a friendly match in front of a sell out crowd of 70,002--which proves that when big star players come from other countries, Americans will watch (although a good portion of the people in attendance were either Hispanic, from Spain, or Brazilians who wanted to cheer on their own Ronaldhino who played for Barca at the time. Barcelona destroyed the Red Bulls 4-1. The attendance almost broke the record had there been three more tickets sold. Not even David Beckham drew this many people last summer. The one match that currently holds the #1 in attendance was a match between English Premier League's Manchester United and Italy Serie A's Juventus which took place in June 2003.

No dates were decided yet for Barcelona's 2008 matches in the United States. However, officials from Soccer United Marketing (the marketing arm of MLS) and FC Barcelona have stated that the contract will also include "the U.S. soccer league negotiating the club's sponsorship rights and handling the public relations and marketing in the United States." The dates of these matches will depend on UEFA's schedule for qualifying for the 2008-2009 Champion's League since Barcelona's recent bad season had forced them to have to go through qualification instead of getting a free ride to the group stage.

According to FC Barcelona vice chairman Soriano, the Spanish club wants a "global brand" and has admitted that the only way to reach this goal is to have a "permanent presence" in the United States. He also added: "maybe that permanent presence will mean a team here someday."

The idea of MLS clubs being owned by other clubs abroad is "not unprecedented: according to the Sports Illustrated. In addition to the Los Angeles-based Chivas USA (owned by Mexico's Chivas de Guadalajara) which mentioned in the article, one that comes to my mind is the New York Red Bulls (The Austrian Red Bulls Energy Drink Company which also owns the Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg purchased the New York/New Jersey Metrostars about two years ago).

According to Barcelona's marketing research, the La Liga club has 50 million fans in Europe and 10 million in the United States. Because of this, Soriano wants to bring the club to them as well as form a new club that these fans could root for full time. This is the best time for Barcelona's management to from a club MLS since MLS is now working on expanding their league and currently has a goal of 18 clubs by 2010. They currently have 14 clubs after Toronto FC inaugural season in 2007 and the re-formation of the San Jose Earthquakes this season.

Barcelona's 2008 tour will be their third visit to the United States in six years. Their first visit was for the Champions World Series in which they played against Italy's Juventus and AC Milan (current holder of the Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup Title) as well as England's Manchester United.

In 2006, Barca played Mexico's two biggest clubs (Chivas de Guadalajara and Club America) in addition to the New York Red Bulls.

Soccer United Marketing (SUM) had also made amendments to deals with the US Soccer Federation, the Mexican Soccer Federation, and the regional soccer governing body of CONCACAF (which takes care of member nations in North and Central America as well as the Caribbean) as well as changes to new competitions such as the North American Superliga (a short tournament that started last season and includes 4 of the best clubs in MLS and 4 of the best clubs in the Mexican League) and the Pan Pacific Championship (a competition that took place in Hawaii this past February).

German Bundesliga club Borussia Moenchengladbachhas also agreed to tour the United States later this year and has already planned matches against FC Dallas and Colorado in July. However, Barca is the only European club that has signed a formal agreement with MLS and SUM.

All of this is part of a larger campaign in which MLS and American Soccer in general is trying to gain more respect from the soccer world. Barcelona may also form schools and camps in the United States. Soriano has already announced that three camps will be opened in the United States this year--the goal of which will be to develop a network of soccer school in US.

For more information regarding the recent additions to the pact with FC Barcelona, check out this official MLS press release.