Borussia Dortmund’s USA Tour 2019: The importance of playing friendlies abroad

Long pre-season tours to far off countries have become a part and parcel of every big club’s calendar. Some find it unnecessary, while others absolutely love it, here’s how the scales balance.

Not a lot of people really care about preseason. Most fans would be quick to tell you it is comprised of pointless matches played far from home with mottled lineups of 16 year-old academy prospects and 33 year old athletes who have become part of the furniture on the bench, giving a full 60% effort for a bit of fitness and, if they’re lucky, a tinpot trophy. Others may speak of fitness, ticket sales, and growing the image of the club, but to most the scales seem unbalanced.

Many may think of it as only benign, but an invested fan may tell you differently. They watch watch with bated breath as their star players run across the field dodging slide tackles from D-list footballers they’ve never even heard of, only to score a goal they don’t care enough to celebrate. Athletes run a high risk of injury playing in these games, and it often appears to be high risk and low reward.

That being said, sometimes tournaments feature heavyweight clashes between giants of the European game. Granted it doesn’t really mean anything, and supporters of the losing club will always be quick to remind you. Beating a big club would mean nothing, but the criticism would be endless for losing to a foreign minnow.

Despite all this, it must be done for a reason. Fitness, sure. Ticket sales, maybe, but there has to be some other compelling factors driving clubs to invest their time overseas.

Borussia Dortmund spent a few days in the United States recently, travelling first to Seattle, Washington, and then to South Bend, Indiana to play friendlies against the Seattle Sounders and Champions League holders Liverpool.

Those who watched the games online or on TV probably enjoyed a look at fresh young talents like Reyna, Pherai, and Raschl as well as watching new signings such as Brandt, Schulz, and Hazard make their debuts, but it is a laughable concept to be truly excited by the action itself.

There is, however, the matter of growing the clubs footprint in a country where “soccer” is increasing in popularity. In Uli Hesse’s “Building the Yellow Wall”, he calls Borussia Dortmund “everyone’s second club.” Football lovers living in the stateside are often disappointed with the quality of play, which is indisputably inferior to that which exists in Europe. For this reason, supporters often look across the pond to get their fix; it is games like these that suggest they direct their gaze on the Westfalenstadion.

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At Century Link Stadium last Wednesday, it was difficult to tell Seattleites from Die Borussen. Half and half matchday scarves, typically scoffed at by supporters from both sides of the Atlantic, seemed to sit on the shoulders of nearly every fan. Shops in the stadium usually reserved for Sounders’ merchandise shared significant space with Dortmund memorabilia, and many mixed a Sounders jersey with a Dortmund scarf or hat.

The Seattle Sounders official website reported a crowd of nearly 38,000 in the stadium, only 2,000 shy of their average season game attendance. Fans came from all around; for example, there were license plates from the neighbouring state of Oregon in the garages surrounding the venue, which entails a three hour drive from the closest point in the state. One fan at the game even reported an eight hour drive from Boise, Idaho; nearly two states away.

In tandem with that it is important phenomenon to understand is how an American fan picks a club to support. Without boasting the geographic or cultural ties to European teams, the way a club is selected can be quite whimsical.

An older fan can choose based on values, success, or other aspects like the perceived quality of a fan base. Contrarily, younger converts pick on much more fickle terms. There are those who support AC Milan because their first jersey, those who support Manchester City because they’re the club that’s winning the most right now. For a young American, one of these matches could be the point where they become a Dortmund supporter for life.

For Americans, there are two draws to Borussia Dortmund. First and foremost, they gained publicity as the club that had Christian Pulisic– it is notable that Giovanni Reyna was given a substitute appearance in Seattle and a full debut in South Bend. Secondarily, there is the draw of the Yellow Wall; the idea of a strong and loyal base of supporters anyone would want to be a part of.

Through these friendlies, Dortmund seeks to bring itself to more people, across a wider geographic range. By diversifying the fan base, the club expands the stature of the team as well as adds to shirt sales. The United States is beginning to produce young, talented players, and by increasing prestige in the country, they become a team those prospects want to play for.

Notwithstanding all if this, the BVB Instagram and Twitter accounts lit up with sponsored posts courtesy of the tourism administration of the cities they visited. In Seattle, the players took a cruise on Lake Washington and visited the Space Needle; In South Bend the players were pictured with NFL team Indianapolis Colts.

Setting benefits to the club aside, there is little more enthralling to a foreign fan than watching the likes of Marco Reus stroll out onto the pitch and make a mockery of an MLS defense. Supporters who are residents of Dortmund can stake a claim to the club that is perhaps more legitimate than most, but for a fan who does not have the opportunity to see a live performance every week, it is an incredibly unique and exciting opportunity to see your team come within hundreds of miles of where you live.

My experience watching Dortmund in Seattle

I attended the match in Seattle myself, driving a long five hours up Interstate 5 to Century Link Stadium in Seattle. In all my years as a fan, the team had never toured within ten hours of my home town. I waited all of April ripe with anticipation every year, only to see Borussia Dortmund would be heading to China, or Chicago, or to the enticingly close Bay Area.

Finally, this summer they were within touching distance. Taking the time away from work and setting aside the money for gas wasn’t given a second thought. The whole venture would cost only a little less than $100, but once the players stepped onto the field there was no questioning that it was more than comparable to the value of the experience.

I found it to be a surreal experience in spite of myself, watching those players trot out onto the field. I had the unparalleled experience of identifying first-teamers by the back of their heads from the seats above the tunnel. I was surrounded by fans of the Sounders (normally the arch-rivals of my state’s MLS team), who were more impressed with BVB than with their own players.

After the game kids and adults alike rushed to the walls to get the autographs of the players who had just dispatched their hometown heroes. There is a wonderful accompanying feeling when you realize what these people are gaining from this game. Not only did they see a real team play some high quality soccer, but now they could be fans for years to come. Moreover, it could also inspire young kids to follow their stars and become soccer players in the future.

Knowing what being a supporter of Borussia Dortmund has given me, it is hard not to acknowledge the intangible amount of good that comes from a simple 90 minutes far from home.