Philadelphia Union: Behind every good club is a good business brain and the Union are no different

A CTO, new drinks at the stadium, subtle logo changes! Undercover, the Philadephia Union are establishing their brand and we talked to the man with the plan.

Tim McDermott is the current CBO of the Philadelphia Union. While much credit for the team’s turnaround and success has gone to Earnie Stewart, McDermott has flown under the radar for the club. Hired in 2016 to oversee the business side of the team, McDermott and Stewart have formed a front office dream team. While Stewart has a very forward facing role in regards to player acquisition McDermott’s hand in the business side of the Philadelphia Union is a more internally focused role.

This year, McDermott is making waves with the team’s decision to hire a CTO, usually known as a chief technology officer in most organizations, that isn’t the case for the Philadelphia Union. It’s a chief tattoo officer here in Chester and it shows how the forward thinking McDermott is being innovative in the marketplace. The team has received 150 plus applications for the position and has now narrowed the list down to 30 applicants.

The team has received press about the process both good and bad but to be innovative, you have to take risks. Being the first, a mixed reaction is expected but if it works it will set the Philadelphia Union apart from their competition giving McDermott an even bigger edge in the game. But while the CTO decision may be one of the biggest decisions that McDermott has made recently, there are others that have flown under the radar in order to modernize the club.

“Youth soccer is the universal gateway to sports” – Tim McDermott on fan development

At the Philadelphia Union panel with commissioner Don Garber as part of the “March to Soccer” I had the chance to pick McDermott’s brain about some of the changes that have happened so far as well as some of the other changes on the horizon for the club.

He spoke about how the club needs to carve its own pathway and establish their brand. They’re currently swinging in a more progressive direction from the original classic branding technique. As the club matures he would like to establish what sets the Philadelphia Union apart while also not alienating fans. As McDermott said, “Whether you’re eight or 88, you’ll be able to connect with the club.” That is an important note because sometimes when a club undergoes a rebranding effort, the established fans can feel alienated.

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It’s a balance and it’s one that McDermott and the head of marketing Doug Vosik are fully in tune with. They’ve developed a partnership that will only help the club moving forward. McDermott spoke about needing to capture fans in their early years and the best way to do that is through youth soccer where Pennsylvania has strong grassroots ties. If the club is able to properly tap that market, it could lead to the fan base growing exponentially. It also helps with another goal of marketing better to fans who can’t always attend games.

When I asked McDermott about how the team plans to reach those fans he said, “How we do that is partly by doing a better job of youth fan development. When you’ve got 100’s of clubs in the Delaware Valley we need to win the hearts of the kids, the parents, and the coaches.” he continued to say that a question that is on the team’s mind is “How do we make an eight-year-old who lives in Bucks county aspire to play for the Philadelphia union? How do we make that kid want to wear the gear?”

It makes the refresh that the team is undergoing make more sense because it helps the club resonate with those younger fans. Things such as camping out on the field last year will help these fans gain a special connection with this club. Also, signing local players like Derrick Jones to homegrown contracts gives the local youth someone from their back yards to look up to.

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While it’s a smart marketing ploy, this doesn’t just help the financial side of the Philadelphia Union. Down the road, it also will bear fruit in homegrown player signings. Younger soccer fans who see people from their communities succeeding for the Philadelphia Union are more likely to want to play for the club. It helps strengthen the pipeline as well as the club overall. Just because it may begin on the business side of the club doesn’t mean that it won’t impact the performance on the field down the road.

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