MBA Soccer

MBA Soccer remembers back to the days of youth club soccer trips, uncomfortable tournament nights in the same hotel room with the parents, popping the uniform collar like Italian great Roberto Baggio after scoring a goal and buying a new set of cleats every year to show off at the first practice—or, at least, dreaming of showing off those new $130, jet-black, three white-striped Adidas Copa’s with gold print to your teammates.

You see, Eurosport, the U.S.-based soccer equipment catalog company, was MBA Soccer’s only access to the bigger game as a kid.  Through catalog photos, Eurosport allowed MBA Soccer and millions of other youth soccer players to dream big dreams of on-the-field glory and try to figure out ways to con the parents into purchasing new cleats, shorts, soccer-themed shirts or anything else in the catalogs.  (By the way, the “co-ed naked” soccer shirts never helped MBA Soccer gain traction with the opposite sex.  Yes, a soccer catalog can make one dream about off-the-field glory, too.)  So, when the chance to meet with one of Eurosport’s co-founders, Brendan Moylan, arose, MBA Soccer jumped at the opportunity.

For those not familiar with the story, Eurosport was founded in 1984 by two high school-aged brothers, Mike and Brendan Moylan, with a $20,000 loan from their father.  Their father expected they would fail, but a valuable lesson would be learned.  Today, Eurosport has over 700 employees, around $200 million in annual revenue, owns the site Soccer.com and is still run by the brothers.

Brendan, who asked to be described as good-looking, intelligent and funny, was sincerely self-deprecating and modest about the success of Eurosport.  When asked how two brothers without a business background were able to build a company based around an underappreciated sport in the U.S. in the 1980s, Brendan said luck, personal insight and a passion for the game had quite a bit to do with it.

During the 80s, the company introduced itself during the rise in the use of UPS, credit cards and 800 numbers.  Before, consumers typically had to wait three weeks for a shipment, because money orders, which delayed the process, were the norm.  With credit cards, kids across the country were able to convince their parents to pull out the plastic (often resulting in a subsequent call to an Orlando bankruptcy attorney, dial the toll-free number and have a new set of cleats delivered to the door step within days.  Brendan noted that other business owners doubted kids would be able to persuade their parents, but, looking at the soccer gear in their own closets, he and his brother knew otherwise.

Then the Moylans jumped early on into the Internet in the 90s.  By purchasing soccer.com, the Moylans locked up a key domain name.  Brendan admitted that had they truly understood the growing power of the Internet, they would have bought up more domain names and he’d be running the business from an island in the Caribbean.

With the acquisition of TSI, a soccer retailer, in 2001, Eurosport was able to build deeper relationships throughout the soccer community.  TSI’s sales team helped Eurosport transition from an individual player marketing focus to a team-based focus.  In 2005, the company gained a deeper appreciation for fan-based marketing and moved deeper into television, the Internet, and partnerships with major soccer clubs, for example Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona, Juventus and Chivas.

Eurosport did hit a couple bumps along the way, the most notable being an attempted system conversion in 1994.  The conversion almost took the company under, with private equity firms circling around the company.  The incident resulting in a need for a Tampa criminal attorney, Brendan said, “Proved hard work alone is not going to solve the problems you’ve created.”  It also changed the mindset of the company’s leadership and placed the business on a conservative path to zero-debt and remaining focused on the U.S. market, leaving the international marketplace to those who knew it better.

Before we wrapped up the meeting, Brendan touched on Eurosport’s non-profit arm, Passback.org.  Since it was founded in 1991, Passback has taken used but still usable equipment and shipped 100,000 plus items per year to children who need them all over the world.  Apparently, some kids in Africa are playing in Mia Hamm’s shoes and a number of people are wearing Manchester United jerseys that were donated since the AIG bankruptcy.  And recently, Eurosport was also able to raise around $150K for HaitiUnited.org.  Brendan said Eurosport’s community involvement, a trait passed down from his parents, is integral to the company.

Imagine that: taking something you’re passionate about, applying personal insights about consumer behavior, catching a couple lucky breaks and being your own boss.  Congrats, Brendan, and keep us in the loop on Eurosport’s other good works.