I even had a part in making this-

http://bit.ly/bOe6QA

While you’re there, you should buy some tickets especially for our match against the Bolton Wanderers.

Social Media Stats Update*-

As of today…

We have a higher percentage growth on Twitter than

1. Harrisburg City Islanders
2. Pittsburgh Riverhounds
3. Real Maryland FC
4. Richmond Kickers
5. Carolina Railhawks
6. Crystal Palace Baltimore
7. Miami FC
8. NSC Minnesota
9. Rochester Rhinos
10. AC St. Louis
11. Tampa Bay Rowdies
12. Colorado Rapids
13. FC Dallas
14. Philadelphia Union
15. Real Salt Lake
16. San Jose Earthquakes
17. Toronto FC

17/32 teams in the top 3 tiers of US Soccer (excluding the Eagles)

4/4 in our league, 7/12 in USSF 2 and 6/16 in MLS

And a greater percentage growth in total fans (Twitter+Facebook) than 15/32 teams.

3/4 in our league, 7/12 in USSF 2 and 5/16 in MLS

I can safely say that these numbers are more impressive if I was able to compare our marketing budgets.

*Charleston Battery is excluded 1. Because they created their Twitter just before the season started which was not consistent with the rest of the pyramid. 2. I could not find their official Facebook page.

I’ll leave you with this

http://www.sean-fournier.com/

• Social media marketing and how WPS has dominated MLS
• Viral marketing
• Some sponsorship deals
• MiLB promotions-minor league sports are all about entertainment not about sports.
• Hispanic soccer marketing
• Supporter’s Clubs
• Relationship based marketing
• Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski

I hope to be able to use all of these this summer as I intern for the Charlotte Eagles Soccer Club of USL-2.  I’ve been brainstorming a lot of promotional events that I think could really help attendance.  If you’re unfamiliar with the Charlotte Eagles, they have an amazing and unique business model.  They are owned by Missionary Athletes International which is a Christian based organization that focuses on spreading ministry in the community and abroad.  The Eagles have a great campaign called the Urban Eagles which emphasizes spreading the word of God to the communities in Charlotte through soccer.  They also coordinate mission trips to countries around the world.  Oh yeah and they are one of the best teams in USL history and are the most recent Charlotte sports team to reach and win a championship.  I am so excited to actually work this summer!

Since my last post, I was also able to meet Danny Morrison and Mick Mixon, president and announcer respectively for the Carolina Panthers.  I talked to them very briefly about sports marketing and told them about the Eagles.  I may have shamelessly slipped a resume to Mr. Morrison as well.  School has gone well and it’s hard to believe that I am halfway done with my undergraduate studies by the end of the month.

Update on the Little Feet soccer tournament I had been planning-I have decided to postpone it until the fall for a few reasons, namely scheduling conflicts with other fundraisers and I hope to use some post-World Cup buzz to increase participation.  I’ll try to work on something in the Charlotte area this summer though.

Soccer news-

• Charlie Davies is training with Sochaux again and looks poised to rejoin the USMNT after a miraculous recovery
• Salvador Cabañas is walking and taking free kicks after his own miraculous recovery.

I’ll leave y’all with this song I find inspiring-Common Market – Re-fresh

Davies is returning from a car wreck 5 months ago that literally tore his car in half.

He broke his femur, tibia, and fibula among other very serious injuries.  It’s a miracle not only that he is training already but also that he is even alive today.  Will he be able to make the US team?  I’m going to say-yes he will.  He has been working extremely hard and has plenty of motivation to make the final 23rd.  That would mean the US has Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore, and Davies playing up top as strikers.  He expects to play for Sochaux before the end of their season in mid-May.  Watch for US coach Bob Bradley to call him in to camp for a friendly, even if it’s just for training.  He showed great promise before the injury, but can he return to that form?  I can’t comment on that, but my words cannot do justice to his recovery.

Cabañas is also recovering very well after being shot in the head at point-blank range.  Doctors have yet to rule out his chances of ever playing soccer again.  That alone shows hope that he can step on the pitch again.  Once again, this is a miraculous recovery.  He was shot in the head.  The bullet is still there.  He is talking and taking his medicine on his own.  He won’t make it to the World Cup, but the fact that he is alive is yet another miracle in the soccer world.

So, Davies broke half his body and Cabañas has a bullet in his brain.

What have you complained about lately?

• Hosting my Little Feet Tournament-gotta get this thing moving.  My roommate is going to help me find sponsors for prizes.
• Hopefully going to the Charlotte Eagles vs New England Revolution match at UNCC on March 13 and going to the Eagles home opener on April 17.
• Going to England (or Spain or Italy) one day to experience this.
• Running for junior class Public Relations Senator

In other news, my roommate and I tutor at a church in Laurens, SC.  We began going every Wednesday since last semester.  I started going out of necessity; I was Philanthropy Chair of Sigma Nu, and we need tutors at 2 different locations on Wednesday.  People didn’t want to go to the one in Laurens because it’s about a 15 minute drive and lasts until 6:00, so I decided to man up and go.  Soon after Matt decided to go as well.

Most weeks we have about 2 kids show up, but sometimes we’ll have as much as 5.  Their ages range from 7 to 16, subjects from addition to linear equations, from learning how to read to writing in Spanish.  It really is a lot of fun.  After the kids finish their homework we’ll talk about sports, music, movies, or kick around a ball.  We’re trying to get more students to come by and get help.  Last semester we helped D students turn around and make A’s.

Over Christmas break, their pipes froze and burst.  It caused a good bit of damage, flooded their building, and left mold and mildew around the walls.  We knew we had to do something to help the church out, so we held a bake sale.  I had never planned a bake sale before, but I didn’t think there was much to it.  On a Tuesday, I told the fraternity we would have a bake sale on Thursday.

Most people signed up to either make something or help sell.  I had a very busy couple of days, and surprisingly, I forgot about my own bake sale until 11:50 pm the night before.  Luckily, I got into Bi-Lo just as they were about to close.  I bought 2 different types of brownie mix and went back home to do some baking.  Matt and I mixed the batter, and I began pouring it into a pan.  Mistake #1:  pan was too big.  So we decided to put the other batch (different brand and flavor) into the same pan and mix it all up.  They turned out quite nicely actually.

As soon as I got out of class at 10:50, I went to start-up the bake sale.  Within minutes I realized my next set of mistakes:

1. No table.
2. No sign.
3. Fraternity brothers don’t understand the concept of showing up  on time.

The first hour was VERY slow.  There were a couple of times when I thought about cutting and running.  Apparently my 1 minute worth of planning was not enough.  I kept calling and texting brothers who had signed up to get them out there, and after a while, reinforcements arrived.  Cinnamon rolls and cookies complemented our brownies and 2 whole apple pies.  At one point, we traded a cinnamon roll for a large bag of M&M’s which we turned around and made a profit.  With the addition of food and manpower, sales increased from nonexistent to a steady stream. It was fun and a great way to get brothers to volunteer and support the church we sponsor.  At the end of the day we had sold nearly everything.

This past Wednesday, when Matt and I went to the church, we handed a check over to the pastor.  The fraternity had a little leeway in the budget, so we were able to add a little bit to our bake sale amount.  We had told her before that we were planning on raising some money to help them out.  She was grateful just for the thought of helping them out, but the check was something really special to her and to us.  We are a group of college students who volunteer to help kids learn and who spend our time and money for the sole purpose of helping out less fortunate.  It’s a great feeling and very rewarding, much more so than buying a new video game or sitting around watching television.  We are able to use our gift of knowledge from God to help these kids learn.  In helping them learn and raising money from them, I am able to learn how to plan more effectively and improve my communication skills through teaching.

So get out there and volunteer.  Use your gifts from God to help other people.  You will benefit just as much as who you help out.  Trust me.  If you need help finding things to do please email me at justin.a.rice@gmail.com

Here’s a little bit of inspiration to last until my next post.

• Nick Vujicic-a man born without limbs who uses his struggle to encourage and inspire others. Wonderful speaker with an amazing ability to spin a seemingly negative and very depressing situation into hope for everyone else.

• The Sunscreen Song-I listen to this song at least once a week since I found it.  Very inspiring.

Enjoy

This will be the first international men’s match at Bank of America in Charlotte, but it’s hosted a couple of women’s matches.  Charlotte has a very large Hispanic population and a huge Mexican presence.  Turnout for this game will be huge if it is marketed properly and will still be impressive if not.  The Richardson family and SUM will make sure it is huge.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to make it and tweet some live updates.  It’s a Wednesday night at 8 PM and costs more than free, so it’s a tough sale for a college student who has 8 am classes everyday.  If I do go, I’ll most likely be wearing my USA hat and scarf just to make things interesting.  Tickets are on presale with a $5 discount to VISA customers.

• The Glazer family did everything that is stereotypical of the recession with Manchester United

Before the Glazers bought ManU, they were practically debt-free.  Now, they are probably going to sell some of their facilities and then lease them.  One of their biggest problems was reforming the board to have family members as directors.  I know all about preferential treatment, but this is out of control.  Liverpool hasn’t had much better luck with the Hicks family.  Earlier this month, Tom Hicks Jr resigned as director of the Reds’ board after he verbally assaulted disgruntled fans.  Liverpool is looking for sponsors to sell the naming rights of Anfield to even though its loyal supporters have voiced their displeasure.

The Premier League as a whole needs to comply with UEFA standards and eliminate their debts.  The most obvious solution to this would be a salary cap.  Arsene Wenger has voiced  his displeasure with an American style salary cap, but spending on salaries should simply be limited to less than or equal to revenues less league apportions from the previous season.  This will help curb overspending and reliance on debt.  It also will not limit the super clubs and strain the clubs recently promoted.  Parity will still be near nonexistent because of the differences between the Chelseas and Liverpools of the Premier League.

• The UEFA Champions League Final draws more viewers than the Super Bowl making it the most watched club event in the world

The World Cup is still leading overall in sports, but now UEFA has much more advertising power.  Could the Champions League Final one day be as big as the Super Bowl is today?  Sure, but I doubt that it will surpass the Super Bowl domestically.  It will be very interesting to see the numbers for this year.  After the 2006 final, World Cup final ratings were reportedly 284 million viewers.  The Super Bowl, however, only 106-162 millions viewers.  With increased popularity in the US and the trouble of traveling and staying in South Africa, could the final triple the Super Bowl?  Probably not, but probably one day.

• Togo receives ban from Africa Cup of Nations through the 2014 tournament

The African Football Confederation levied the sentence after the Togolese government withdrew the national team.  The players, including Adebayor, still wanted to compete, but were recalled.  In response, Togo is appealing the ban, and the families of the murdered players are filing suit against both the African Confederation and Angola.  The ban will probably be revoked due to the circumstances.  It was probably set out just to show the rules should not be taken lightly.  Good luck to Togo and my prayers go out to the families.

• Egypt wins 3rd straight ANC 1-0 over Ghana

Mohamed Gedo, leading scorer in the tournament, came in as a substitute and scored the winner.  I haven’t been able to watch the match or see any highlights, so I won’t comment on the play based on what someone else wrote up.  This is Egypt’s 7th title in the Cup and its 3rd straight which are both records.

In unrelated news-

• Somalian pirates have announced that they plan to donate some of their acquisitions to Haiti to support recovery

Modern day Robin Hoods?  They may do some terrible things, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t caring human beings.  They steal from corporations and hold hostages, but they redistribute the wealth to their families and actually help the economy of Somalia.  I don’t support their piracy, but given their situation, it’s a little bit of good news from a bad group of people.

• MLS and the Player’s Union has extended the deadline for a new CBA

Both sides need to come together before they ruin all of the progress of MLS.  Teams cannot afford to not operate for a year and lose fans.  Hockey still hasn’t regained its status pre-strike and baseball had some additional help to bring back its popularity.  Soccer hasn’t quite reached the popularity these sports had before their respective strikes.  The players won’t have enough places to go to support all of them.

• Mario Balotelli helps Inter knock Juventus out of the Italian Cup

Super Mario is a great player for Inter, but has yet to make it to the Italian Senior team.  His parents were from Ghana and had he chosen to play for them, he would definitely be playing in the Africa Cup of Nations right now.  Freddy Adu also famously chose not to play for Ghana.  Balotelli is the most acclaimed of these players currently, but both are very skillful and young.  Both players will have huge impacts in the 2014 World Cup.

• LA Sol folds after the inaugural WPS season
• Bolton signs prospect Jack Wilshere on loan from Arsenal.  He will compete against Holden for playing time.

• Donovan scored his first goal for Everton

• ESPN posted their schedule for the World Cup

• World Cup tickets aren’t selling well.

It costs upwards of $7000 to spend one week in South Africa during the World Cup. That is ridiculously high and had been criticized by former World Cup hosts.

Europe has been selected as the host continent for WC2018. This leaves USA in the running for 2022. By this time, MLS will have most likely have stabilized and reached its max number of teams. Hopefully D2 will be all sorted out. I don’t see there being many SSS large enough to host a WC match. Seattle may be the only one. Recently, they capped their number of season ticket packages to 32,000. That’s twice the average attendance for MLS and 10,000 more than the Galaxy’s average attendance. Drew Carey and the rest of the Sounders ownership has done an amazing job of marketing in Seattle. I’m going to start studying all about the Sounders to see how to market an expansion team.

I’ll post some international news tomorrow hopefully.

• Salvador Cabañas of Club America and Paraguay was shot in the head while at a bar in Mexico City. Some sources say it was an assault (robbery). He was conscious on the trip to the hospital, but I haven’t heard any news from after this morning
  

And now some great news for US Soccer fans-

• Charlie Davies is recovering excellently and should be playing in April.  Big question is if he can get back to his Confederations Cup form in time for South Africa

This is a great story in the making. Davies has worked tirelessly to get back on the field and you can tell how much he loves the game. Best wishes to both of these national stars. Davies can still make an impact in the World Cup, but hopefully Cabañas will be able to play again.

• School started on the 6th and this is my hardest/best semester yet.  Nearly all my Gen Eds are out of my way.  I’m taking 4 business classes and 1 Spanish class which leads me to…
• Relearning Spanish.  I’m taking a composition and conversation class.  This is my first Spanish class since spring 2007.
• Planning fundraisers
  • PC Cup (subject to change)-a new annual soccer tournament I’m hosting with Student Volunteer Services and its International Missions department to raise funds for Little Feet Foundation and give some soccer balls to kids in the community.
  • Bake sale for Jerusalem Antioch-a church I tutor at had their pipes freeze over break and flooded the building we tutor in. Sigma Nu is putting this one on since we sponsor this church.
  • Donuts for Diplomas is coming up soon on a CEP Tuesday. Hopefully I can talk to Krispy Kreme and see if they can just deliver our batch to Bi-Lo so we won’t have to drive a roundtrip of 1:30 to pick up the donuts.

• Trying to learn new Treasurer stuff and dealing with fraternity operations. Last week we had 4 meetings in 4 days…could have just been 2.  As of now I have 3 officer positions.
• This past Sunday I was baptized at NewSpring Church in Anderson.  Had an awesome day and was able to spend time with my family who drove a few hours to see it.  Can’t wait for the 10th anniversary at the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville this Sunday.
• Bought a new (to me) guitar at an antique store on MLK day.  I know  a good bit about guitars, but I don’t know what brand this is.

• I think it’s some Tiesco del Rey.  Comment if you happen to know.  The only markings say “Made in Japan.”

That’s a quick recap of what I’ve been up to instead of updating this blog.  Tonight marks the opening of our intramural indoor soccer season, so I’m in a big soccer mood.  I’ll update with soccer news after I tutor tonight.

One last thing-

Clint Dempsey doesn’t need surgery for his injured PCL and should be in form for WC2010!

• Adu may be headed to Aris Thessaloniki to play with EJ

• Portsmouth fails to pay its employees on time
  • Half-a-year old article but shows Portsmouth’s debt was £57.7 mil.
  • Petition to kick Portsmouth out of Premier League

• Chelsea making offer to Ribery

• Chelsea also making potentially largest bid in British history for Villa which would make him highest player in EPL

• Everton suspends Jo and his agent hints at return to CSKA Moscow

• Stuart Holden is going on trial with Burnley. Best of luck to him in preparing for WC2010

• Fox Soccer begins broadcasting in HD and fights with Time Warner over subscription fees
  • UPDATE:TWC and Fox reach deal

• Fernando Torres headed to AC Milan?

Torres will not stay at Liverpool. Liverpool will be active in the transfer window, as will everyone else (especially Man City), but I doubt they can make enough moves to qualify them for the Champions League. AC Milan has an abundance of elite strikers though. I don’t see them keeping all their current strikers and still getting Torres, but he could play well in Serie A. Milan could get big money for Pato if they choose to sell him, but I don’t see that happening.

Holden’s had a good bit of news surrounding him lately, from a young guy making next to nothing to a national team stud with offers to play for multiple teams overseas. His kept busy this off-season from hosting a charity bowling event and repping the USMNT on Good Morning America today. I fully expect Stuart Holden to be a big contributor to Burnley or wherever he ends up.