New Arsenal CEO Ivan Gazidis was born in South Africa and raised in England, but make no mistake about it - he’s as American as a businessman gets. He earned his bones in New York, first at a prestigious law firm and then as the longtime number two at Major League Soccer.

He’s also as intellectual a soccer man -- or, I suppose I should say now, football man -- as you’ll ever meet. He knows the beautiful game from top to bottom, equally comfortable discussing marketing plans and the advantages of the 4-4-2 formation as he is in a face-to-face meeting with MLS superfans. Just four days ago in Los Angeles, he sat down with the leaders of many of the MLS supporters’ groups and casually discussed everything from refereeing decisions to discount ticketing for children. His knowledge of the business and his ability to connect with people was impressive.

Presumably, as CEO of Arsenal, Gazidis won’t have to deal with the hoi polloi on a regular basis. (He declined to comment for this article.) But if there’s one thing he’s learned in his time in the trenches with MLS, it is the necessity of thinking outside the box, thinking big, and thinking about a team’s brand.

Sad or bizarre as it may be for a longtime supporter to hear it, Arsenal is no longer merely a big football club in North London. It is a brand. A global brand. In fact, I’ll bet, by sheer numbers, there are more Arsenal fans living in the United States than there are living in North London.

The branding of sports is still a relatively new phenomenon in Europe, but it’s always been thus in the U.S. As any American MBA can easily explain, brands are the future. And in today’s globalized soccer market, they have become integrally linked to the competitiveness of a team.

“When I talk about branding, I’m referring to the fact that in order for our club to be competitive, it’s got to have more financial resources,” AS Monaco president Jerome de Bontin told me last month. “And one way to achieve that is by making sure that the name and brand is better recognized worldwide so that when children in Korea want to buy a jersey they will be as attracted to a Monaco one as a Man. United one.”

De Bontin was born in France, but attended Amherst College in Massachusetts and enjoyed a successful career in finance in Chicago before joining Monaco’s board in 2001. Earlier this year, he was named president of the club and he immediately went about, as he says, “Americanizing” the club. This included thinking about the team’s roster as part of the brand. Working with coach Ricardo Gomes, he acquired American midfielder Freddy Adu, and Korean striker Park Chu-Young. These decisions were clearly meant to sell jerseys in Korea and the United States, but there was also a strategic-development reason for it all.

“Now, when in the United States, some players are considering their professional careers they will consider Monaco as a club, something they may not have done in the past,” he said.

The Ownership Society

De Bontin and Gazidis, of course, can probably thank Malcolm Glazer for the acclaim they are now receiving. Although there were some smaller movements in the 1990s, the real Americanization of European football began with Glazer’s takeover of Manchester United in June 2005.

Remember all the handwringing that went on at that time, about how the American interlopers were going to ruin the club and how they didn’t know football? Well, three-and-a-half years later, the Glazer-owned Red Devils have won two Premier League titles and one Champions League trophy. Not a bad haul for a bunch of guys who call the game soccer.

Next came the purchase of Aston Villa by American Randy Lerner in 2006. Since then, the club has gone from a perennial mid-tabler to a top-four challenger. By all accounts, Lerner cares about the Villans a lot more than he does his other football team, the NFL’s Cleveland Browns.

What about Liverpool? The team are famously—or infamously, perhaps—owned by Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who bought the club in 2007. There have been many hiccups over this deal, and the fans have called for Hicks and Gillett to sell, often blaming the “Americans” for the club’s failures. Then the owners sparred with manager Rafael Benitez in an unexpectedly public manner.

But then again, under Hicks and Gillett, the Reds have reached a Champions League final, acquired the likes of Fernando Torres and Robbie Keane, and are currently tied on points with Chelsea at the top of the EPL. Just this week, they secured a berth in the knockout stage of this year’s Champions League. Not surprising, then, that many of the protestations have gone silent. (Though the current credit crunch has reportedly, well, crunched Hicks and Gillett.)

Most recently, an American named Ellis Short, co-founder of the Dallas, Texas-based business equity group Lone Star Funds, obtained a controlling interest in Sunderland FC.

Beyond the Premier League

There are others in the lower divisions. Americans dominate the executive board of Derby County FC, which was purchased by US-based General Sports and Entertainment last January (alas, too late to turn around their dismal season in the EPL). Same goes for League One side Millwall FC, which is majority owned by Chestnut Hill Ventures, based in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts.

In Italy, an American named Jeff Slack worked as CEO of FC Internazionale Group, before leaving to become a top exec at the Wasserman Media Group in London. Basically, he ran Inter Milan’s business arm, spearheading an incredible period of growth, including a 300% expansion in sponsorship.

American overtures have not always worked. A Ukrainian-American Dmitri Pieterman has tried to take over two different Spanish clubs, Racing and Alaves, and has essentially been run out of town both times.

But for the most part, these American—and/or Americanized—executives have had a positive effect on the clubs they’ve joined. That’s hardly unexpected considering how prosperous the various US sports have been recently. Even MLS is in good form these days.

And the way Arsenal have been playing in the Premier League these days, they could use a little good form in their ranks.

Greg Lalas is Site Director for Goal.com USA
source[goal.com]