‘They have 24 months to milk the hell out of it’: will Son signing open up Asia for MLS? | MLS

South Korean baseball fans have long been used to organizing their weekends around MLB hours-it is now time for the country’s football supporters to do the same with MLS.

Son Heung-Min started his two-year contract with Los Angeles FC, coming just after the striker helped Tottenham Hotspur to become the largest club in his homeland (even if the claims of almost 13 million fans are surely too highly overexal) and one of the largest in his continent at home. Now is the time to see what he can do in Los Angeles on the field and what the club can do.

“They are 24 months old to milking hell,” said Sasi Kumar, former international of Singapore and founder of the Red Card Global Sports Marketing Agency, at the Guardian. “The commercial opportunities are obvious, looking at Lafc opposite.”

His is the main man of Asian football for years: a recipient of a Golden Boot prize and Puskas who raised one of the largest trophies in European football as captain of a large club just a few months ago. Having one of the largest stars of the world’s most popular league for so long was a question of national pride in Korea and called on Asia. It fueled his superstard. Its helped ensure that now, almost all the young talented Korean stars want to go directly to the upper level of England.

MLS does not take advantage of the same stature – there is traditionally little interested for the League in Asia, and it was barely mentioned as a possible destination for the 33 -year -old man. There was a debate in Korea which dates back a few years when and where the son should go – a club like Barcelona was that often mentioned. Even when the attacker fought for form and physical form last season, there were still options in Europe, where most of them expected what remains. A move to Saudi Arabia was still unlikely. For a player who has never played in the K-League, going to a rival Asian competition may not have gone well in his homeland where he was the face of more than 30 brands. However, MLS was not, at the start, a popular choice.

“At the beginning, the fans’ reaction was divided because some wanted the son to stay in Europe and play in the Champions League for at least one more season,” said Lee Seung-Mo, author and journalist based in Seoul. “However, after his explained why he had chosen the LAFC and the MLS, now the majority of fans understand and support his decision.” Being based in the United States also has a meaning in front of the World Cup, probably being the fourth and last appearance of your tournament.

Lee admits that all the fans who watched a son in England will watch him in the United States. “It will not be 100% in the MLS in terms of viewers because the Premier League has the most fans of any league, but most fans of wires will want to watch MLS.”

These years at the top of the game have made his such icon in his homeland that he can transcend any competition in which he plays. “His image crosses different demographic data, geography – everything,” said Kumar. “Whenever the Spurs played, you have Asians from all of Asia supporting it, he is such a adorable character, you didn’t need to be a fan of the spurs to love him,”

Lafc has advantages. Although MLS is not the EPL, the United States is not the United Kingdom either. On the economic level, South Korea already has a solid link with the United States, sending almost 20% of exports in an economy based on exports to the United States in 2024, against only 1% for Great Britain. “The Korean market is so linked to the United States; it is a huge market for Korean beauty products, electronics, cars, phones, etc.,” Kumar said. “Its provided a platform and an opportunity to enter the market with a huge asset. The obvious thing for Lafc is to visit Asia and they should actively look in various markets for brand and content partnerships. The LaFC sales team will make overtime on how to sell digital assets, image rights and work with global brands like Samsung and Kia.

These Korean companies have always been involved in sports (the K.League was – and, to a large extent, is still based on business ownership and Hyundai has been extremely influential in the association’s coorean in the association over the years) and there should be a lot of know -how on the other side. “What is well known in American sports in general is that they are undoubtedly the best in sports marketing, and I am sure that Lafc and MLS will do their best on the Korean market,” said Lee.

The fact that it made it such a big deal of the signature went well. Steve Han is a Korean content manager based in Los Angeles for FIFA and the host of the Fairpoint Podcast and has witnessed the excitement. “At the introductory press conference, Korean journalists attended Lafc shirts,” Han told Guardian. “For years, Lafc has already been one of the most well -marked clubs in the MLS. Even the content that the club has pushed back so far has really excited the fans. The scene is ready for its son to put the icing on the cake now.”