The Beautiful Game - Part III
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Real Madrid Club de Futbol has to have the greatest business team in Spain. I tip my virtual hat to them.
They have the greatest soccer players in the entire world.
One third of the team is from Brasil. The head coach is from Brasil. Real has the same problem Brasil has in World Cup times: they have too many forwards. If they could, tactically, they would have 6 forwards at a time.
Real has the pretty boy of soccer: Beckham is not the greatest player, but he is well liked for some reason.
Real, has the luxury to bench Owen. Imagine, in order for him to get any playing time before the World Cup,
he had to leave La Liga.
Real finally got the skinny cyclist Robinho (Cyclist because of the "bicicleta.")
Aside from spending and amassing the talent, their marketing machine doesn't stop there. Real markets the team to a world audience. Of course, the fervor for the team on the other side of the pond is not as candent as it is in Spain: Real's players are considered demigods; When Ronaldo touches the ball, the whole stadium goes quiet, as if the Professor is about to lecture. However, we, the ones who like soccer, are Madridistas of some sort. I catch a Real game when I can, as watching Real play is really a privilege.
Real The Movie - Enough said.
Their
web site should be a model for any sport's team: they are able to market their wares and sell subscriptions for videos, interviews, pictures, etc., to anyone with a credit card. What else are they doing? Real Madrid, do you need a
Software Engineer - Or Developer, whatever you want to call it - Hablo y escribo Espanol and know how to use the "zeta." My transfer fees are a fraction (I'd say half) of what you paid for Robinho :)
With all these, you'd think that they are the Liga champions. Ironically, they are not:
Barcelona Futbol Club is.
However, a soccer team is a long term investment and Real's owners know this: they are investing in the future and as long as they have the money to keep buying the next Robinho or Ronaldo or Zidane, people will watch their games and will keep their sponsors happy. A Liga trophy, is just that, a trophy. Real Madrid runs a real business, and their wins are the profits generated for their share holders - Trophies are for bragging rights and collect dust behind fancy glassed mahogany book cases.
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