It’s been a few months since Opta and MLS announced their partnership so I thought it would be a good time to take a look at how the partnership is doing. Opta is fantastic at leveraging Twitter so I thought examining the popularity of their different Twitter personas would be a good way to compare how much fans of different leagues engage with Opta.
Archive for Social Media
#CityAtWembley during the FA Cup Semifinal
Last week Manchester City announced a special hash-tag for the FA Cup Semifinal against Manchester United. So what did it look like during the match?
Volume of Tweets tagged with #CityAtWembley during FA Cup Semifinal
You can clearly see the major events of match based on tweet volume, although people didn’t seem too concerned with Scholes’ red card (did seem like it was coming, didn’t it?). Can’t wait to see what it looks like during the final.
If you want a really great example of visualizing tweets, check out what the Guardian produced for the World Cup.
Are the Seattle Sounders and Groupon a Good Fit?
Today’s Groupon deal in Seattle was a ticket to Friday’s game against the Houston Dynamo for $16 — a $21 savings off the $37 face value. Over the first two seasons that the Sounders have been in MLS, they have smashed all sorts of attendance records for the league and sold out every game, so this deal was a bit of a surprise to me. Other MLS teams have used Groupon to sell tickets, but they usually have loads of extra ticket inventory, a situation the Sounders haven’t found themselves in until now. Although large companies like The Gap and Amazon have used Groupon or other similar services to promote themselves, usually it is used by small companies looking to bring in new business. So does using Groupon make sense for the Sounders?
On the Popularity of MLS on Facebook
Today, Futebol Finance released their list of top 25 clubs with the most fans of Facebook. The results aren’t too surprising, with the top 25 dominated by the usual suspects of European and South American clubs. MLS failed to crack their top 25 with a small footnote that Real Salt Lake had only 37,000 fans. RSL are an odd benchmark, given that the Seattle Sounders lead the league in attendance by a considerable margin. As of 11/8, Seattle Sounders have 130,000+ fans, putting them at #22 in the world. What about the Beckham effect? LA Galaxy have less than 28,000 fans. At least Seattle can beat LA in something.
Top 25 Clubs according to Futebol Finance:
| Club | Country | Fans | Club | Country | Fans | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FC Barcelona | Spain | +6.200.000 | 14 | FC Bayern Munchen | Germany | +290.000 |
| 2 | Real Madrid CF | Spain | +5.200.000 | 15 | SL Benfica | Portugal | +280.000 |
| 3 | Galatasaray SK | Turkey | +4.600.000 | 16 | Manchester City FC | England | +230.000 |
| 4 | Manchester United FC | England | +4.200.000 | 17 | CA River Plate | Argentina | +215.000 |
| 5 | Liverpool FC | England | +3.150.000 | 18 | Tottenham Hotspurs FC | England | +200.000 |
| 6 | Fenerbahce SK | Turkey | +3.100.000 | 19 | FC Porto | Portugal | +180.000 |
| 7 | Chelsea FC | England | +2.300.000 | 20 | Olympique Lyonnais | France | +170.000 |
| 8 | Arsenal FC | England | +2.120.000 | 21 | Girondins Bordeaux | France | +140.000 |
| 9 | AC Milan | Italy | +1.600.000 | 22 | Levski Sofia | Bulgaria resolutely | +110.000 |
| 10 | CA Boca Juniors | Argentina | +1.000.000 | 23 | RSC Anderlecht | Belgium | +100.000 |
| 11 | Olympique Marseille | France | +700.000 | 24 | Sporting CP | Portugal | +99.000 |
| 12 | SSC Napoli | Italy | +350.000 | 25 | Besiktas JK | Turkey | +94.000 |
| 13 | Paris Saint-Germain | France | +350.000 |
