John Parker believes he has solved the riddle.<\/p>\n
For years we\u2019ve been told soccer is the sport of the future in the U.S. It\u2019s the fastest-growing, has the most attractive demographics, skews younger, is the most cosmopolitan, blah, blah, blah.<\/p>\n
Yet the sport has struggled to find a broadcast audience, especially among the legacy media. NBC, ESPN and others, after failing to find viewers on cable TV, moved much of their soccer content to streaming platforms. Apple TV+, which is a streaming platform, has become so desperate for an audience for its MLS<\/a> content that it removed its paywall. And most major newspapers, including this one, have dramatically rolled back regular coverage of the next great American sport for want of readers.<\/p>\n Parker, co-founder and chief executive of Kickback Soccer Media<\/a>, said his idea isn\u2019t intended to succeed where others have failed. It\u2019s intended to succeed because it hasn\u2019t been tried before.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we focus on is less the product, more the audience. So American soccer fans,\u201d Parker said. \u201cThere\u2019s inherent difference between a soccer fan in the U.S. than there is a soccer fan in, say, England, where you grew up with the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n Kickback, which launched in December, isn\u2019t a traditional newsroom but rather a multiplatform media company built around different hubs: Soccerwise, for example, will offer more traditional coverage of soccer in the U.S.; Kickback Committee features more than a dozen soccer personalities conversing with fans on topics and trends; First Touch, the company\u2019s World Cup property, is designed to attract new fans with original material. Content from each platform will be distributed via podcasts, newsletters, social media and video on Instagram, Bluesky and YouTube.<\/p>\n Among the journalists and soccer personalities who will be featured regularly are David Gass, Tom Bogert, Jordan Angeli, Brianna Pinto and Susannah Fuller. Parker recently added MLS authority Matt Doyle to that lineup.<\/p>\n \u201cThink of it as a funnel,\u201d Parker said, with the content getting either broader or more tightly focused, depending on where you are in the funnel. That tailored approach, he added, recognizes U.S. soccer fans are at different points in their journey with the game.<\/p>\n And it already appears to be working. Two weeks ago satellite radio giant SiriusXM picked up Kickback\u2019s entire slate of shows, hailing it as one of the nation\u2019s fastest-growing independent soccer voices.<\/p>\n More important to its success, however, may be the monetization model.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not news. We are not journalistic coverage,\u201d said Parker, 38, whose preferred style of dress is soccer jerseys. \u201cWe are a modern digital media company, so we\u2019re playing in a very different space.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not subscription-based. It\u2019s not click-based. A lot of it\u2019s going to be some form of licensing, brand partnership, direct to consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n And while the individual audience for each hub may not be overwhelming, in the aggregate, Parker believes, the numbers will be impressive.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve developed media properties that really focus more on specific sections of the American soccer audience,\u201d he said. \u201cThen for those media properties, it\u2019s podcasts, it\u2019s shows, it\u2019s original social series, it\u2019s documentaries. It\u2019s all the forms of media that we can deliver to fans, usually through a digital format.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether he got the formula right remains to be seen. But Parker and his investors certainly got the timing right. MLS, entering its 31st season this month, is one of the top 10 leagues in the world while the NWSL has the highest attendance of any women\u2019s league on the planet. And in January, the Economist released a report that showed soccer passed baseball and is the third most-popular sport in the U.S., after football and basketball.<\/p>\n