Investing in a midlevel Italian soccer club would not be up for discussion by many towns on the opposite side of the globe. However, the recent legislative showdown in the US Virgin Islands could prove to serve as a case study for many tourist towns. On September 20th, Senator Wayne A.G. James garned enough support to override the governor’s veto on legislation that would provide a $50,000 sponsorship to the Montescudaio football club.
This legislative landmark had its humble beginnings with the suggestion of Italian architect Alessandro Sonetti. He had mutual friends in government in the Italian village of Montescudaio and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Consequently, he proposed the formation of twin city alliance. A formal ceremony was held in the town of Montescudaio and while attending the ceremony, Senator Wayne A.G. James conceived a brilliant idea to put forth a sponsorship deal for the local soccer club.
With the statistics to support his idea, Senator James realized that this move would be an amazing marketing effort to capture a larger share one of his nation’s most coveted imports-Italian tourists. Traditionally, Italian tourists arrived during the low season, visited the island nation longer and patronized its top end establishments.
When word of the pending sponsorship first hit the media waves in early August, the US Virgin Islands receive millions of dollars of free publicity. It was reported in Times Square, the Vatican’s FM station and Yahoo! Finance. Now that the legislation has passed, Senator James can claim a victory for his idea and his country’s bottom line.
