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Media Kit: Archived Press Releases
Shell Shockers Score with Huge Article in Famous Tabloid Newspaper
March 13, 2006Press release from the New Orleans Shell Shockers
The New Orleans Shell Shockers have been featured in the English-language daily newspaper with the highest circulation in the world. The Louisiana team have almost a full-page story in The Sun, a London-based daily with satellite printing operations across the British Isles and Europe. Audited figures estimate The Sun's readership at around 8,500,000 — twice as many as The New York Times, three times more than The Los Angeles Times, and five times as much as The Houston Chronicle.
The enormous number is roughly equal to the complete population of New Jersey or that of pre-Katrina Louisiana and Alabama combined. If the percentage of The Sun's following in the UK was translated to the USA it would be equivalent to approximately 40 million Americans reading the paper.
Today Shell Shockers Head Coach Kenny Farrell said: “This is a huge boost for soccer in New Orleans and to sport in general for the storm-battered State of Louisiana. Many powerful European professional teams would envy this sort of coverage, and with the interest in this region post-Katrina we have a unique chance to highlight soccer in the city.”
The article is headlined: “Kenny's journey from Shel to Hell” — a pun on the fact that Kenny is best known in the British Isles from his days as a player with League of Ireland side Shelbourne. It focuses on the problems faced by the Shell Shockers since the hurricane, and there is also a team picture taken by a UK-based photographer who flew to New Orleans for the photo-shoot.
New Shell Shockers President Michael Balluff said: “Our aim is to take the team to a higher level and increase the professionalism of the whole set-up. This story is a huge shot-in-the-arm for the full-time staff we have brought on board.”
The Sun staff writer Patrick Griffin, a respected UK tabloid veteran, said: “The battle to bring soccer back to the storm-decimated city of New Orleans is a riveting tale, and just the sort of human-interest story our readers love.
“We wish Kenny and the Shell Shockers every success for the upcoming season.”