EAL MADRID paid $132 millionfor soccer superstar CristianoRonaldo and $94 million for anew striker, Kaka. But the most

widely known and costliest sign-ing was LA Galaxy’s payout of$250 million for David Beckham.Securing great players can be

extremely expensive. Owners beton these players with the hopethat they will help win champi-onships and bring a loyal fanbase.

In Washington, D.C., however,Major League Soccer team D.C.United’s owner has a differentstrategy. Will Chang is searchingfor talented underdogs with thebelief he can make them intohuge stars, creating Cinderellastories.

Chang knows about makingdreams come true for unknowntalent. He was one of the vision-aries and financial backersbehind “The Million Dollar Arm”reality TV series, an idea hatchedto find baseball talent in India.Yes, India. People thought Changand his partners were crazy, butover 30,000 people tried out intowns across India to see whocould throw a baseball thefastest. Achieving speeds up to 90mph, Rinku Singh and DineshPatel won the contest and arenow in the United States playingfor the Pittsburgh Pirates minor

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34 THE INDIAN AMERICAN January-February 2010

SPORTS

A Million Dollar The search is on, again. This time, though, it’s for asoccer player. The owner of a Washington, D.C.-based sports team is looking to India to find the nextRonaldo. And the lucky winner stands to gain a million bucks, Joanne Flynn Black writesMan

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UNITED WE STAND: From left, CaptainJamie Moreno, former coach Tom Soehn,owner of D.C. United Will Chang, newlyappointed assistant coach Ben Olsen andplayer Christian Gomez.

Jamie Moreno of DC Unitedtaking control of the ball in a

game against Real Madrid

league team. Recruiting underdog talent

can also have another benefit –additional media coverage. Eventhough the Pittsburgh Pirateswere in last place this season,having Singh and Patel on theteam led to a special multipagepull-out section in SportsIllustrated Teen, full-length fea-tures in The New York Times andUSA Today. Plus coverage fromCNN and ESPN. Not to mentionIndia-specific media like TheIndian American magazine andthe Desi Talk newspaper.

If the story didn’t already havean element of validation forChang, Sony Studios just boughtthe rights to the movie on thelives of Singh and Patel: fromrural villages to Hollywood. Nowthat is an underdog success story.

Riding on the success of “TheMillion Dollar Arm,” Chang’s nextventure is to take this conceptand apply it to finding soccer tal-ent in India. “The Million Dollar

Kick” search is scheduled to startin fall. For soccer, however, kick-ing a ball fast is not enough todetermine whether someone willbe a talented soccer player.

“We look for something called‘Soccer IQ,’ ” Chang says. “It’s asixth sense. A great soccer playerhas 360-degree radar.” As anexample, he points to JaimeMoreno, a D.C. United player

who always knows where every-one is at all times, both on hisown team and the opposition’s.

Chang also cites Barry Bond’sfielding capability as a baseballexample. “As soon as the ballleaves the bat, Barry knowswhether to step forward or stepback. It’s instinctive.” With helpfrom a sports psychologist,Chang is trying to figure out how

January-February 2010 THE INDIAN AMERICAN 35

Sony Studiosjust bought therights to themovie of thelives of Singhand Patel: fromrural villages toHollywood. Nowthat is an underdog success story.

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EYE ON THE BALL: JamieMoreno of DC United

weighs his options in a gameagainst Columbus Crew.

SPORTS ICON: LA Galaxypaid $250 million

to get British sports iconDavid Beckham.

Talking Points

36 THE INDIAN AMERICAN January-February 2010

to determine if that instinct existsin new talent.

What “The Million DollarKick” has that “The Million DollarArm” did not is brand-namerecognition. “We won’t have tocombat initial skepticism that‘The Million Dollar Arm’ had,”says Ash Vasudevan, a co-founderof the reality TV series.

He says Singh, the eventualwinner, initially was not going totry out because he didn’t believethat it was real. Vasudevan saysSingh told him, “Until I saw thecheck I did not believe that I wasgoing to get the money.”

Another advantage “TheMillion Dollar Kick” has is thatsoccer is known in India. “Unlikebaseball, soccer is the second-most popular sport in India,”Vasudevan says. He then jokes,“Well, the Top 10 most popularsports are cricket, one throughnine, and soccer No. 10.” Whethersoccer is No. 2 or No. 10 it is at

least played in India, which is ahuge head start from where theybegan with baseball.

So what motivates Chang totake on risks no one else will? Hesays part of it is to help youthhave a change in their lives. Hewants to give youth in Indiahope. “In many developing andpoor countries, the only ticketout of poverty is soccer. In manyparts of Africa and Latin Americakids dream of playing profession-al soccer,” Chang says. “I suspect,the same phenomenon will sooncome to India.”

Vasudevan’s view on Chang’senthusiasm is: “What excites Willmost is discovering raw talent,spotting talented players whenthey are young. Will wants to beknown as one of the people whohelps discover talent.”

It is clear that Chang has apassion to create a unique globalexperience. Understanding hisbackground can help to piece

together his own driving forces.Chang’s father, Tsi Ming Chang,was born in Ningbo, China, justoutside of Shanghai. He immi-grated to Japan in 1949 and methis wife, Yoshie Fujino. WillChang was born in 1956 inOsaka, Japan.

“Being bicultural and bilingualin a homogenous society likeJapan was a unique experience,”Chang says. At 14, he was sent toMillfield School in England,where he studied for four years.There, his view of the worldexpanded as he interacted withpeople from across the globe,including a roommate from AbuDhabi.

After graduating fromMillfield, Chang came to the U.S.to study at Harvard University,later moving to California to starta trading and investment busi-ness. “My father and I were veryearly pioneers to open up tradebetween the U.S. and China. We

“What excitesWill most is

discovering rawtalent, spotting

talented playerswhen they are

young. Will wantsto be known as

one of the peoplewho helps

discover talent.”

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CHEERING ON: Soccer starsCristiano Ronaldo, second

from left, and Kaka enjoy amoment with youth soccer

players ahead of a D.C.United vs. Real Madrid game.

Talking Points

38 THE INDIAN AMERICAN January-February 2010

If Chang can successfully

bring over Indianplayers and

develop them, hebelieves he canget members of

the Indian community toattend games.

started in 1976, at the tail end ofChina’s Cultural Revolution,”Chang says. “I feel like I havetraveled from Japan to England,Boston, San Francisco, China,and now with my latest venture,India a journey of going west,west, west, west and farther west.All this travel and meeting peo-ple from many countries, cul-tures and societies have con-tributed to my global view.”

In addition to the primarygoal of helping to build talentand change lives, Chang’s busi-ness sense is also in play for thesearch. “Fans rally behind anunderdog,” he says. “They wouldrather root for someone whocame from nowhere, than some-one bought for lots of money.”

Also, there is a large Indian-American population in theWashington, D.C., area but theydo not come out to watch soccer.If Chang can successfully bringover Indian players and develop

them, he believes he can getmembers of the Indian commu-nity to attend games. It is likely

they would rally behind some-one from their native countryjust as it happens today for play-ers from South America andother countries.

“Cross-border sports market-ing is something that has beengoing on for a long time, but thesport world began to take it seri-ously when recent top foreignpro athletes from countries likeChina and Japan started to openup markets in their home coun-tries for American brands. YaoMing, Ichiro (Suzuki), (Hideki)Matsui are few of the names thatcome to mind,” Chang says.“India is a huge market forAmerican brands, but there areno household-name athletesfrom India ... yet.”

So, after the monsoons havepassed in India this year, thesearch for the next “Cristiano”Patel begins. In the process,Chang may help some youngplayers’ dreams become realit

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GREETING FANS: Below,Ronaldo gives a thumbs up

to fans before the D.C.United vs. Real Madrid game.

Ronaldo

y.