USA dot Arsenal dot Com

Great news for American Gooners today, Arsenal has officially made a foray into our market with an American fan focused dot com. The site is usa.arsenal.com and though it’s a little light on content and is clearly geared towards new fans it is exciting that the club is taking a keen interest on growing the brand here in the States.

There are some really great features on here for the novice fan. For example, to this day I have American friends who confuse the  League Cup, the FA Cup, and the Premiership, and thankfully the usa dot com has a feature which helps explain a bit about the tournament that is currently called the Carling Cup.  Or how about a thumbnail sketch of Arsenal’s history? Imagine some guy goes to his local pub for a sandwhich at lunch and there I am screaming about what a genius Eduardo is. He gets interested in the sport and decides to check out this “Arsenal.” That guy doesn’t need to read Rebels for the Cause, just yet, but a nice introduction to the club might just bring him on board.

Now, before you American fans who have been around the block a few years get too critical about the focus of the site and the amount of content, think about it for a second: it takes time to develop content, they have to get American correspondents (ahem, AHEM, must still have a little bit of that cold from last week, sorry about that) or at the very least divert resources from their London offices to fill pages that are geared specifically for Americans. And before you get up on your high horses, I know you guys, about how the site leans too much toward new fans, that too will surely change as time goes on and our fellow fans become more mature and demand different content.

One other thing that I absoultely must mention is that they got an interview with Freddy Ljungberg. I am so absolutely green with envy that they got to interview Freddie because when I spoke to the Sounders media relations department they treated me like I am some kind of Sounders fanboy who just wanted a chance to meet one of my heroes. I tried to make it clear that I am actually an ARSENAL fanboy who wanted to catch up all my readers on what Arsenal’s #11 Greatest Ever Gooner was doing over here in the States but they were having none of it. Oh well, congrats to Kevin Mooney for the interview, it’s very well done and all Gooners, even my English readers, should check it out.

As for other features, there’s a link to Arsenal’s official partner club in the US (the Colorado Rapids), there’s a competition guide to all of the competitions that Arsenal and Arsenal Ladies play in,  the Arsenal Ladies are featured prominently to capture some of that key soccer demographic in the States, and Arsenal’s schedule is even listed in Eastern Standard Time. There’s plenty of content there to keep even my most jaded reader poking around for a bit and more, no doubt, is on its way.

When Arsenal CEO Ivan Gazidis talked about increasing brand awareness earlier this year, people speculated that the club would look to penetrate Asia first and might neglect the American market. This new endeavor puts that rubbish out to the curb; Arsenal are here in America, they are targeting us as fans, and that means that right now it’s not only goo goo good to be a Goonah with the team’s sparkling on-pitch performances it’s a good time to be an American Goonah.

Who knows, we might even get a pre-season American tour one day.

0 comments

  1. i just popped over to mention the new site. I hope this is just the beginning and the Arsenal will come to the U.S or even do some player development with the Colorado team. Like they are doing with the club from Vietnam. Any

        1. @Tim, Hmm.. really. I mailed Arsenal about how amazing it would be if they could set up an online store for the US. I mean “soccer.com” and “soccerusa” has such a shitty arsenal catalog (they hardly have any of the sweats or tees or other accessories), getting an Arsenal online store would be awesome.

          1. a proper us store online would be great. would make it that much easier to get that B-52 Bomber jersey that i want.

  2. Oh to be a gunner. Man how I wish they would have a pre-season tour. Gosh I even have a prefect idea. Why dont they bring the team to Colorado to train at the Rapids facility. Austria can’t be that much better than Colorado.
    But the first stone has been lay…”the gunners are coming.”

  3. P.S. Tim, I just noticed that usatv.arsenal.com is also up, and it offers USA fans a price of $49/year, which is considerably cheaper than the current pricing of 45 pounds (about $73/year).

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