Has East Asia bubble burst for clubs? (1 Viewer)

Chxta

Onye kwe, Chi ya ekwe
Nov 1, 2004
12,101
#1
Many of the biggest names in European football have been flocking to East Asia this summer, attracted by the lure of cracking a huge potential market and fan base.

Manchester United have visited China, Hong Kong and Japan. Real Madrid also played in Beijing and Tokyo, while arch rivals Barcelona are also visiting the Japanese capital and Macao.

Champions League winners Liverpool were originally due to play in Japan this summer, but will be visiting Tokyo this winter to play in the World Club Championship.

Meanwhile Everton, Manchester City and Bolton have played in a tournament in Thailand, while Spurs have been to South Korea.

And in Scotland, Celtic have admitted they partly bought Japanese player Shunsuke Nakamura for the "opportunities he will bring in terms of commercial spin-offs, especially in Japan and the Far East".

But as Manchester United and Real learned this week, there may actually be a fall in interest rather than the unlimited income they envisaged.

Stadiums have been less than full, there have been shock defeats, the local media has been critical, and local players have been resentful of the posturings of superstar players.

"The clubs have gone out there for what they see as a football gold rush, but in many cases what they have found has been fool's gold," says Professor Tom Cannon of Kingston University Business School.

Mr Cannon believes clubs have their eyes on four potential prizes: new sponsorship deals, match fees, merchandising opportunities, and overseas TV rights.

Chelsea recently signed a deal with South Korean electronics giant Sumsung, and Everton are sponsored by Chang Beer of Thailand, while Manchester United have earned at least £3m for their current tour.

At the same time the Asian authorities have promised to crack down on counterfeit football shirts.

"Clubs looked at how successful Real Madrid's tour was last year and a lot thought they would like some of the same this year, " observes Professor Cannon.

"However, frankly the majority have exaggerated their appeal in the Far East. Everton and Manchester City have a Chinese player but their appeal in the region generally is quite low, as it is for Bolton."

He said interest was "very narrowly based" in a number of clubs such as Manchester United and Real Madrid, and in Japan only for a handful of stars such as David Beckham.

However, Professor Cannon says things have not gone to plan for the big names this year, with less than 25,000 fans watching United play Beijing Hyundai, and the crowd for their game in Hong Kong was down 8,000 on their last visit.

They also lost to Japanese opposition - as did Real Madrid.

The Spanish were accused of being aloof and distant from the local supporters and media, while Beckham got into an on-field scrap with a Japanese player and has since complained of being "drained" by the tour.

"The truth is, that as players get more aware of their own economic power, they are less inclined to play the marketing game," says Professor Cannon.

"Their lack of enthusiasm shows, and this transfers itself to the local people - fans, media, players - who are starting to resent being 'support act' to these celebrities."

Hence the no-show crowds, scathing articles, and crunching tackles, which have been a wake-up call to visiting clubs tempted to go through the motions.

"I think they are realising they can no longer just parachute in, play a few practice-type games and pick up their match payments," Professor Cannon observes.

"There have to be long-term marketing strategies that are allowed to develop. Exaggerated expectations have to be dropped if clubs want to build proper bases in the region."

And Harry Philp, managing director of Hermes Sports Partners, agrees clubs need to develop a successful strategy if they want to commercial gains in the region.

"Most of the football income streams - ticket sales, TV money, competition revenues - are fairly well fixed.

"And home-based merchandising is fairly well capped now, so eyes are turning to the untapped markets of the US and Asia."

However Mr Philp believes European clubs have still to find the key to success in the Far East.

"Manchester United claims to have 23 million fans in China, yet only a tiny proportion of their turnover comes from outside Europe," he says.

"The problem is still in 'monetising' that following in Asia, how to convert that interest into revenue for the clubs. No-one seems to have found the formula just yet.

"And unfortunately in the rush to crack the Far East market we are now seeing a saturation effect."

Manchester United's chief executive David Gill remains confident, and says the club does not just "take the money and leave".

He said the tour did not lead "to the conclusion popularity in us is waning".

However, Mr Cannon says there has to be more awareness of the differences between Asian countries, and also the many cultural and social differences within a country like China.

"You cannot charge international admission prices to games," he says.

"Yes, there are some wealthy people but you still have to remember many Asian countries are still developing nations."

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L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
85,003
#3
Football in Europe can be like French wine or Puerto Rican coffee... the locals savor the best stuff, and they dump their low-quality discards overseas.

Then suddenly no one wants to import the stuff anymore.
 

Desmond

Senior Member
Jul 12, 2002
8,938
#4
What they've got to do is probably break away from the usual Japan and China tours.If they chose to visit the other countries in East Asia which have been clamouring for them ever since they started doing tours, no doubt there'd be a better reception.

In Japan and China such tours have probably become a normality for the locals; go someplace else and come back in a couple years time and soon people forget about the little things like the on-pitch Beckham spat.
 
Aug 1, 2003
17,696
#6
All Juve gotta do is visit Malaysia and they'll have all the love in the worrrrlddddd.

Desmond's right. You know what I dream of? A Malaysia - Singapore - Indonesia - Thailand tour of Juventus. That'd be grand for Juve.
 

ashwin

Junior Member
Jul 19, 2005
190
#7
i dissagree with the article, u take any product u want to promote in a completely new market, its gonna take time. they have to realize that local sports do exist, like in japan the fight sports are very very popular . south east asia ur looking at alot of competition from cricket/hockey. it'll take time to convince all these ppl that football is the most exciting sport, and more of these tours will help. u cannot expect instant results, asia isn't the richest place in the world and ppl there are not going to be throwing away the equivelant of 70 euro's for a jersey. over a period of time, im 100% convinced that asia will catch on and become a huge money spinner for football clubs.
 

ashwin

Junior Member
Jul 19, 2005
190
#8
i actually wrote an essay about this last year for my IB diploma, wanted to attach it here but its a bit big (170 KB), its 18 pages...so its quite a read, titles was "How Best Can Arsenal Football Club Market Their Merchandise in the Indian Market". i guess its relevant to this topic.
 

baggio

Senior Member
Jun 3, 2003
19,250
#9
They cant Ashwin. They simply cant market anything here, not officially at least. Although the team coming down here would help market the franchise as a whole, you cant beat the deal for the merchandise selling on the streets for something in the region of 300 rupees, you'd realise that is in fact all a fan could ask for. Walk in to a Nike store, and you have to shell out 10, yes, 10 times that amount.
 

Respaul

Senior Member
Jul 14, 2002
4,734
#10
++ [ originally posted by ashwin ] ++
i dissagree with the article, u take any product u want to promote in a completely new market, its gonna take time. they have to realize that local sports do exist, like in japan the fight sports are very very popular . south east asia ur looking at alot of competition from cricket/hockey. it'll take time to convince all these ppl that football is the most exciting sport, and more of these tours will help. u cannot expect instant results, asia isn't the richest place in the world and ppl there are not going to be throwing away the equivelant of 70 euro's for a jersey. over a period of time, im 100% convinced that asia will catch on and become a huge money spinner for football clubs.
I dont really see where your going with your talk of a new market... This article isnt about a new market. Its about this years lack of ticket sales in a market that has flocked to see european teams for the last 10 years...

European teams have been making trips for friendlies and the likes of the intercontinental cup to japan etc for over ten years, not too mention an incredibly succesful world cup... In that time the citizens of these countries have shown great passion and virtually every game could of been sold out twice over... Yet for the first time , this season no european team has played in front of a sold out stadium... whether that be juve, real madrid or manu what about the smaller clubs that have jumped on the bandwagon this term... Definately a case for saying the bubble has burst
 
OP
Chxta

Chxta

Onye kwe, Chi ya ekwe
Nov 1, 2004
12,101
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #12
    ++ [ originally posted by ashwin ] ++
    i actually wrote an essay about this last year for my IB diploma, wanted to attach it here but its a bit big (170 KB), its 18 pages...so its quite a read, titles was "How Best Can Arsenal Football Club Market Their Merchandise in the Indian Market". i guess its relevant to this topic.
    Why don't you zip it up with super compression and upload it for us to see?
     

    ashwin

    Junior Member
    Jul 19, 2005
    190
    #14
    ++ [ originally posted by Shadowfax ] ++


    I dont really see where your going with your talk of a new market... This article isnt about a new market. Its about this years lack of ticket sales in a market that has flocked to see european teams for the last 10 years...

    European teams have been making trips for friendlies and the likes of the intercontinental cup to japan etc for over ten years, not too mention an incredibly succesful world cup... In that time the citizens of these countries have shown great passion and virtually every game could of been sold out twice over... Yet for the first time , this season no european team has played in front of a sold out stadium... whether that be juve, real madrid or manu what about the smaller clubs that have jumped on the bandwagon this term... Definately a case for saying the bubble has burst
    right now teams seem to be more focussed on long term merchandising sales rather than ticket sales. and with the spread of premiership, serie a and la liga accross asia (its available quite easily now, as opposed to years back) i can understand that ppl aren't as keen to see them live.

    and as far as im aware, asia has never seen soo many clubs tour them so extensively at once.


    ermm i dunno exactly how to supercompress, i tried using winrar and i could only get it down to 160 kb. ne directions?
     

    swag

    L'autista
    Administrator
    Sep 23, 2003
    85,003
    #15
    How realistic is it for European clubs to think they can really make a financial dent anywhere else? National sporting leagues have always been a very tough export if the other nation has no representation. Sure, maybe you sell a handful of tickets in the offseason, carry some TV rights, and sell a few replica jerseys, but I can't see that amounting to all that much in the end.

    I may be a huge follower of Serie A here in the U.S. But from a marketing budget standpoint, I'm a complete anomaly ... I may as well be following a cricket league on Mars for all sports marketers could care here.

    Perhaps this is just one more example of the volume myth businesses have pursued for decades when introducing their exports to Asian markets. Billions of people, so converting just a small percentage into fans should pay off big dividends, right? But it never quite pans out that way. More likely the case is that the Asian domestic leagues are going to make the financial impact and take the public interest first and foremost.
     

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