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June 5, 2023

Open Application, Winner-Take-All Format Here to Stay Following TST Success

The Soccer Tournament (TST) was played for the first time this past weekend in Cary, North Carolina. Newtown Pride

FC won the 32-team seven-on-seven competition and the $1 million prize that went along with it.

TST is the latest creation from Jon Mugar, founder of The Basketball Tournament (TBT). But his latest sports property had a different structure than the ten-year-old summer hoops tourney–outside of its core open-application and winner-take-all tenets.

It was played over four days (not several weeks), featured some of the highest profile clubs in the world (not collectives of former college stars) and took place in an outdoor festival setting (as opposed to in various gyms on campus).

“We want to do things that are original and not being done in the market,” Mugar said.

High-stakes, open-to-all tournaments remain a novelty in American sport today. However, that looks set to change in the years ahead. Now that Mugar and Co. have proven capable of innovating (see: Elam ending) and executing across multiple sports, there are plans to rapidly expand a budding portfolio of properties.

“We would like, and plan to, introduce a new sport, or a new version of a sport we’re already doing, every year [moving forward],” Mugar said.

TBT debuted as a half-million-dollar, winner-take-all tournament in 2014. The inaugural version of the event went well enough that ESPN elected to carry select games in year two.

“For the next [eight] years, it was really growth year over year in every way possible,” Mugar said.

The TBT founder had thoughts all along the way of expanding the open-application, winner-take-all format to other sports. But it wasn’t Mike Volk, a TBT fan and a former NCAA champion, reached out on Linked-In and urged Mugar to give soccer a run that the concept for TST was conceived.

TST took the World Cup format familiar to global soccer fans (think: three-game group round, 16-team knockout stage) and accelerated it so the entirety of the tournament could be played over a long weekend.

The short time frame –and atypical seven-on-seven format– enabled TST to draw high profile teams and players (see: Noah Beck, Steve Nash, Sesc Farbregas) that may not have participated had the tournament followed a more traditional schedule or required larger rosters.

“The more condensed the [games], the more types of players and personalities you’re going to appeal to,” Mugar said. And clubs “can be very lean and efficient with how [they] assemble the roster” when it is only seven to a side as opposed to the standard 11.

Cutting down on the number of players per team also helped to open the game up and make it more exciting to watch. TST included a version of TBT’s popular Elam ending ensuring every game would end on a goal too.

"The format produced some really entertaining moments and matches," Sam Porter (co-managing owner, Club Necaxa) said.

TST generated revenues from entry fees, brand partnerships and ticket sales.

“We [were] sold out for this [past] weekend” at WakeMed Soccer Park, Mugar said. “We [had] 35,000 people [over the seven sessions].”

The event was set-up like the U.S. Open (tennis), with action taking place on several fields at the same time. There was a sponsor village, a food festival, autograph sessions, hillside seating and standing room around the ancillary fields, all helping to create a festival-like atmosphere.

14 brand partners activated in the sponsor village, including Ally, BODYARMOR and Anheuser-Busch InBev. Eight months of runway and an influx of high-profile participants enabled TBT to exceed internal sales expectations.

“This is where we were in year five of TBT,” Mugar said.

Moving forward, the efficiency –and opportunity– for the business is in introducing additional properties.

“We have a core team of 12 full-time year-round. [But] when we launch additional sports, we don’t have to add another 12 full-time people. We can predominantly scale up through contract workers and a relatively small number of hires,” Mugar said.

The largest expense associated with adding a new property is the tournament prize. 

TBT and TST have been largely family-funded to date. The former posted record revenues in '22 and is said to be "close to profitable."

However, Mugar recognizes the value of strategic capital and is willing to consider it.

The company's next property won’t look anything like TBT or TST. However, it will certainly incorporate the core tenets his properties have come to stand for: high stakes and open access.

“Game sevens are the best [in sports]–and not marginally better. They are way better than regular season games [because they are zero sum],” Mugar said. “The opportunity we saw 10 years ago was representing stakes.”

The TST founder also believes it is a “great fan experience when you have teams from different leagues [competing against one another].”

That can only happen if a tournament is open to clubs from around the world. Teams from West Ham, Borussia Dortmund, Club Necaxa and Wrexham Red Dragons all participated in TST this past weekend.

While each of those clubs undoubtedly wanted to win the million-dollar prize, the opportunity to gain exposure to the U.S. market and a new audience was incentive enough for many to participate.

“Ultimately sports is entertainment and we [thought] TST [would] be a competition format that is entertaining to fans while simultaneously exposing different fan bases to teams they might not be familiar with,” Porter said.

The open-application model also allows longshots, those dreaming of playing or working in sports at a high level, the opportunity to compete against the world’s best.

“We have over 100 basketball fanatics, at any given time, thinking about the team they are going to assemble and enter into TBT,” Mugar said. “Now the same can be said for soccer.”

Those hardcore fans are a powerful marketing vehicle for the tournaments and can help them to tap into new fan communities. Remember, the model welcomes participants of all shapes and sizes, from non-profit organizations to influencers and existing professional and collegiate teams; and each of them has an existing audience.

“Sports is a collection of affinity groups, and traditionally, they have been geographic based,” Mugar said. “But with everything that has happened in digital media and social media over the past decade, there are now many ways [for a rights owner] to develop rooting interest.”

The emergence of streaming technology has also made challenger sports properties, like TBT and TST, more viable today than they were just a decade or two ago.

“15 years ago, you would have had to go to a small number of potential outlets [to get exposure],” Mugar said. “Now, there are a lot of different ways you can deliver value to your sponsor partners.”

27 TST games aired on Peacock. The championship game was broadcast live on CNBC.

The other 36 games were streamed “everywhere, every which way,” Mugar said, including on TST’s social channels and across some of the individual club accounts.

“Another team, Dallas United, [had] a prominent Twitch streamer Castro1021 with millions of [fans on the platform streaming games],” Mugar said. 

The goal was to get the new product in front of as many potential fans as possible. 

Dallas United withdrew from the tournament on Thursday evening after one of its players was alleged to have a used a racial slur in a match.

For those who missed it, NBC is re-airing the million-dollar game between Newtown Pride FC and SLC FC

on Sunday June 11 at 2p EST.