The many rewards of the Dream Together Master’s program are the advantages of gaining first hand information from not just academics like professors, but professionals who have succeeded in making a difference and also hold influence in their field.
These “Special Lectures” as termed by DTM have ranged from Korean Sport History and Korean Traditional Archery by Seoul National University Physical Education Professor Young-il Na to world leader and former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, to mention a few.
The latest in the flurry of names to be part of shaping the minds of the next generation sports administrators was Major League Soccer Vice President in Strategy & Analytics Charlie Shin in a lecture titled “MLS, 25 Years in the Making.” This lecture was designed and presented to further enhance the knowledge of the DTM 7th and 8th batch students on the overall journey of the Major League Soccer towards breaking into the public consumption consideration as part of the major sport events in the American sport system.
In his role in overseeing the enterprise’s data strategy, customer relationship management initiatives, and development of league-wide marketing technology infrastructure, Mr. Charlie Shin took the class through the challenges and triumphs of the MLS and the possibility of its application in their various countries.
The MLS has positioned itself, according to Mr. Shin, to be the league of the new North America with enterprises like eMLS, taking steps towards eSports in the US as new innovation from the league. It also boosts of diversity with 56 percent of its players born abroad with a fan base from 150 countries. The MLS has mastered an integration of sports and culture which spans over music, fashion, and other cultural relevance.
While the MLS continues to strive for relevancy in a complex US sport system which has created its own style and structure unlike those in Europe and other parts of the world, the MLS is structured such that the league owns all the clubs as the clubs and its owners have shares in the MLS, creating a mutually beneficial interest for both the league and the clubs. An example would be its functional regulation of players purchase and salary cap.
Queried on the viability of true competition as the MLS is owned and operated jointly by the team owners, Mr. Shin said, “The MLS is a business we are rivals on the pitch and partners off it. The aim is to build a league that can be both competitive and sustainable.”
On the MLS’s work towards engaging and attracting interest from the younger generation of Americans in competition with other sports like football and basketball, Dr. Shin said, “We have engaged a unique cross-platform distribution of the MLS Media. This is a custom-crafted distribution strategy and high-impact media placed to deliver and engage MLS’s millennial multicultural fans.”
This he explained as first MLSsoccer.com as a designated home and destination viewing for full-length content with 2.3 average unique monthly multi-platform users; secondly, the MLS operates various social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to entice it’s over 8.5 million followers across all platforms through teasers that drives engagement and sharing. Third, the contents (which are games and highlights) distributed to traditional media operations in the US, North and South America, and some parts of Europe, utilizes the scale of its key media partners such as Fox Sports, ESPN, Copa90, Univision Deportes, and etc. This they believe will guarantee scale and success in attracting the younger generation of sport fans.
The MLS is currently worth $313 million and has set its futuristic structure as one that the league by 2022 will operate with 30 clubs, with an estimated $2 billion invested in stadia.
In winning the 2020 Sports Business Awards for the league of the year, the MLS in 25 years has built a model of a league worth emulating.
This lecture in accordance with the COVID19 pandemic restrictions was held online on October 6, 2020.
(contribution by Chidiebere Ezeani)
