Swansea City will face two United Soccer League clubs in preparation for the new Premier League season this summer. The Welsh side will play against the Charlotte Independence on July 13 before taking on the Richmond Kickers three days later. The 11-day U.S. preseason tour will be Swansea City’s third appearance in the U.S. The team, which
confirmed its takeover by U.S. investors Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan on Sunday, previously toured the country in ’12 and ’15. The primary purpose of the trip is to prepare head coach Francesco Guidolin's players for the upcoming season, with commercial ambitions playing only a secondary role, Swansea City Head of Media Jonathan Wilsher told SBD Global. “It’s about finding the right mix,” he said. “Some Premier League clubs will go abroad and concentrate solely on commercial and not doing a lot of football. We are trying to get the balance right, where it’s a mix of football and commercial.” Wilsher declined to comment on whether the club’s new ownership influenced the decision to return to the U.S. this year as the takeover has not yet been ratified by the EPL. But Charlotte Independence GM Tom Engstrom is certain there would be no game in Charlotte, N.C., without Swansea City’s new U.S. owners. Levien and Kaplan are both involved in professional U.S. sports franchises. Levien is the managing general partner of Major League Soccer side DC United, while Kaplan is the exec vice-chairman of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies. “Frankly, if the owners were from Portland or something like that, they probably won’t fly down to Charlotte,” Engstrom said. “They probably would have another game on the west coast. It certainly plays a role, although, as you see, there are generally a lot of EPL teams coming to the States whether they have a U.S. ownership or not.” Swansea City's summer preseason tour was organized by Pro Soccer Consulting, which also arranged the team's previous two tours to the U.S.
FINALIZING THE DETAILS: The Charlotte matchup was only finalized within the last three weeks, Engstrom said, and both sides are still working on the final details surrounding the match at the 4,700-seat Ramblewood Stadium. The Charlotte-based USL franchise expects to benefit from the game’s exposure more so than from gate revenue due to the stadium’s limited seating capacity, which makes the finances “a little tricky,” Engstrom admitted. The Charlotte Independence, however, plan to host at least one top int’l football club per year going forward. The club explored the possibility of bringing in a Mexican team before the opportunity with Swansea City presented itself, Engstrom recalled. The U.S.’s growing interest in int’l football is also a draw for Swansea City’s partners and sponsors, Wilsher added. NBC Sports’ coverage of the EPL drew record figures this past season as an average of 514,000 viewers watched the games, up 7% from the year before. The Charlotte Independence are trying to cash in on this popularity, with one official game sponsor already committed and another one on the horizon, Engstrom said. He declined to give further details. Engstrom also did not want to talk about how the game’s revenue will be shared between the two clubs, only saying, “They [Swansea City] are not going to walk out and sleep on the street.” Tickets for the Charlotte game will go on sale on Friday.
 |
