ExperienceXI — a new youth soccer platform backed by Nike — says it is “designed to connect players, coaches and club leaders with elite training environments, coaching education, global competitions and the game's most meaningful moments.”
The Atlanta-based platform will work with Nike-affiliated youth clubs and offer “turnkey programming” across several areas:
Experiences at U.S. Soccer’s new national training center in Atlanta
Match day activations tied to USMNT and USWNT; global events activations
International programs, tournaments at Nike-aligned European academies
Domestic, international coaching education through licensing pathways
Custom programming for Nike’s top youth clubs
ExperienceXI said it has already had two events at the NTC with the local Concorde Fire Soccer Club. Additional planned events include symposiums tied to international matches in Atlanta and an 11-day U.S. Club Soccer training program with pro teams in London.
The company is “also building an operating model designed to extend the same framework to additional sport categories over time, with soccer serving as the foundation.”
This sounds fascinating and we will be efforting to learn more. A few quick thoughts in the meantime:
1) Rush Soccer CEO Justin Miller told us Nike was making a major push to be more involved at the grassroots level when his organization landed its new global partnership with the sneaker giant.
This new platform is more proof the Swoosh is serious about that effort. The press release notes one of Nike’s motivations is “moving the relationship with youth clubs from sponsorship into ongoing engagement and meaningful connection.”
2) International youth soccer junkets are not a new concept. But ExperienceXI is positioning itself as going beyond and offering “programming that is not commercially available through traditional soccer travel providers.”
Or, more bluntly: "We don't sell trips. We create environments that expand how people train, compete, lead, and essentially, how they see and feel the game," co-founder and president Phil Hill said in the release.
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