By Godwin Agaba
On July 21, 2023, together with friends-all of us ardent sports lovers-we went on an expedition. We drove from Dayton to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
A distance of 604.3 miles-a 10-hour drive! We went to watch the English Premier League (EPL) most popular teams- Manchester United and Arsenal-play live.
We left Dayton in a group of five- myself, Moses Kamanzi, Jules Moris Gahamanyi, Kalisa Bruno commonly known as Taifa, and Pascal Mutabazi.
We were later joined by Longin Mupenda and his wife who travelled by air. At MetLife Stadium, we met others from Dayton like Musa Sharangabo and many friends who travelled from other states, including my longtime friend Maxon Kasumba who we last met over a decade.
During the game, it was announced that MetLife stadium had made history for drawing a breaking crowd. The two English heavyweights attracted a 82,262 strong crowd.
MetLife stadium is only 13 year old. It is located five miles West of New York city in East Rutherford , New Jersey.
It is the home of the New York Giants and New York Jets. It cost $1.6 billion to build, according to metlifestadium.com. This is big, big money invested!
Why should all these people (fans) travel all these long distances, spend money, leave their daily job (and earnings) and decide to travel and to watch a game-“a mere game”, one may?
For example, this game was on Saturday evening. We traveled on Friday and travelled back to Dayton on Sunday. This means that many people who watched this game were away from their regular home places for three straight days. In American work life, this is a big loss.
Myself, if I miss work for three days, I miss on Saturday (I earn $33.51 per hour) and on Sunday (I earn $44.68 per hour). Instead, I chose to incur more expenses and travel and watch this game.
My employers also miss my services and I also miss the cumulative work experience of three days. May be, I should find a job in the Sports sector. Who knows? What fuels this enthusiasm?
First, it is just a simple thing; the love of the game! The passion, the thrill, the vibe! Sports are a discipline that brings meaning to life. It’s personal and deep!
Sports is a modern day reality of soft power and diplomacy. See how Qataris, Saudis and Americans are competing to own European big teams! See how African talents are slowly given different nationalities to play for other countries! It’s a thing of both patriotism and power!
It’s an equalizer, in that it brings people of different nationalities and races together. A pitch is a “theater of dreams”, indeed, where we could have a world where all people are equal and united in celebration of diversity. Instead of war, we could have football bringing out the best in each country.
Arsenal’s “Visit Rwanda” sleeve sponsorship despite the online negative campaign:. Watching Arsenal play live for the first time, I found out how powerful this sponsorship is.
Despite the fact of promoting tourism and promoting the country, this deal comes with recognition, honor, prestige, dignity, geosocial and political standing. Not forgetting, bringing in the dollars, euros, et cetera!
As we were watching the game behind our row there were Arsenal fans donning Arsenal jerseys with “Visit Rwanda” on the sleeves; white-men and women- shouting out to us and us back to them. A family of stranger fans brought together by the game!
When Manchester United skipper, Bruno Fernandes scored the first goal, I told them (the Arsenal fans) ;that Fernandes is ‘bigger ‘ than Arsenal. They didn’t like the comment. They were, rightly so, mad. It is at this point that Gahamanyi told them:
“Guys, you know you are wearing my country?” He pointed to their sleeves? They all calmed down and started asking about Rwanda. They immediately thought we came from Rwanda straight to watch the game, but we didn’t give them much attention as we were concentrating on the game.
But they became friendlier, offered us drinks during half time break, took our photos at the end of the game, they told us “fair play!” They respected us.
After the game, I bumped into a Rwandan embassy official in DC; we knew each other from back in Kigali. I told him that on that day I felt what “Visit Rwanda” deal means.
“It’s powerful,” I told him.
“I wish you can go to London when Arsenal is playing the EPL games. It’s indeed powerful,” he said.
USA is investing and using these European teams on a USA tour as early marketing and promoting her World Cup hosting run. That huge crowd was a boom to MetLife stadium’s case which is to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final.
The tournament will be held in different cities across the US, Mexico and Canada. It’s a highly billed tournament which the US will throw any buck at for the best experience.
It’s the first time since 1994that US is hosting the global show. A lot has changed about the game since the last hosting but what remains unchanged is that with a football (called soccer here) is a worthwhile investment line for any country serious about marketing itself and opening up to opportunities in the world.
USA is a power not only because of its democracy and military, but the culture of investing big and massively in things that capture the public’s imagination.
Not forgetting the Europeans who are the “gods of football”, with their extravagant display in sports management and business at large. The most promising countries are copying this method and will reap big into the future.
America has already won the 2026 World Cup edition-by way of what she will gain from the hype, prestige and the millions of fans coming to spend their money here.
The writer is a diehard fan of Manchester United form Ohio, USA .
Email: goddieonly@gmail.com