MLS expansion club Orlando City SC is "focused on capturing the momentum from the World Cup," and has "ramped up its marketing budget" in the past month, according to Paul Tenorio of the ORLANDO SENTINEL. The club "spent more than two-thirds" of its '13 marketing budget during the World Cup, "though club officials declined to provide an exact figure for funds spent promoting soccer." Orlando City "invested in an aggressive campaign across print, digital and radio media, as well as billboards throughout the area." The club recently "heightened those efforts, adding six additional billboards through the area -- 26 total in Orlando -- and purchasing various digital, print and radio advertisements." The club "will also launch a 'Why wait four years?' initiative to drive fan awareness" for its '15 MLS debut. Orlando City COO Brett Lashbrook said that the club "has seen significant jumps in season ticket interest during the World Cup," and that it sold "more than 5,000 season tickets" during the first week that '15 season tickets were available (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 7/14).
MIND IF WE COME ALONG? A Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL editorial states, "It would behoove area civic and sports-industry leaders to tap into soccer’s emerging popularity for our benefit." The Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne TV market “boasted the nation’s fifth-largest viewership" for Sunday’s World Cup final. Soccer fans in the area "are big city and international transplants, folks who studied abroad during college, or participants in area child, high school and college soccer leagues." They are "the sport’s foothold" in the area, and Daytona Beach "should be thinking about turning that cornerstone into commerce." A "logical first step ought to be forging a relationship" with Orlando City SC (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 7/15).
