By Streisand Neto
LONDON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The Baller League's new U.S. tournament will launch this quarter for maximum exposure in the run-up to the World Cup, according to managing director Ged Tarpey.
“What's great is like we get to do season one before the World Cup. So we get to kind of be there with the hype and then let the World Cup do its thing,” Ged Tarpey told Reuters of the June 11-July 19 competition in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The inaugural Baller League US will take place in Miami's
Tropical Park arena, consisting of 10 teams managed by a mix of influencers like Drew Desbordes, known as Druski, and past football players including former Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldinho.
The league’s president is online streamer Darren Jason Watkins Junior, known as IShowSpeed.
"I think what we've done really well, and credit to (CEO) Felix (Starck) on this, is amassed a lineup of managers who tap into all sorts of different types of culture in different ways," said Tarpey, a former Microsoft executive and chief commercial officer for the Miami Dolphins.
The six-a-side indoor Baller League began in Germany in 2024 among a clutch of new soccer tournaments offering shorter, cheaper and zanier versions of traditional 90-minute soccer with an eye to online audiences as much as in-person spectators.
Backed by investors such as EQT Ventures, the Baller League has already set up goalposts in the UK: recently former players Ian Wright and Alan Shearer’s Wembley Rangers AFC team beat season 1 winners SDS FC to become season 2 champions.
FLOURISHING FORMATS
Expanding to the lucrative U.S. market is something also eyed up by another burgeoning format called Kings League. The seven-a-side league created in 2022 by former Spanish international Gerard Pique just recorded all-time audience numbers for its Kings World Cup Nations tournament in Brazil.
Yet Tarpey does not see the Kings League, nor mainstream U.S. Major League Soccer, as competition, but rather as an “opportunity for us to continue to improve and grow the love of the sport”.
"We're going to be launching this new style of football that's, you know, in many ways, maybe it's tailor-made for an American audience," he said, without giving the precise launch date.
"And then what's fun for us is we get to kick off season two after the World Cup as well. So there's almost like a residual effect that we'll be able to ride that wave of football passion in the world."
Baller League US will be streamed on online platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. A TV deal with a major network was also in the offing, Tarpey said.
"I think there's also an element of legitimacy to it," he said, comparing a U.S. TV deal with British sports broadcaster Sky Sports' embrace of Baller League UK.
"Let's give every opportunity for anybody, wherever they are, whatever that means, whatever type of screen they have, democratised being able to watch football when and where you want."
(Reporting by Streisand Neto; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
