What is the Premier League Summer Series and is it worth it for them?
Starting lineups for Chelsea (left) and Brighton Hove Albion (right) stand at the center of Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia before the first Summer Series game begins. This game on July 22, 2023 had 65,128 fans in attendance. Photo by Alex Lott
English soccer is returning to the United States.
The Premier League announced on Monday that the second iteration of the Premier League Summer Series will happen this summer from July 26th to August 3rd. The series, featuring four Premier League teams, will be held at three U.S. stadiums as the Premier League hopes to increase support in America. Pre-sale tickets open on March 13th and general ticket sales are available on March 14th.
For this iteration, the teams are AFC Bournemouth, Everton, Manchester United, and West Ham United. There will be doubleheaders at each stadium, meaning each team will play each other once. The stadiums are MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for July 26th, Soldier Field in Chicago for July 30th, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for August 3rd. It will follow the same format as the previous Summer Series, with the winner being the club with the most points. For those unaware of the soccer point system, it’s three points for a win, one for a tie, and no points for a loss.
This series will be the second soccer competition hosted in the United States this summer. The Club World Cup happens from June 14th to July 13th, with 32 teams across the globe competing. Two English clubs will participate, Chelsea and Manchester City, but neither will be part of this Summer Series.
The first Premier League Summer Series happened in 2023, with Aston Villa, Brentford, Brighton Hove Albion, Chelsea, Fulham, and Newcastle participating. Chelsea won the inaugural event, with each team playing three games using the soccer point system. The games were played in five stadiums: Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Red Bull Arena in New York, and FedEx Field in the D.C. area.
It was mostly a success, averaging 44,000 fans per game. The Chelsea games had the most attendance as they were the most popular team participating in the event. There were individual games and doubleheaders, with the doubleheaders all having over 40,000 fans. The largest crowd was 70,789 at a doubleheader, Brentford versus Brighton and Newcastle versus Chelsea. The least popular game was Fulham against Ashton Villa at Exploria Stadium, with 16,134 fans attending. The capacity there was 25,000 and it featured two less known teams globally. The Premier League learned from this, implementing all doubleheaders, using large American football stadiums, and featuring prominent teams. It also helped that the Summer Series happened in July when baseball was the only major sport played.
Manchester United is one of the most successful teams in England and is beloved globally, making them an easy choice for inclusion. Everton is also a familiar team with a rich history, being one of three clubs to be founding members of the Football League and Premier League. West Ham United has quite a past in east London, producing several World Cup winners in their academy. AFC Bournemouth is the smallest of the clubs participating, but they have garnered more media attention this season with their impressive rise to European competition contenders. Bournemouth also features well-known American midfielder Tyler Adams, which probably factored in their selection.
In the past decade, the Premier League has tried to reach more U.S. viewers. They currently have a media rights deal with NBC Sports until 2028, with games airing on NBC, USA, and streaming on Peacock. Last season was the most watched Premier League season in the United States, averaging 546,000 viewers per TV match window. It also included the most watched game in the U.S., Manchester City versus Arsenal, at 2.12 million viewers for a Sunday game in March.
It is more difficult for the Premier League to get U.S. viewers because it is not known as a soccer country. In most other places in the world, soccer is extremely popular, if not the most popular sport in a country, so it makes sense that the Premier League focuses its marketing in America. With the success of the last Summer Series, the Premier League made some adjustments and decided to do it again, hoping to increase fan support and viewership numbers for the next season.
The Premier League is smarter than other soccer leagues to garner U.S. viewers, as Major League Soccer is not as well-known and competitive. Will the Summer Series work to bring in more fans? Probably, but you don’t know until it happens.