More Club to Club Partnerships?

So I was thinking about how MLS has been making noise of wanting to court more of the Latino fan base in its cities. Get them out to the matches and make them MLS fans. Marketing the clubs directly to the fans. I actually had a idea on how to DC United could facilitate this.

I don't want to say, or have people believe that I think that DC United has any problem marketing towards this audience. Most of the fans in the stands at RFK are of Latino decent, infact that is one of the really great things that I like about DC United, that we are one of the only MLS clubs that has a true "International" atmosphere at our matches. This idea is actually more of something that would benefit the club overall, it just spawned from that vein of thought.

Chelsea seems to have created a "partnership" with the LA Galaxy, as RSL has "done" with Real Madrid. Why not have DC United setup some type of partnership with a club like River Plate? Having DC United and River Plate be "club partners" should be able to increase the interest of Latino fans. It would also increase the interests of non-Latino fans, as it would provide a more international feel to the club, and that should interest those Euro-Snobs or SA-Snobs who only like soccer in other countries.

Both are sponsored by adidas for one thing. So adidas could assist both clubs with cross promotional work. They could agree to play each other twice a year, in DC at the beginning of our season and in Buenos Aires at the end of our season. The pre-season match against River could be a regular fixture and sort of kick off the season for United fans. With these matches, merchandising can be expanded for both clubs. Have adidas DC United jersey's and scarves on sale at the River Plate home match as well as having River Plate jersey's and scarves on sale at the DC United home match. Granted I understand that the River jersey's would sell better than the United jersey's, as American fans tend to be more open towards other clubs. adidas could also produce a dual club scarf that signifies the date and location of each match, on sale only at that match.

This could also be an exclusive benefit for United and River players, especially the younger ones. We could take on some of their younger players for loan spells and maybe loan a few younger guys out to them, guys like McTavish or Mediate. Getting some of our reserves into matches in Argentina, even if they are their reserve matches, would expose them to a wealth of knowledge and skills that MLS players rarely see up here, especially in the MLS Reserve League. Having some of the younger River players loaned up here would give United the opportunity to make use of their skills as well as give the River players a different situation to hone their skills.

This would provide a pretty good way to create a hometown tie to south American football and one that we would year in and year out get to experience, rather than a random friendly match that we maybe see every now and then. Marketing European clubs to our area is a great idea, but in order to get the Latino fans that MLS is speaking of to the MLS matches, I think that marketing and partnering with a South American club would be more beneficial.