According to reports from MF-DowJones, the agreement, which the Raptor Accelerator investment fund has been working on for months James Pallottawould envisage a partnership for the development of initiatives related to the team and the Giallorossi fans as a whole ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando Florida. Mark Pannes, current managing director of the Giallorossi club and head of the Raptor Accelerator is working these days precisely on this agreement which could be signed in the next few hours. An agreement that, let's imagine, for example to the replacement of the recently launched “CuoreSole Village” with an inevitably more attractive for young and old fans, Disney Roma Village (the name is invented, Ed.), and perhaps to the identification in America (where soccer is the most practiced sport by young people) of some of the Roma talents of the future through the work of the Academies in which AS Roma is investing.
For fans of USA soccer the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando is a well known place. In fact, for three years already – despite the TV rights to the championship having been purchased by NBC this season – the Walt Disney World® Resort and the MLS (Major League Soccer) organize a pre-season tournament called Pro Soccer Classic for the end of February, which this year saw the victory of the Vancouver Whitecaps, who defeated compatriots Toronto FC in the final and overcame MLS runners-up Houston Dynamo, Montreal Impact, FC Dallas, Sporting Kansas City, Orlando City Soccer Club (USL Pro) and Swedes BK Hacken. But, beyond the football aspect, the agreement is a great business opportunity both for Disney (the company that owns ESPN) and for its partners, such as MLS in this case. Indeed, on the occasion of this type of tournament, a series of traditional tourist packages or for business tourism (conferences, conventions, etc.) are launched. AND we can already imagine the Giallorossi tourists/fans flying to Florida on New Year's Eve to perhaps stay close to your favorites who are preparing to return from the winter break.
The Walt Disney World Resort, inaugurated in 1971, is in fact the largest tourist area and the most visited in the world, with four theme parks, two water parks, huge areas for shopping, dining and entertainment, 21 hotels 8 golf courses and many other activities. Consider that whole Disney's Parks and Resorts division had revenues of $11,8 billion, with a 10% growth compared to 2010 and with 20% of the business of parks based in America deriving from tourists arriving from abroad. For Disney, an agreement with a single football club like the AS Roma that would certainly not be new. In fact, the relationship between the entertainment giant and Roman Abramovich's Chelsea FC dates back to July 2007. The contract between the two companies provides that Chelsea is the Official Professional Soccer Club of Disney's Wide World of Sports and sponsor of the Disney Soccer Showcase Series, the largest youth tournament in the world (over 80 participating teams between U11 and U18) which it is held every year at four different times in Orlando with the presence of at least one team from the youth sector of the team now coached by the former Lazio player Roberto Di Matteo.
Chelsea (and its branding, merchandising, etc.) also receives significant exposure at all Disney organized football events also through the presence of its players and coaches, as part of the Blues' social responsibility program called Football in the Community, which every year hosts a Disney tournament winning team at their Academy for a training period, and in the stands for a championship match. The agreement, originally four years, dates back to July 2007 (it started with the Disney Friendship Cup event, a summer friendly with the Mexicans of Club America), and should expire at the end of this season. These five years in which the visibility of the Chelsea brand – a team cfallen out of favor for thirty years before the arrival of Abramovich – has had an exponential increase in the US, making the team of the London-well one of the favorites of football fans overseas.
However, some news could arrive at the end of the season. In fact, for a long time talk about the possibility that Manchester City can become Disney's new official partner in the Premier League, thanks in particular to the role of Gary Cook, the chief executive of the City – for years at the head of the brand "Michael Jordan” of Nike working closely with the former Chicago Bulls champion of the NBA – who allegedly used all his contacts accumulated over the past years with the US multinational to launch Manchester City into the Olympus of international soccer business. And what better vehicle than Disney, the top entertainment world, to reach potential fans by a team crushed by United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea?
A parable very similar to the one started by Mark Pannes, top manager of the sport business (he was, among other things, Director of the Global Sports Group for HSBC Private Bank) and CEO of AS Roma, a team with a historic brand, however, looking for global visibility, challenging what has always been the dominance of Italian teams with striped shirts. And Pannes, together with the rest of the American group that owns the Giallorossi, has decided to start from the top. Just like Mickey Mouse says: “There is no future in the past. So let's build the future and live the present".
