Jaume Ferrer: USA Tour A Way For Barcelona To Expand Globally

Just one game into the pre-season tour of the United States, Barcelona have already shown what a success the trip has been this summer.

Close to 94,000 fans crammed in to the Rose Bowl last Saturday to watch the 2-1 win over LA Galaxy, the highest attendance for an association football match in the country since the 1994 World Cup.

The Blaugrana are expecting another hot sell-out for their next game against Seattle Sounders at Qwest Field this Wednesday.

Off the pitch, the accomplishment has been no less overwhelming, as the club’s vice-president of marketing, Jaume Ferrer, revealed how ‘El Tricampeon’ plan to take over the world with football.

“Our sporting success has a big influence on the interest companies show in Barca,” he told the club’s official website.

“On this tour, we have already held several meetings with some very important company directors. Some of them are looking to settle forms of sponsoring FC Barcelona this very year.”

Ferrer also admitted that the Barca brand has been significantly enhanced globally since they decided to include the US as part of their annual pre-season preparations, as well as Asia before that.

“We know that a large part of the club’s growth in recent years has been because of the international market, so we are working hard to put the brand in a global position,” he said.

“After the treble and thanks to the interest in MLS, the American market offers high expectations and we have been able to charge as much for games as we did in Asia, which we plan to return to.

“For now, we are very satisfied with the agreement [with the MLS], which has improved economically. This has led to the games we are playing here now and we will continue to work on increasing our presence in the USA.”

Ferrer added that the club will soon alternate their tours between America and Asia. 

KS Leong, Goal.com