MLS President Mark Abbott
Opening comments…
The first thing I would like to say is it’s really wonderful to be back again at this magnificent facility. It really energizes us every time we have a chance to come out here and we couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to showcase this facility and the great fans we have in Kansas City to a worldwide audience a little bit later this summer. I’d really like to thank the ownership of Sporting Kansas City. Robb Heineman, who is here today, and his partners Neal Patterson and Cliff Illig, Pat Curran and Greg Maday. Their commitment to the sport, to the team here, to our league, is unparalleled and we all owe them a debt of gratitude for what they’ve done.
It is my particular pleasure to be able to announce formally that the opponents for the MLS All-Stars this summer in the AT&T MLS All-Star Game will be AS Roma. This is the first time we have had a club from Serie A compete against the All-Stars in our All-Star Game. I can’t think of a better club to have join us here. They are one of the most successful and popular clubs in Italy. Tremendous players, some of them household names: Francesco Totti, Danielle De Rossi, and very specially for us an American midfielder Michael Bradley. Michael began his career in MLS as a young person. Obviously, is now one of the stalwarts of the U.S. National Team. And we couldn’t be more proud to welcome Michael back here July 31 for the AT&T MLS All-Star Game. That’s one of the really special dimensions we’re going to have a little bit later this summer.
About 10 years ago, we really sat down and thought about how do we make the All-Star Game unique and compelling. And we came up with the idea that our All-Stars would play against international competition. I think each year it’s made it amongst the most compelling and entertaining games of the year, and we expect this year to be no different. Not just for the fans that are able to join us here at Sporting Park be able to enjoy the game, but also our television partners: ESPN and UniMas in the United States will be broadcasting the game. In Canada, we will have TSN and RDS. And throughout the world on ESPN International and through our partnership with MP Silva, other partners in countries throughout the world will be able to watch it.
This is going to really be a showcase for us a little bit later this summer. I also want to thank Steve Hahn and AT&T. AT&T has been one of our longest strategic partners and we thankfully just renewed that partnership for a number of years. This is the fifth All-Star Game that they will be the title sponsor of. We couldn’t have asked for a better partner not just generally for the league, but for this game in particular. Steve is going to share some very exciting ideas around events that are coming in connection with the All-Star Game when we come here in July.
Our priority is to make sure that we have a great game but I work for the League and I clearly have a rooting interest in the game. And so, Peter Vermes who just walked in is going to be the coach and I was talking to him a little bit earlier, and saying ‘ Hey coach, do we have something up our sleeve, a little edge that could help us out here?’ He swore me to secrecy on what we’re going to be doing at the game. But in all fairness, in the interest of fair play, I think I should let Mark know a little bit, at least one tip he gave me. That is, Kansas City is famous for its barbecue. I think everybody knows that. And what Peter says is you should have the club and all the players – as close to game time and during halftime – just gorge on the barbecue. That’s going to be the secret. So if you could share that with your coaching staff, I think that’s going to make the game go really well for you a little bit later this summer.
On the selection process for picking an international opponent…
We have a group that focuses on international at the league office. In addition to the All-Star Game, we’re a large promoter of other exhibition games in the United States and in Canada. So we have strong relationships with clubs throughout the world. And really what we look for is what we found in Roma: a premier club that has a worldwide following and one that has a storied history. This year, we were fortunate to be able to reach an agreement with Roma. It worked out for what they were trying to do. Because we’re in discussions with all these clubs all the time in a variety of different ways, we have these strong relationships and I’m very pleased we were able to use this relationship this year for the All-Star Game.
On the first Serie A team to play the MLS All-Stars…
I think it’s very significant. As I said before, we think the format of having the All-Stars play against an international club makes this game very compelling and very entertaining. To have clubs from different leagues around the world as part of that format is significant for us. We couldn’t be more thrilled to have somebody from Serie A, especially a club as storied as AS Roma. We’re excited about that.
On importance of American ownership and American star in AS Roma selection…
Those weren’t deciding factors, but the fact that we had such a strong relationship with the club. We know the owners, we’ve known Mark a long time. I think it brings a really exciting dimension having Michael involved with the club. No one factor is a deciding factor, but those are all things that all serendipitously came together here to make this a very special event.
On the economic impact of the MLS All-Star Game in Kansas City…
You heard Steve talk about the types of things that AT&T is going to be doing here. And I think that, Steve and I had an opportunity to talk a little bit before we came up here, and their goal is to make this the biggest All-Star Game that we’ve ever had with the series of events leading up to the game and the game itself. That’s going to have us deliver more economic impact in this community than any place we’ve ever been. We really want to thank Steve and AT&T for what they’re doing with respect to that because I think it’s going to make this the benchmark for which all games will be measured in the future. I think the community is going to be very proud once they see what’s happening.
AS Roma Board Member Mark Pannes
Opening comments…
It’s a good thing I’m from Texas so that the barbecue sauce will not be in the Gatorade bottles at halftime.
Playing in the 10th edition of the All-Star Game, it’s a milestone event. It’s a tremendous honor. To be the first Serie A club to play in this event is something I’m sure we will look back on as a historic change where Serie A continued it’s internationalization. Always one of the best leagues in the world with the first foreign ownership group in Serie A. We’re thrilled to be able to bring a club as historic as Roma outside of Europe and to play in the U.S. We’re thrilled with the format. We think the format for this game is tremendous. When you can take the best players in MLS and play an elite European club, it’s highly challenging. The track record over the last several years has been in favor of MLS victories. We’re hoping to change that. To be very clear, we’re bringing our entire first squad. If they’re healthy, they’re eligible to play, we’re going to put them all on the field. We want to win, that’s the bottom line. We view this as a competitive match. And we know that the MLS views it that way as well. We think that’s a tremendous starting point for fans all over the globe. All-Star Game fans from MLS may know us from last year. We played the first half of the doubleheader for MLS All-Star night. We played in Fenway Park, sold out crowd, played Liverpool FC and defeated them. Many people have said it was the best international club friendly that was played in North America last year. It’s really a privilege for us to go from a historic, iconic venue like Fenway to here which is an iconic, state-of-the-art venue. Robb was good enough to give us a tour a little bit ago and I’ll tell you, it’s a benchmark facility and something to aspire to. As we move forward to building our own stadium, we’re going to continue a dialogue with Sporting Kansas City because Sporting Park is tremendous. Already, just walking thru the doors, I can already tell what a professional organization you guys run. I think it’s great for the sport in this country and great for the sport globally.
We have this opportunity I think to come play and show people what Roma is all about. There is a tremendous amount of passion and heritage that the club has with its fan base. We really want to show the world here on this great stage that we’re going to bring that and play as hard as we can.
All-Star events tend to be big, dynamic festivals. Steve Hahn, we’d like to thank you and AT&T because we realize that you guys are making a tremendous investment, not just for the last half decade but really stepping it up this year. And that is something that is something that we’re going to try to get our players and our fan base to embrace the multi-day festival here. We’re tremendously excited and look forward to coming at the end of July.
On increasing the brand visibility for the club in the United States…
One of the key determinations we made when we purchased AS Roma, and I’m always hesitant to say you purchase a professional club because you’re caretakers of it, this is a club that has been around since 1927. So to come in as caretakers and see the potential that the city of Rome has to export its team Roma all over the globe. You know, we have 88 million fans and one of the markets that is key to us is the United States. So the first step that we took was doing a deal with Disney Wide World of Sports so we’re the team in residence for the Disney Wide World of Sports for seven years. We bring our first team there during winter training. And we’re really investing in the U.S. We feel it’s a great market for us. The ability to be recognized by MLS as someone that has value among US fans is pretty special. This is a milestone game. This is the 10th anniversary. We’re going to look back on that and say that was fantastic. I hope we’ll be coming back at least every 10 (years) to play the All-Stars. It’s a very unique opportunity, particularly for us to be able to do this in just our second year of ownership with the club.
On the economic impact of the MLS All-Star Game in Kansas City…
Really passionate fans, really rabid fan bases. It plays back into economic impact in the long term. You’re going to have a lot of people who are going to come and experience an MLS All-Star Game in a dynamite city like Kansas City and they're going to see a great product that’s on display from the league. But the way the league has expanded and built out its fan base in such a short period of time, it’s going on two decades and that may seem like a long period of time, but again when you’re talking about leagues that are 100+ years old, to see the type of passion that these fans have and the commitment they have and the fun they get out of coming to watch these games, it’s really, really important. So the long term, the people who are going to flow through here for four or five days, the way they’re going to experience football in the U.S. is going to be amazing. That’s going to echo going forward as a multiplier economically.
Sporting Club CEO Robb Heineman
Opening comments...
This is going to be a fantastic summer for us. This is the sort of event that we always said we wanted to have at Sporting Park. To be supported by the League and by AT&T and by Roma, it’s just going to be a fantastic summer. For us, it’s going to be another of one of those things that we’re going to try to raise the bar if we can. That’s one of the things that we have tried to do here as a fan base, as an ownership group, as a team, is to take things to the next level and so now we get to try to do that with the All-Star Game. I am very confident that the way the fans will support this game and the way the city will respond will be nothing short of first class. On a personal story, this is actually really cool for me. The first international match that I saw in Europe was actually a Roma-Fiorentina game. And it was a game that was incredible and kind of captivated me to think about what a future could look like around soccer. It’s a great full circle moment for me. And on behalf of Neal and Cliff and Pat and Greg, we’re thrilled to be hosting. And we’re going to give you our pledge to do everything that we can to make this fantastic. To dovetail off of what Mark said, you’re right about the barbecue thing. In fact, we try to do that every time international teams come. I remember presenting Sir Alex a plate of ribs just prior to the 2-1 thumping we gave Manchester United a couple years ago so that will be a tradition that will continue and I’ll make sure that you get some good Oklahoma Joe’s ribs prior to the match.
On the economic impact of hosting the MLS All-Star Game in Kansas City…
I think it’s going to be a very impactful event. I think historically some of the numbers have shown that it’s usually in the neighborhood of a $15-20 million impact. And I just think that with the number of events that we’re going to have here in Kansas City, I would guess that we’ll far exceed that. Like I said, what I think has always been a fantastically done All-Star Game will be even increasingly done better here. I think we’re going to take it to the next level. That’s the approach that we have. We’re going to try engage as many Kansas Citians as we can. What’s happened here in a short amount of time is we’ve taken a bunch of very non-traditional soccer fans and made them soccer fanatics. And this gives us another opportunity to do that at a very high profile type level. That’s the approach that we’re going to take and try to engage as many people as we can. Hopefully, we can do a good job of that.
On the first Serie A club to play the MLS All-Stars…
I think it’s fantastic. Like I said, for me personally it’s great. Roma is a club that I follow a lot. I actually think they’ve got maybe the most fantastic jersey in the world. It’s a cool club and Mark’s a great guy. We’ve gotten to know each other through a couple different events and they’ve got a cool stadium project that they’re working on. So I think there’s a lot of collaboration here and I’ve got the greatest amount of respect for them. It just continues to show the great growth of our league, that we kind of have all these different milestones. I think it’s going to be fantastic for Kansas City.
AT&T Kansas President Steve Hahn
Opening comments…
On a quick personal note, Mark and I just put together that we’re both native Texans. I’ve got to say that I grew up in a small town in Texas where 99 percent of the young boys play American football while the other one percent play baseball or basketball. I grew up playing soccer and believe it or not, still play in a local men’s league. To be up here, with these gentlemen, I’m having a hard time containing my excitement. It’s a really, really cool thing that’s happening here.
What Mark and his team have done with MLS and certainly with Robb and his team here locally, it’s nothing short of phenomenal. And then to have a name like Roma here in Kansas City, it’s something that we at AT&T are tremendously proud and excited to be a part of. Obviously, this is the planet’s most popular sport. We heard about passion and heritage and history and excitement and involvement and engagement. At AT&T, that’s what we do. Our goal, we get up in the morning, our goal is to connect people to what’s important to them. And that’s where they work, where they live and where they play. Soccer fans across the globe are as passionate as any fan I think anywhere. Trying to help our customers or our fans become engaged, not just at the game but in all the experiences around it is really important to us. I think we’re really doing everything we can to knock that out of the park here around this event.
As Mark mentioned, this is our 5th consecutive year as the title sponsor and we’re committed to making this the biggest and best one yet. The most fun for fans in the region, for new fans in the community. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. One of the ways we’re going to help drive some excitement here is the AT&T More Than A Game sweepstakes. So if you don’t follow @ATT on Twitter now, do @ATT today. If not already, we’ll be tweeting news and information about the sweepstakes. The net will be a VIP trip for two here for the game and a lot of excitement and fun that will go around that.
Again, the crown jewel, the culmination is the game on Wednesday, the 31st. But activities and involvement will start the Saturday prior. A lot of that will be centered and featured around AT&T MLS All-Star at Power & Light District. I can give you a couple of peeks at what we have in store. One of which is on Tuesday, the night before the game, a free concert by a great indie rock band called Silversun Pickups in the Power & Light District. The Monday before, another great artist – brought to you by BlackBerry – whose name is, I can’t tell you but will tell you soon, we’ve got to get all those details finalized. Again, starting as early as that Saturday, lots of stuff that is in the works with player appearances and other great ways for fans to get engaged. You’ll want to pay close attention to the MLS All-Star Game section of MLSSoccer.com. As we continue to finalize those details, we’ll be putting news out about a lot of fun around that whole experience. From AT&T’s perspective, it just makes sense to further our investment in the world’s most popular game. On a personal level, I’m absolutely thrilled about it. I think it’s going to be a great time.
