(Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson doesn’t plan to mimic what he calls the “media and entertainment” business model of franchises in other leagues.
With the NFL, NBA and MLB all playing games that have a number of stoppages, many franchises in those sports have invested in third-party technologies designed to entertain fans during pauses in the action. But, says Paulson, “Soccer is a unique sport. It’s a 90-minute sport. You know that when you go to a game—win, lose, draw—it’s a two-hour [event] from when you show up at the stadium to when you’re in your car. That’s not the same as other sports that drag on and on.”
Notorious for its stoppages in play, the NFL has long sought ways to keep fans engaged. The New York Jets, for example, adopted a free-to-play game that lets fans make predictions on plays, which they launched even before sports betting was legal in New Jersey. And San Francisco 49ers president Al Guido has referred to the NFL franchise he runs as a “sports and entertainment business.”
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But MLS doesn’t seem to be trending that way anytime soon. Columbus Crew president Tim Bezbatchenko recently called soccer’s nonstop format “sacred.” And Paulson, the chief executive of MLS’s Timbers and National Women’s Soccer League’s Thorns FC, says he’d like to keep it that way.
“Even though I’m a younger owner and I consider myself to be a tech-savvy individual, that hasn’t been something that we’ve necessarily pushed as much,” says Paulson. “I do think there’s something communal and special about coming to a soccer game that’s a soccer game with a real relevancy and a good supporter section. It’s totally inherently different than going to any other sport in this country.”
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While the Timbers just finished an $85 million renovation project that added 4,000 new seats and, for the first time, arena-wide WiFi and charging stations for smartphones, Paulson doesn’t plan to adopt many other in-arena technologies that could potentially distract from the on-field entertainment.
“I don’t want people sitting there looking at their phones,” he says. “The supporters are part of the show here. The atmosphere they produce, they put on, especially the Timbers Army, is a big part of the overall Timbers experience.”
The Timbers boast one of the largest supporter sections in MLS, with 6,000 dedicated seats, banners and endless chants taunting the visiting team. Ahead of home games, fans camp outside of Providence Park to nab a good seat in the dedicated Timbers Army section. A group of loyalists even design new banners that stretch the entire lower-section for each game. Timber Joey, a member of the Timbers Army and an actual lumberjack, saws off a piece of log each time the Timbers score a goal.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber has been more forward-thinking in his vision of how technology can help grow the league, though he recognizes that supporters are a unique competitive advantage of soccer. At the league level, the FIFA video game attracts more fans than through participation in youth soccer thanks to the league’s investment in esports. Garber hopes an eventual adoption of player-tracking technology and sports betting could add additional layers of fan engagement.
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