Hollywood enters the world of football

Angels .- Eva Longoria, Will Ferrell, Natalie PortmanMatthew McConaughey and Ryan Reynolds. Together they could make a great movie team, but these Hollywood stars have one thing in common outside of cinema: their passion for football and their business acumen.

In recent years, the higher profile characters on the big screen have become the owners of football teams and have taken the great lights of the cinema to the stadiums. Eva Longoria is one of those, who confirmed to Efe that what’s going on with her Angle City FC It is “revolutionary”.

The Latin star is part of a large group of investors, led by Natalie Portman, that is behind this women’s team that will debut in Los Angeles in 2022.

yAlong with Longoria and Portman, actresses America Ferrera, Becky J, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Chastain, Sophia Bush and Uzo Aduba appeared as promoters for Angel City FC.

Longoria, who recently announced that he has become a shareholder in Mexico’s Necaxa, emphasized the importance of Angel City FC having the majority of women at the helm of the decision-making process.

“It’s like being behind the camera to be a director. In order to have good opportunities and change things (for women), we need to sit on corporate boards.”

Actors long ago stopped being just artists to become major investors with multiple business interests.

But it is remarkable that many Hollywood personalities have specifically chosen football, a sport that, although it has grown a lot in the United States, still has less popularity and economic power compared to the influence of the major basketball leagues (NBA). American football (NFL) or baseball (MLB).

Pragmatism in the office

“Football is the sport of the whole world. At the same time, it is undeniable that it will penetrate the United States. It is a practical investment.

Eric Johnson, director of the University of California’s Anderson Center for Media, Entertainment and Sports, explained to EFE that other than the love for football these stars might have, there are compelling reasons to justify these investments from the economic start. Scenery.

This expert explained that the rating of teams in the MLS is “relatively low,” at least compared to the NBA or NFL franchises.

Thus, Hollywood stars can enter into ownership of these football clubs without excessive financial difficulties, and this exposure from the investment can serve them to “improve their global brand” as a character in the cinema.

“On a public level, we all have a merchant or businessman inside of us, far beyond being famous,” Johnson recalls.

“You can do your day job and you can use that money later to invest,” he noted, noting that in the case of actors, taking the red carpet to the football stadiums can have benefits in the form of money, fame, popularity or personal branding.

two different ways

Johnson saw that at the crossroads of Hollywood and football there were two different paths to reach.

On the one hand, there are the great stars who have joined established teams and at the highest competitive level, such as Matthew McConaughey with the Austin Club.

Another example would be Liverpool and LeBron James if we accept that the LA Lakers character has one foot on the field and the other in Show Business (this summer the sequel to the Space Jam premiere).

Citing James, Johnson noted that when Liverpool “wanted to have a greater presence in the United States” he saw at the entrance to the Lakers’ Beacon estate “a marketing tool to win fans.”

Against these examples exploiting the advertising side of celebrities are the ones in which the actor became the owner of a mediocre team playing in a lower division.

There we find Ryan Reynolds, Which this year bought Welsh Fifth Division AFC Wrexham.

One might wonder what the protagonist of Deadpool (2016) missed in a small team in Wales, but Johnson tried to find out the economic reason for the process.

“You can turn (after upgrading) a very small investment into something worthwhile. It is also promoted outside the US (…) by having something that has value and recognition in countries like the UK, Spain or Italy,” he explained.

It will serve as an example

One reference on Hollywood touchdowns in football offices is Will Ferrell of Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC).

Since its MLS debut in 2018, LAFC has created quite a stir in Los Angeles with Mexican Carlos Vela as the standard on the field, with a large stadium in downtown California, and with an amazing launch campaign that has taught them in record time how to create a very distinctive club identity and gather loyal fans. Totally with his team.

To top off this masterpiece, LAFC has appointed Ferrell as one of its owners.

“LAFC has done the best marketing campaign for a new team in the US in any sport. Johnson said I bow to what they did to build that platform.

The researcher recalled Ferrell’s personal attachment to the land on which the LAFC field is located (at USC where the actor studied) and asserted that a figure like him could serve as a “marketing engine” to transform football now. This team into something “cool.” EFE

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