HellaFrank

February was a rough month. Especially now that I’m in New York, February is bone chilling cold, the sun is still setting very early, and worst of all, once the Super Bowl is over, professional sports hit an all time low: mid-season NBA, mid-late season college basketball, some sport that’s played with a puck (mid-season as well) and golf. If you got excited by any of those, you and I have our differences, my friend (except golf, now that Tiger’s back).

But all negativity aside, I think February presents an opportunity for sports. Between the Superbowl and March Madness is more than a full month. That’s the perfect amount of time for a tournament, much like March Madness — fast paced, single elimination, every game counts. Pull sports fans out of their boredom and give them what they want: excitement! The World Baseball Classic is a great example of a tournament that lasts a short time and keeps people (somewhat) gripped to their television. But that starts in March just as March Madness is ramping up.

Ok, ok, I’m presenting a problem, but no solution. Well here it is: soccer. We all know Americans have not taken very well to domestic soccer leagues, but this is not a indication of a lack of interest in the sport. In fact, every time the World Cup rolls around, all of a sudden everyone is a soccer fan. So I suggest a tournament on American soil with 16 of the top international teams (USA obviously included) competing for the title. Put a decent marketing budget behind it and I think we have ourselves a thrilling February sporting event, and a way to increase American interest in a sport that just can’t seem to catch on.

It’s the answer to our February sports woes, a way for us to relate to the rest of the world again, and an awesome excuse to get out of the cold and into our favorite local bar and scream USA!

One of the LaunchSquad partners, Jesse Odell, recently interviewed Kellogg innovation professor Andrew Razeghi about innovation in a down economy. Some really interesting stuff (including discussion about artisanal bread and doggy hotels) and I encourage you to check it out:

Why Innovation Will Bite Back: An Interview With Andrew Razeghi