European Club Soccer -- Coming to America...

Below is an interesting little news brief that I read today:

EUROPEAN SOCCER CLUBS: FC Barcelona, Juventus FC, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain have appointed Warner Bros. Consumer Products as the clubs' Master Licensee for the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America. The deal grants Warner Bros. the rights to license, manufacture, distribute, promote and sell club-branded merchandise throughout the Americas. The licensing program will include leisure apparel and accessories, toys and games, housewares and domestics, stationery, gifts and collectible items. Financial terms were not disclosed. These items will be available in select retail stores beginning in December.

This is a smart strategic alliance, but why did this agreement not take place LAST December? Overall, I think this is a great deal for European soccer to continue to generate exposure and interest in the United States. From playing exhibition games in the U.S. over the last couple of years, the teams know that there is a lot of fan interest. I am excited to see how Warner Bros. markets the teams and their products.

Some red flags in regards to this alliance:

*As I stated before, this deal should have been made last December well before the World Cup was staged. I believe soccer fans would have purchased clothing to wear while watching the World Cup games. Now, true soccer fans would wear clothing to support their countries, but I definitely believe Warner Bros. could have made some money around the Games.

* Why are they waiting until December 2006 to get the products on the shelves? O.k., maybe to have them available for the holiday season, but even so, shouldn't products be really in the fall? Second, the World Cup will already be six months old by the time Warner Bros. starts pushing the European club teams to consumers. Are consumers still going to be that interested?

* I understand that Warner Bros. "licensing program will include leisure apparel and accessories, toys and games, housewares and domestics, stationery, gifts and collectible items." They did this to ensure no one else in the United States could create any European club soccer products. What I really hope Warner Bros. does not do is dilute the brand. There is no need to create housewares, stationary or gifts for at least a couple of years. Warner Bros. needs to ensure the club teams generate some decent traction with U.S. consumers over the next few years before creating random European club-branded products.