MLS business guru, N.J. native Nelson Rodriguez helping soccer grow in U.S.

BY JOE FAVORITO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

ON N.J. SPORTS MARKETING

Nelson Rodriguez is a Jersey guy through and through. Raised in Manalapan, schooled at Rutgers, the one-time Devils intern is much more a reflection of Jersey pride than any of the ever-growing number of reality show TV stars that are filling the airwaves these days. Now those Jersey roots, business skills and know-how have helped carve a global path for success in the sports world for Rodriguez, who is Executive Vice President of Competition, Technical and Game Operations for Major League Soccer, a position he assumed earlier this year.

At any other time in the past, Rodriguez's role in helping develop MLS as part of the fabric of the growing presence of professional soccer would have been very important. However now, with a World Cup, a new franchise in Philly, a centerpiece of a facility in New Jersey, new franchises coming in the Pacific Northwest, his role is crucial if soccer can make the jump to a higher level on the professional side in the United States in 2010 and beyond.

The long-time MLS executive will be responsible for all on-field competition and technical matters. In his new role, Rodríguez will supervise the League's soccer technical development, oversee league-wide game operations, disciplinary matters and expand the league's scouting capabilities. Rodriguez will serve as the league liaison with MLS coaches and club technical directors on game-related matters.

Rodriguez's rise to success on the business side actually mirrors MLS steady growth in the United States in many ways. As a youth he was part of a small but passionate local soccer club in an area on the Jersey Shore, which has now become a hotbed for youth soccer in the country. He coached at Rutgers under Bob Reasso at a time when the Scarlet Knights program was emerging as an NCAA power, and was part of Charlie Stillitano's organizing group that helped turn the World Cup into such a landmark event at Giants Stadium in 1994. He then went on to the MetroStars and was again able to use his passion for the game and business acumen to help grow the team's youth programs to 40,000 strong in the area - no small feat when one considers the lack of success and branding that the team had on the professional side before it was sold to Red Bull.

The former head coach at Lafayette College then moved on to help steer the present course for growth for MLS, working through their business division, Soccer United Marketing. Rodríguez served as Senior Vice President of SUM where he managed the acquisition and development of SUM properties such as the Mexican National Team's annual U.S. Tour, the CONCACAF Gold Cup, FC Barcelona Tour, InterLiga, SuperLiga and the Pan-Pacific Championship. He then joined Commissioner Don Garber's staff more formally, working on mapping out the league's strategic planning, new business development and alliance development, among other duties. The latest upward move now positions Rodriguez even more solidly at the helm of a small team charting growth of the sport in North America, with a fan base that he has been part of from the start and has been cultivated from the grassroots on up for just over a decade,

Now the next jump for brand growth for MLS will not be the easiest. The World Cup is perhaps the largest and most visible sporting event in the world outside of the Olympics, but for it to be successful here the United States has to perform well. The new franchises coming on board have to live up to the model that has been set with the success of the Seattle Sounders last year, and the Red Bulls still have to find a way to fill all the seats each week at Red Bull Arena and find ways to resurrect the passionate youth following in the area that the MetroStars were building and then lost. Those tasks will help continue to engage both Madison Avenue and Main Street as to the value of professional soccer as compared to MLB, the NBA, college sports, NASCAR, the NHL and the NFL, and the conversion of those dollars will still be very challenging.

However the strongest aspect of the MLS business model has been internal growth, with smart, passionate people learning the business of sport and growing with the game. One of the best examples of that growth is what Nelson Rodriguez has done at all levels of his career, a Jersey guy who has achieved steady success without fanfare, but whose work is certainly worth noting, especially if soccer makes its next brand jump.

Joe Favorito has over 23 years of strategic communications/marketing, business development and public relations expertise in sports, entertainment, brand building, media training, television, athletic administration and business. Visit him at JoeFavorito.com.