On the USL's perception fight

What signing scoops, Super League sanctioning, and media deals say about the United Soccer League

To compete in the entertainment industry is to vie for attention in the most crowded market imaginable. Soccer clubs, blockbuster movies, and the magazines in a checkout line are all trying to win your limited time and resources in one way or another. The USL, across its various leagues, is no different, and it knows that perception is everything in attracting attention. Each of the USL’s decisions this winter aimed to improve its perception and avoid the “minor league” moniker that can prove fatal in the attention economy.

The distinction between “minor league” and “major league” may seem trivial and frivolous, but it’s one that provokes material differences in support and attention. Per a 2016 paper from Christan David Hanna at the University of Louisville that looked at the “media deficit” suffered by Minor League Baseball compared to its big brother:

If consumers perceive Minor League Baseball teams as less popular or inferior in terms of their social image, then this could have a negative impact on consumer acceptance of these brands.

The paper went on to prove those hypotheses. Surveyed sports fans were 35% more confident in declaring that major league fandom fit their social image versus minor league fandom. They were 27% more confident that major league teams were well-regarded by their friends and peers.

“Brand equity” describes how marketing and perception make a product (e.g., soccer games) more attractive. In the study, traits associated with brand equity rated as the most important factors for the social image and self-worth of sports fans, ahead of venue, history, or city culture. Connecting with organizations that are perceived as high-level and professional is important for supporters. “Major league” branding is part and parcel with that perception.

This trend of first-division prioritization bears out in England amongst promoted in relegated clubs. Looking at data from yo-yo teams between the 2018/2019 campaign and the current season, there’s an average of an 11% increase in attendance for teams moving to the Premier League, and there’s a corresponding drop for those banished to the Championship.

It’s a fact that a minor-league perception has a deleterious impact on sports teams. In many ways, it’s a meaningless and inaccurate descriptor; nothing about the fully professional USL is “minor” in any sense. With that said, how has the USL tried to combat such a label across its competitions?

Even at a club level, there’s an acute awareness of how media attention and serious, respectful coverage can cultivate a level of importance in the minds of potential supporters. If you behave like a “major league” entity that merits thoughtful coverage, you can build much-needed brand equity.

The Las Vegas Lights have been a case study in this philosophy since being purchased by Jose Bautista. Once a relative laughing-stock thanks to llama mascots, halftime wrestling, pool seating, and more, the Lights have tried to cultivate an air of seriousness and normalcy ahead of 2024 in order to repair connections with a turned-off fanbase. Media engagement is paramount to their strategy.

When Tom Bogert reports about Las Vegas signing a college kid or adding a full back who may not even start, that has significance. I would gamble that Bogert - who’s amazing and isn’t under fire here - didn’t watch a USL Championship regular season match last season. He’s an MLS news breaker, and he makes hay by covering that league. Thus, when he has a USL scoop, it means that someone is leaking to his with a specific end in mind.

For a Las Vegas Lights organization that’s been in the gutter for half a decade, Bogert is an easy source of legitimacy. American soccer fans know Bogert and assume that a story he breaks means something. By anssociating with that perception of high-level professionalism and newsworthiness, the Lights can share in it.

The simmering conflict over the US Open Cup is a lot of things to a lot of people, but in some ways it’s a battle over the legitimacy (and revenue…) that playing against Major League Soccer teams brings. USL Championship clubs that hosted MLS opposition in the most recent Open Cup saw a 31% jump in attendances as compared to their in-league averages. That isn’t just the magic of the cup.

When the USL puts its product next to that of MLS, it draws more eyeballs and builds the USL’s brand equity. The average consumer of sports entertainment, informed or not, lumps Major League Soccer in with established leagues like the NHL or NBA. You can quibble with MLS’ perception relative to the European game, but it still earns respect in soccer communities in North America, especially by contrast to lower-tier alternatives like the USL.

The Open Cup is the most direct way to convey to consumers that the entertainment experience provided by the USL isn’t far off from the perceived quality of MLS. Yes, the leagues are competing in different cities for the most parts, but riding on the coattails of Beckham- and Messi-powered legitimacy is an undeniable way to get your foot in the door.

Bridging that perception gap and elevating its brand equity is a crucial question for the USL on the men’s side, and it has informed the strategy of the nascent USL Super League in its pursuit of Division 1 sanctioning from the USSF.

Set to launch with eight markets, the Super League and its president - Amanda Vandervort - innately understood the need to establish the upstart as a first-rate product. Vandervoort worked in MLS’ fan engagement and media departments before delving into the women’s game; she has a deep understanding of the major-minor distinction in the hearts and minds of supporters.

Division 1 sanctioning and the establishment of clubs in the New York and Washington, D.C. metro areas can be seen as a shot across the bow of the NWSL, and there will surely be competition for talent on and off the pitch. Still, receiving a top-level designation from the federation is more useful as a branding tool and a signal of ambition than as a weapon in a putative soccer war. The same can be said of the New York and D.C. efforts, which give the Super League inroads into two markets that dominate American media.

There’s plenty of work for the Super League to do ahead of its August kick-off, and a TV deal is high on the list of priorities. The NWSL just inked a four-year, $240 million contract with CBS, ESPN, and Amazon that’ll begin this season, for comparison’s sake. That deal will dwarf whatever the Super League ends up with in its maiden voyage, but it’s a shining example of how an entity can use media partners to grow a brand and attain legitimacy.

Indeed, getting on to the CBS airwaves is a holy grail for any upstart sports league. 123.7 million people just watch Taylor Swift in a viewing box the Super Bowl on the network. It’s the house that Walter Cronkite built! The USL Championship and USL League One will be there in 2024; more than 100 matches will air across CBS networks, including five games that’ll be shown on the over-the-air behemoth itself.

When I spoke with Court Jeske, the USL’s Chief Commercial Officer, for Backheeled, he noted that “much of the marketplace is moving away from large-platform broadcasts to exclusivity on streaming services behind paywalls” and expressed a preference for “going with a zig while the marketplace is going for a zag.” It’s a simple approach: maximize attention, and do it with a partner like CBS that has built-in brand equity.

Overcoming the bias against lower-league sports, telling stories to audiences, and building brand equity aren’t easy tasks. Entertainment and soccer are both complex areas laden with moneyed competitors that will make the USL’s uphill battle that much harder. Still, the pursuit of major-league perception is an important lens into the USL’s operations, its decision-making, and the steps it may take to grow the game with in the near future.