FIFA's £37m Club World Cup marketing spend backfires with half-empty stadiums
FIFA have splashed out over £37million on marketing in a bid to make their Club World Cup a hit, only for Chelsea to play in a sparsely populated stadium on Monday. The governing body of football had increased spending in recent weeks when it became apparent that interest was not as high as they had anticipated.
However, the investment appears to have fallen flat, with embarrassing scenes unfolding at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Blues faced MLS team LAFC in front of a mere 22,137 spectators, despite the stadium having a capacity of up to 71,000.
In an attempt to avoid such scenarios, FIFA's marketing teams had heavily invested in social media promotion, collaborating with a significant number of influencers on Instagram. They also spent a considerable amount on motorway advertising boards in several American cities.
The Club World Cup is project driven by president Gianni Infantino, who has continued to remain defiant over its credibility despite many seeing it as a money grab. Only last week FIFA said they "anticipate great attendances and electric atmospheres" across the twelve venues.
In some of the opening fixtures the optics had been impressive. For the opening contest that featured Lionel Messi's Inter Miami 60,927 fans attended the match. PSG saw off Atletico Madrid brought in front of 80,619 fans at the Rose Bowl.
However there has been more underwhelming games as Bayern Munich 's 10-0 win against Auckland City was played in the TQL stadium in Cincinnati, which holds just 26,000, yet only 21,152 attended the game.
The Athletic has reported that there was a divide within FIFA over the amount of MLS-dedicated and NFL venues that should be used during the competition. Some in the American office favoured more smaller venues which could be sold out. Meanwhile their European counterparts, encouraged by Infantino, were eager to take the tournament to as many large venues as possible.
FIFA's approach to ticket prices has also appeared to underline the backwards step they've needed to take. Tickets for matches went on sale last year with none, if any, priced below three figures. However as games have drawn closer they have been mammoth drops in an effort to sellout games.
The scheduling has clearly been an issue and Chelsea's 2-0 win over LAFC was played during Monday afternoon at 3pm local time - making it harder to attend for some. The winners of the tournament stand to win £97m in prize money with a total pot of £775m across the four-week tournament played across the States.
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