NEW YORK -- Barcelonas official motto is mes que un Club, or more than a club in the Catalan language.In an effort to take over the U.S. market, the Spanish soccer powerhouse is showing that its also a global, multimillion dollar business.Looking to capitalize on its biggest assets -- superstars like Lionel Messi and Neymar -- and the growing popularity of soccer in the U.S., Barcelona opened a commercial office in New York that will lead the teams efforts to expand its business, gain more fans across the Atlantic and help the sport grow in America.We are coming to open new lines of relationships with a lot of companies, Barcelona President Josep Bartomeu said Tuesday during the opening of the office. Being in the U.S., probably other brands, other companies will like to partner with us.Barcelona already has commercial deals with four American companies -- Nike, Gillette, Gatorade and Black & Decker. It also claims to be the most popular soccer team in the country with about 19 million fans, followed by Manchester United with 17 million. The Premier League club is owned by the U.S.-based Glazer family, which also owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFL, and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.Barcelona has played in sold-out summer tours in the U.S. in recent years, and operates soccer academies in Florida and Charlotte, North Carolina, with more planned for New York and other cities, Bartomeu said.Francesco Calvo, the clubs chief revenue officer, said Barcelona generated $680 million in revenue last year. Their target is to increase the overall revenue to $1 billion by 2021, with the U.S. market considered an important factor in that growth.The (U.S.) domestic (market) is key, said Manel Arroyo, Barcelonas vice president for marketing and communications. But its also key that American companies can discover in us a platform to be known around the world.The Spanish league, La Liga, and other European clubs like Bayern Munich already have offices in New York. Barcelona opened its first overseas post two years ago in Hong Kong to oversee its efforts in Asia.U.S. and China are the main markets, the places where football is growing faster, Arroyo said.But even if other clubs arrived first in the U.S., Barcelona has something every other team in the world desires: Messi.The five-time FIFA Player of the Year has led the team to unprecedented success on and off the field, winning the Champions League four times and the Spanish league eight times in the last 10 years. His stellar play and on-field prowess translates to financial bonanza for Barcelona.Leo Messi is basic for us, Bartomeu said. Everybody wants Leo Messi on their team, and theres a reason for that. (Messi is) not only a sports objective, but more than a sports objective.Besides expanding the brand and reaching out to fans, Arroyo said the club is in New York to learn from U.S. leagues like the NFL and NBA, which he considers the benchmark in the global sports industry.The sports industry in this country is number one, without a doubt, he said, and clearly one of the focuses in this office is to learn from this country. Ralph Sampson Jersey . Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary. Wholesale Warriors Jerseys . Artturi Lehkonen, Joni Nikko and Ville Leskinen had the other goals for Finland (1-0) while Juuse Saros stopped 28 shots. Tim Robin Johnsgard had the lone goal for Norway (0-2). https://www.cheapwarriors.com/939o-sarunas-marciulionis-jersey-warriors.html . Tests earlier this week revealed a Grade 2 left hamstring strain for Sabathia, who was hurt in last Fridays start against San Francisco. Its an injury that will require about eight weeks to heal. He finished a disappointing campaign just 14-13 with a career-worst 4. Woody Sauldsberry Jersey .com) - Yankee Stadium is the home of the Bronx Bombers, but on Sunday afternoon it will open its gates to host the latest addition of the Hudson River Rivalry. Willie Cauley-Stein Jersey .ca! Kerry, Two nights after the Scott-Eriksson incident in Buffalo, the Bruins returned home to play San Jose. In that game, Zdeno Chara put a check on Tommy Wingels that clearly targeted his head. Nobody, except perhaps some of Shane Warnes opponents and text-message correspondents, has ever disputed the theory that the world is a better place with tubby spinners in it. I am not trying to be body-typist here. Tall, limby ones make a fine sight too. Anil Kumble was, so was Daniel Vettori. In his own way so was Ravi Shastri, whose long levers, to use what might be a Shastri-ism, met above his head and ran on with his action like successive arches of a viaduct.Neither is it my case that there is no joy in the tubby batsman. Inzy, Arjuna, Aravinda: wonderful. Yet batsmen are responders. They manipulate the bowlers energy. The bowlers are generators. The tubby spinner provides a spectacle unique in the athletic world. The ground is round, the ball is round, round is our spinner and round is his flight.My fellow editor Siddhartha Vaidyanathan once got into a conversation about eating with Ramesh Powar, who with his happy-man midriff, red sunglasses and occasional moonballs, changed more than the tempo of a game; he changed the entire texture. Whenever Powar went home he was given sweets and other loving food by his family, and how could he say no? Its about emotions, yaar. Somehow this answer makes me feel better about cricket than the viral video of Virat Kohlis snatch (the weightlifting manoeuvre). The reigning rajah of round now is Rangaiyya, and in this short editorial I do disservice to his bowling by focusing on his physical charms. Andrew Fidel Fernandos superb cover story has no such failings. Dont get me wrong: proper tribute is paid to the belly that turns towards the batsman like a planet rotating to face the sun, to diving stops reminisscent of the controlled collapse of a building in one of those inner-city demolitions.dddddddddddd Along with that it is a fine appreciation of Heraths bowling with its minor subtleties, his temperament (serial optimism), his immense impact in different formats of the game, his village world of Waduwawa with its coconut and jackfruit trees. One may conclude that Herath has been a jackfruit for Sri Lanka - a reference for which you must read the story.Theres plenty more in the issue. Movies appear in two places: one of Indias leading film writers Baradwaj Rangan gives us a comprehensive tour of cricket in Hindi movies, and Brydon Coverdale recalls a few great and ghastly cricket scenes in English-language films. There is a heap of interesting numerical matter: four writers on the best stats measure, and a fascinating study by Charles Davis of dropped catches through Test history. There is an essay about a mother-daughter cricket adventure in Lima.Not unlike a cricket team, a magazine has to constantly retire old regulars and debut new ones. You may have noticed some over the past few months. Since March, Mathew Varghese has been putting together a quiz (rating: difficult). Since July, Russel Herneman has been doing us a cartoon. In August, Simon Barnes, who finished off a series of his ten best cricket moments, revived a sawn-off regular, Wordplay. This month we begin another series, on cricket in fiction, written by Benjamin Golby and illustrated by Jeffrey Phillips. Fittingly, the first entry stars a Sri Lankan spinner. ' ' '