Photo: Paul Rudderow
Editor’s note: Beginning this week, the PSP news roundup will publish Monday / Wednesday / Friday through the start of Union preseason in January.
Philadelphia Union
The club announced a four-year extension for the kit sponsorship deal with Bimbo Bakeries, including the news that the secondary kit will have a different Bimbo brand next year.
Mark McKenzie is number 16 on MLS’ 22 Under 22 list.
ICYMI: Matt DeGeorge‘s article on the Union’s off-season.
Apparently, the Union bid on Fredrik Ulvestad, a 27-year-old Norwegian midfielder, but he declined or “nobbat it.”
Local
Harrisburg Heat midfielder Dom Francis made MASL’s team of the week.
Penn State’s Aaron Molloy, a senior midfielder, has been named one of 15 semifinalists for the Hermann Trophy.
MLS
NYCFC posted about a 16-year-old Philadelphian and the Our Play, Our Voice project.
RSL dropped the interim tag for its head coach and general manager.
Whitecaps coach Marc Dos Santos fined for calling MLS a “Mickey Mouse” league.
College coaches weary of recruiting at MLS academies as more young players go pro.
“[#MLS business model] is a little bit Ponzi scheme-ish in the sense that it’s waiting for the next guy to buy in so we can get a pay day, because most of the teams don’t make money on a year-to-year basis."https://t.co/P3Lxdag92a
— World Soccer Talk (@worldsoccertalk) December 3, 2019
Around the globe
The European Championship is returning to U.S. network television for the first time since 2008.
Premier League managers brace for a hectic December.
After Bury Football Club, in England, was shuttered on the eve of this season, five employees chose to persevere without pay.
Bordeaux fans delayed a match for 27 minutes in protest of American-led ownership.
The Labour Party have promised football fans a say over their club’s choice of manager.
Highlight of the day
https://twitter.com/ElParceroPhilly/status/1201717422245470208?s=20
You know what will be worse than the Bimbo logo on the front of the jersey? A secondary Bimbo brand. Those Artesano kits were atrocious. If given the choice between Bimbo or Sarah Lee, Thomas’ or Arnold, I’d take Bimbo. Entenmann’s might not be terrible. I was really hoping we’d get an upgrade in that department. Oh well. I guess it’s better than same off shore gambling outfit.
The fact they were flexible last season and allowed the single color logos was a HUGE improvement in my opinion. Certainly way better than some “multi-level marketing” sponsor like multiple clubs in the league.
at this point i’d totally take a bet69.com accompanied by simplified chinese characters that another 4 years of bimbo. aside from the retro logo open Cup warmup, i haven’t bought another bimbo-branded piece.
Betting logos are just as bad.
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I still rock my 2010 jersey.
I can’t necessarily disagree with the “Ponzi-scheme” take per se, but to me it’s more about *why* teams aren’t making money – if it’s because they’re investing heavily in youth academies and player development that’s fine. If it’s because they’re spending more money on better players to increase the quality of play, that’s fine. Besides increasing revenue from apparel or viewership so the league can make more tv money, a team like Atlanta with a very wealthy owner and drawing 70,000 people to a game should be making more than the Union, right?
overhead cost of new-car-smell mercedes-benz vs unpaved parking lots in chester… one of these teams is spending a lot of money but are either making money? like you said, likely investing in players and the infrastructure.
I’ll take Artesano any day of the week over a derogatory expression for a female. That’s why my wife and female kids have almost no gear – what woman wants to wear that title across their chest?
Someone in the marketing department at Bimbo must never have read the case study on why Nova was not a good model for Chevrolet to market in the Spanish community – el coche no va.
Evidently you never read that the nova story isn’t true.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanish/
Guess I’ll have to wait another 4 years to buy a jersey… haven’t bought one since 2010 due to the stupid Bimbo logo…
I still have my original 2010 sponsor-less jersey and wear it proud. I haven’t bought a Bimbo branded anything. I don’t have the hatred of Bimbo, I just don’t care for the logo and think it’s dumb. I will consider the secondary jersey, but no guarantees.
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With all the options and companies, both national, regional, etc. we have in Philly – this was a lazy decision and a missed opportunity to change this up and expand the brand to people who don’t even care about the Union or soccer. Any money you would’ve lost in fees from the sponsor would have been recouped in merch sales, if you chose the right company – ex: Wawa, Tastykake, Aramark, etc.
Wanted to also add: as a Founding Member this makes me mad. I was looking at this sponsor thing as a “turn the page”, “new era” type thing, with this team… after the excellent season we just had. Annoying that it’s not really changing at all.
Man, how many people would buy a Jersey with Wawa as the sponsor? Simple answer: more than what they’d pay for Bimbo. A lot more.
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Oh well, I’ve chosen to just make the best of it. Every game night with friends I wear my jersey and Bimbo is now my nickname. Life could be worse.
Wawa would have to WANT to sponsor us first. It seems pretty clear they don’t.
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I get that some people hate the name, and some people really hate it. That’s fair.
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But once in awhile, can we at least tip the cap to a company that DOES care about us, DOES want to be our partner, and HAS actually been that for ten years now, instead of the non-stop complaining that it’s not someone else?
Valid point Ingtar. My complaint is more with the team, who I think should have sought a different sponsorship to maybe help change the narrative. Clearly they have been aware of the negative connotation the brand Bimbo has with fans… whether that be valid or not… it exists. I don’t have a real like or dislike of Bimbo… I just choose not to buy one of the Bimbo jerseys because I think it’s ugly and time for a change. Maybe the secondary will satisfy my desire for a new one.
Ingtar, where have you been for the last 10 years? We are a society of thin skin, hurt feelings and me, me, me. The sticks and stones days died 20+ years ago. I totally agree with you. It’d be nice if Campbell soup or bryers or Comcast would lend their support but they didn’t. Cheers to the company that did.
I wrote into my ticket manager and asked them to get rid of the Bimbo logo and just let me pay five times the price I now pay for tickets.
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Now go convince the other 18,499.
In the age we live in where the US game is clearly behind the rest of the world… we have a jersey sponsor that is global. They sponsor multiple teams. We want to be good enough to be displayed on a global level but not support the global sponsor for their support….
Just my thinking…sorry we cant get past ourselves on this issue.