“CAA Announces World Football Challenge”
If you’re the Creative Artists Agency, one of the top agencies in Hwood, and some of your clients are Steven Spielberg, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Will Ferrell, and Will Smith, the elite of the elite, what do you do in your spare time? Well, you could woo the elite of the elite world’s soccer clubs with something called The World Football Challenge:
Creative Artist Agency announced a summer tour featuring Chelsea, Club America, AC Milan, and Inter Milan that will visit six cities from July 19th to the 26th. Stanford Stadium, the Rose Bowl, the Georgia Dome, Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium, Gillette Stadium, and the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX will host games.
“Considering this country’s ever-growing enthusiasm for soccer, the World Football Challenge is an exciting way for us to introduce these world-class teams and their star players to a brand new fan base while giving existing American fans of international soccer a first-hand experience like no other,” co-head of CAA Sports said Michael Levine said.
CAA will be partnering with ESPN for the tour, with all games televised on ESPN or ESPN2.
CAA has a long history repping athletes with current superstars LeBron James and Peyton Manning on its current roster of clients.
By the way, here is a list of the “Top 25 Soccer Movies” as determined by the people at Sports In Movies:
- Goal! The Dream Begins (2005) — 8.79
- Goal! 2: Living The Dream (2007) — 8.70
- Victory (1981) — 8.55
- Gracie (2007) — 8.49
- Those Glory, Glory Days (1984) — 8.42
- Bend It Like Beckham (2002) — 8.19
- Fever Pitch (1997) — 8.18
- Air Bud: World Pup (2000) — 8.11
- Her Best Move (2008) — 8.02
- El Portero (The Goalkeeper) (2000) — 7.91
- When Saturday Comes (1996) — 7.78
- Game Of Their Lives, The (2005) — 7.76
- Merry Christmas (2005) — 7.64
- Kicking and Screaming (2005) — 7.48
- A Shot at Glory (2000) — 7.47
- Mean Machine (1999) — 7.44
- Yesterday’s Hero (1979) — 7.40
- Ladybugs (1992) — 7.33
- Great Match, The (2006) — 7.28
- Big Green, The (1995) — 7.09
- Shaolin Soccer (2001) — 7.06
- Atletico San Pancho (2001) — 7.02
- Soccer Mom (2008) — 6.89
- Soccer Dog: European Cup (2004) — 6.67
- Cup, The (1999) — 6.56
- Switching Goals (1999) — 6.55
- Sixty Six (2008) — 6.39
- Mad About Mambo (2000) — 6.14
- Soccer Dog: The Movie (1999) — 6.11
- Match, The (1999) — 4.36
Hard not to put Victory at the top of the list. I mean Sly Stallone as the token American goalkeeper, along with Michael Caine, Max Von Sydow and soccer greats Pele and Bobby Moore? Here’s the movie’s “Le Marseillaise” scene:
Compare to Casablanca’s “Le Marseillaise” scene: