Billy Hogan is excited about his team's summer tour, when the Reds' "significant fanbase" in the U.S. will get a close look Mo Salah and Co.Cameron Pollack/Boston Red Sox
Prior to Liverpool's clash with Tottenham on Saturday at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid in the Champions League final, Reds CCO Billy Hogan discussed the complementary relationship between the team’s commercial efforts and the on-field success the past two seasons.
"Clearly, great on-pitch performance helps the off-pitch business, and vice-versa," Hogan said.
Regardless of the outcome Saturday, Liverpool will travel stateside this summer on the heels of back-to-back banner seasons. The club has made the Champions League final in consecutive years, and only fell short of first place in the EPL this year due to a historic season by Man City.
It means this summer’s preseason tour of the U.S. comes at an opportune moment for the franchise. Liverpool will play Borussia Dortmund on July 19 at Notre Dame Stadium before meeting LaLiga side Sevilla at Fenway Park on July 21 and taking on Portuguese club Sporting at Yankee Stadium on July 24.
"It’s a really exciting time to be a part of the club," Hogan said. "Both on the pitch and off the pitch."
The Liverpool exec attributed soccer's increasing popularity in the U.S. to several factors.
"The marketing of the Premier League and the overall presentation of the Premier League, NBC does an incredible job from a production standpoint, so that’s very helpful," Hogan said. "The overall growth and popularity of gaming within football, and [EA Sports] FIFA, there’s a generation now of younger fans that have … grown up playing the game and understanding who the players are. That adds a different level of understanding and passion and interest in the game."
At this point, U.S. tours for Liverpool are nothing new. The match at Notre Dame Stadium, which has never hosted an int'l soccer match, is one of the highlights of this year's tour.
"Obviously, Notre Dame speaks for itself in terms of the games that have taken place there," Hogan said. "Our ability to be the first international match played at Notre Dame is something we're incredibly excited about. In a sense, that's a totally different way of activating in the sense of bringing the fanbase to Notre Dame and having a really unique event there."
Hogan also mentioned that the game at Yankee Stadium will be called the Western Union Cup as part of the club's deal with the financial services company.
