Team Insight

TEAM SOCCER F or decades, soccer was viewed as a sport with plenty of runway for growth here in the U.S., but it still had to compete with legacy team sports – football, basketball, baseball and hockey – for attention on the youth sports stage and oen faced an uphill battle to gain mainstream favor. One of the biggest problems was that there were few opportunities for players to advance beyond college and there was no clear pathway to a pro career other than to try to play abroad. Basically, soccer was hugely popular as a youth, school and club sport and was fun to watch for a couple of weeks every four years during Olympic and World Cup tournaments. But without a robust professional arm, and lacking big corporate backing and broad media coverage, the game's chances of living up to its much-ballyhooed po- tential were limited. Today, it's a totally different story. It's once again Game Time and here we provide the inside scoop on the action, with a huge assist from soccer specialists and team dealers. THE FIRST HALF Supply Chain Issues Much to their relief, most soccer retailers and team dealers report that while the agita-inducing supply chain problems of the recent past aren't completely gone, they are rapidly diminishing. "We don't have any big issues — the situation is 80 percent better than last year," reports Kim Karsh, owner of California Pro Sports in Harbor City, CA. "ere are still minor issues with shoes and shin guards, but everything should be back to normal in the next couple of years." Ryan Aubert, director of marketing at Stefans Soccer, a three-store operation in Wisconsin, concurs. "ere are still some supply chain issues, but we're back to about 85 percent of where we were before COVID-19. Team apparel, which is ordered in bulk, had been difficult to rely on, but things are now coming in on time, especially since orders are placed so far in advance," he says. "Footwear was a problem but has gotten better recently," he adds. "Footwear colorways and styles change faster than the supply chain can handle, but there have been big improvements over the past six months. Our strategy is to have back-up plans in place in case of delays, which takes a lot of extra planning. But conditions will continue to improve." At South Carolina-based Lloyd's Soccer, which now counts four stores – Charleston, Greenville and a new location in Columbia, SC, as well as one door in Atlanta, GA – supply chain headaches have largely dissipated. "ere are no real issues," reports GM Mike Walter. "ere are always going to be occasional inventory hiccups, but nothing on a large scale like we saw during the past three years." Likewise, Don Falcone Jr., VP&GM at Greenville, RI-based DMK Sports, notes that the situation has improved immensely since the spring and inventory levels are up. "ere are still some issues with major manufacturers, but things are fine with the smaller vendors. Most of the issues are occurring with uniforms. Pre-booked goods are arriving very late and while the orders are showing in the system, in reality they are still unavailable." David Zighelboim, president of Miami, FL-based Soccer Locker, says that supply issues are about 85 percent resolved, but the futures business still hasn't caught back up. "e biggest problem is that for the at-once business, vendors aren't maintaining much inventory. Companies are relying on dealers to book everything on futures, meaning [the vendors] have little if any inventory for fill-ins," he points out. "e buying process has become very important — there's no magic ball that helps project what will and won't sell a year from now." As an example, he cites Messi-mania. "If I had known ahead of time 23 • Team Insight ~ November/December 2023 teaminsightmag.com Photo: isitsharp/istock FROM A DRIBBLE TO A FULL-PITCH ATTACK, SOCCER IS HOT. BY JUDY LEAND KICKIN' IT IN

• Cover