Stoke City Jet to USA for Pre-Season but Remain Focused on Local Interaction
April 26, 2013
Stoke City Football Club have confirmed that they will be returning to the United States for pre-season this summer, pharmacy buy but the club’s CEO insisted commercial reasons and building the fan base is not on the agenda.
The Premier League club played in the States during pre-season last year and will return to play the Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas as a part of the transfer deals involving Geoff Cameron and Brek Shea.
However, viagra sale Tony Scholes, CEO of the Potters said that the club’s commercial expansion strategy was focused locally rather than globally.
Speaking exclusively to iSportconnect, Scholes said: “Whilst we are operating in the richest league in the world, we are a club who knows who we are. We are rooted in the local community and the vast majority of our fans do come and will come from our local community.
“If we are looking to build our support base, that focus takes place locally, not internationally.”
Scholes did admit however that the USA was a market that made sense for Stoke to explore.
He added: “All of that said, if there is one market you could see us having an opportunity, it would be the States. The new TV deal with NBC will significantly enhance the exposure of the Premier League in the States.”
Stoke currently have three US international players on their books, with Maurice Edu, currently on loan at Turkish side Bursaspor, joining Cameron and Shea as the American contingent at the Britannia Stadium.
Scholes said that this is another factor in travelling to the States but also added that while the team will ‘explore various PR opportunities’ and take part in ‘community engagement’ whilst they are Stateside, they do not expect to ‘create 1,000 Stoke City fans in Houston.’
Keep an eye out for the full interview with Tony Scholes on iSportconnect.