How the J-league can improve it’s popularity

The J league’s popularity is growing but they are concerned because the best Japanese players are moving to European clubs. The league has tried many strategies to increase it’s popularity. Do you think they will be successful?

• Sign the Japanese stars who went overseas when they are older

• Sign aging superstars like Iniesta, Podolski, Villa

• sign Asian stars (from Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, etc)

• Friday night games

• Teams can independently make and design merchandise

• The annual league was split into 2 leagues each year. Then there are playoffs.

Background information:

Japanese stars at the twilight of their career may accept a lower salary than usual to move back to Japan.

They result in a lot of fans buy tickets and merchandise

The aging non-Japanese stars also sell merchandise and increase international interest in the league

Kobe now has sold the most tickets and merchandise since signing Iniesta

Young Japanese players can learn a lot practicing with and getting advice from these legends

So far European audiences haven’t been watching J League on TV but J League signed a TV deal with the UK starting in the 2020/21 season

Only the Korean and Thai players have been successful in Japan so far. Thai fans watch J League on-line

Friday night games allow more games to be shown on TV but it’s tough for fans and families (after work, take the train home late). The UK start

The new merchandising rules let teams customize goods to their fans and let them adapt quickly to changing trends