For a long time, soccer, or as it’s known globally, football, has been lauded as America’s “sport of the future.” And that prediction is slowly becoming a reality. It is now the fastest-growing major sport in the US, with a 52% increase in adults considering themselves soccer fans compared to 2012. And this universally beloved game recently overtook Ice Hockey as the fourth most popular sport in the country.
With growing recognition comes the need for greater coverage, which has resulted in accelerated broadcasting of the sport in the US. Major League Soccer (MLS) recently announced a revolutionary 10-year TV rights deal with Apple and its streaming platform, Apple TV+. Colorado Rapids, one of the founding clubs of the MLS, assigned Boulder, Colorado-based sports photographer and filmmaker Matt Trappe to create a club profile film for the platform, the biggest of many new assets required by Apple to fill out the new platform.
Matt was an ideal choice for the assignment due to his emphatic ethos of creating compelling campaigns with a strong cultural impact. Moreover, with every project, he strives to help brands define and evolve their creative strategy to reach their goals and grow. The Rapids know about Matt’s skillset better than most and have collaborated with him various times in the past.
I’ve been working with The Rapids for a few years now. These projects were on a visibility level they have not had before, and they typically bring me on in this situation.
The impact of sports culture and how it unites people has always had a strong influence on Matt, which he strives to encapsulate in his work. The local visual creator is also a big soccer fan, playing it regularly growing up, meaning he has an intimate understanding of the sport and league.
I am very interested in weaving engaging stories within the sports world that are more than just hype sizzle. The breadth of this project was perfect for my interests.
Firstly, Colorado Rapids and Matt collaborated to determine the messages and points they wanted to hit in the film. Matt then took the information and structured it to be entertaining and in the spirit of the club. Alex McGeorge, the Vice President of Media at The Rapids, played a huge part in crafting the vision of the film, as did the club’s video producers, Shelby Daniels, and Mike Revollo.
We created a working creative deck where we sought to bring the film to life by balancing all of these elements.
The film’s objective was to introduce The Rapids to the world through its history, club culture, supporters, and all that entails living in Colorado. As an original MLS member, Colorado has a strong history and community of fans.
This approach paralleled what it means to live in Colorado – the mountains, the weather, and the strong community they have created in our state. We had inspiration we worked from, including several of ESPN’s 30 For 30 docs and the Welcome to Wrexham series.
Matt filmed a monologue for each section with club legend Drew Moor at several spots around the area that aligned with each topic. They also had several days of an indoor interview setup. Furthermore, this was an archive project, and a lot of work was done searching and organizing an expansive catalog of team footage.
Drew spent a lot of time with us on set and brought invaluable energy and insight to the project.
Matt is always relaxed and fun on set, empowering a productive working environment.
Matt Corliss helped play DP, audio, and lighting expert for all shoot days, and I can’t thank him enough. When you prepare heavily, you can feel confident and keep the stress low during a shoot. That carries over to the comfort level of the subjects on camera, so it’s incredibly important.
It wasn’t the first time Matt had worked with The Rapids, so nothing felt new, but it was the biggest assignment they had done together, so they spent more time planning and on set than usual.
The Rapids team puts a lot of trust in me, and their staff supports me heavily with all the tools and resources I need. They are fantastic.
Matt’s biggest challenge was fitting 26 years of the club’s history into one 15-minute film. Confronting questions such as: which players he’d include and which parts inevitably get left out. Consequently, crafting the scope was an ample challenge.
Apple gave Matt two months to plan, shoot and edit the project, and that timeline overlapped with the holidays and the New Year, meaning the logistics were complex. Scheduling several interviews during the off-season was also problematic because the players live worldwide and aren’t always accessible. Yet Matt pulled through thanks to his vast experience and flexibility to adapt to any situation.
Juggling all of these challenges took some planning and creativity.
Matt’s career interests have evolved over the years, and he is perpetually excited about leading the creative facets of a brand. He is inspired by the challenge to take all of the intangible aspects of what a brand “is” and bring them to life through tangible story-based content that goes beyond the superficial and to the source.
Branding on a high level takes longer than a one-shot project like this, but the scope of this particular project made for a great exercise and a great demonstration of my ability as a CD. Moving forward, The Rapids brand can build a year’s worth of future content by spinning off aspects of this film, and I take pride in laying that groundwork.
Despite encountering multiple prominent soccer stars on the project, Matt’s greatest takeaway was featuring the team’s first season ticket holder, an eccentric fan named Andy.
He was an absolute gem. He’s a true superfan, and his passion and personality jumped off the screen. His interview was very exciting for all of us. Also, we are in the planning phase and moving forward on more spin-off content from this film now. So watch for more on the AppleTV MLS Season Pass portal.
You can watch the full Apple TV+ Colorado Rapids club profile by Matt Trappe below:
See more of Matt’s work on his website.
Credits
Vice President of Media at Colorado Rapids: Alex McGeorge
Video Producer: Shelby Daniels
Video Producer: Mike Revollo
Director of Photography: Matt Corliss
Further Reading
Read more about Matt on our Published blog.