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Champions Cup prospers in a soccer-rich summer

Despite going up against two major international tournaments this summer, the International Champions Cup had perhaps its most successful edition yet.

“We felt that for the first time, there was a real tipping point in our tournament and how people perceive it,” said Charlie Stillitano, co-founder and chairman of Relevent Sports, which operates the tournament that began in 2013. “From a commercial perspective as well, I think people are really adopting the ICC.”

Liverpool beat FC Barcelona 4-0 before almost 90,000 at London’s Wembley Stadium.
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The tournament’s 15 matches across the U.S. and Europe averaged 53,125 fans, up more than 39 percent from the previous year’s 38,090 average for 17 matches across North America and Europe.

Beyond the ICC, Relevent also helped arrange friendly matches for other European clubs, such as AS Roma.
Stillitano said it found that attendance for those matches, despite featuring similar levels of talent, was 30 percent to 40 percent lower than ICC-branded matches.

“When ICC matches were talked about or written about, it wasn’t just a friendly match. It was the ICC tournament,” he said.

While he was happy with the overall attendance figures, Stillitano said that in certain markets, such as the San Francisco Bay Area, the ticket market was softer than expected because of area Copa America matches.

Viewership increased for the tournament as a result of new broadcast partner ESPN, which acquired the rights in a three-year deal and teased matches during its coverage of Euro 2016. Stillitano said viewership was up 127 percent over numbers it saw with its previous broadcast partner Fox Sports.

Moving five matches to Europe as well as striking additional deals abroad led to record viewing there. Stillitano noted that the Real Madrid-Chelsea match at Michigan Stadium was one of the highest-rated matches in Spain this summer, even with the Euro tournament. The ICC had more than 60 individual TV deals for the 2016 tournament, broadcasting to 170 countries across the world. Overall, revenue from global media rights deals was up 40 percent year over year.

Stillitano said those levels of increased media consumption, including record numbers across digital platforms, will aid in the push for more lucrative, multiyear sponsorship deals.

The ICC has multiyear deals signed with Heineken, Indeed and McDonald’s, and Stillitano said he expects that will likely be the norm for all of its deals. He also noted that companies had sponsorship dollars tied up in Copa America, Euro and the Olympics and that he expects more interest to flow the ICC’s way next year.

Relevent is looking into bringing back a culminating final match, shelved in recent years because of travel logistics and the remodeling of Hard Rock Stadium, which had previously hosted the final. Real Madrid has already signed on with Relevent to play a match at the stadium next year.

The company is also considering bringing together the winners of its U.S./Europe, Australia and China tournaments for an additional final tournament in the spring, potentially at the Miami stadium as well. However, that addition may not be made for the 2017 tournament.

The ICC expected to generate more than $150 million in revenue from this year’s tournaments, according to a source. Stillitano declined to speak to specific revenue numbers.

Perhaps the one lowlight for Relevent this year came in China, where a highly anticipated match between Manchester United and Manchester City in Beijing had to be canceled because of bad field conditions after extreme weather. The cancellation garnered global press attention, much of it negative. The ICC had an insurance policy in place, Stillitano said, but he declined to comment further.

It also came at a time when Relevent Sports has had discussions regarding selling a minority stake in the company to Chinese investors, valuing the company at more than $500 million. Stillitano said discussions continue.

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