Different consumers—and they told us this in research—consume sports content in different ways. For lots of people, it’s about going physically to a game. For lots of people, it’s about watching on TV at home. For lots of people, it is about catching highlights on YouTube or reading through content. It’s the full ecosystem of content that’s important for our fans at the end of the day, and what’s going to form that fandom is access to multichannel content. 

How does Lionel Messi affect the work of the league’s lead marketer?

What an incredible opportunity to have a star player perform on the pitch and drive massive awareness of the league. He’s one of many stars, some of whom are homegrown, some who come to the league from external leagues. We’re fortunate to have a once-in-a-generation kind of talent that is Messi. But as we think about the volume of stars and incredible players in the league, we have the opportunity to work with his spotlight.

That’s what’s so exciting leading up to the World Cup: One of the jobs of marketing, both for the clubs and the league, is, “Hey, tell us stories.” These are people who do an incredible job on the pitch, but these are whole people. And how do you tell the stories of where they come from, where they want to go, what they’ve accomplished and how they got there?

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