NFL Grants Select Teams With International Marketing Rights

Vikings & Seahawks Get Canada

Twitter / @NFL345

After weeks, and countless discussions regarding how soccer can grow into the North American market, it’s time for a change of pace. In this article, we’ll be discussing how American Football plans on growing the game globally with the announcement of International Marketing Rights being granted to various teams.

Let’s start by answering the question on all of our minds, what do these marketing rights allow for? In short, the teams that were designated with International Marketing Rights now have the ability to grow their brands in these areas similar to how they do so locally. Meaning you will now be able to see more teams adopt an approach that Jacksonville Jaguars had with the UK and London. Some of the items you can expect would be: collaborations with sports and entertainment groups within those international markets (e.g Vikings collaborating with MLSE in Toronto, or OSEG in Ottawa), corporate sponsorship, fan events, merchandise sales, etc.

This is a fabulous idea. Not only because it’s allowing the game to grow to a global audience but the approach is spot-on. By designating various markets to select teams, it will allow for each club to have its own approaches that meet the needs of each culture. Surely, you can’t approach the Rams audience in China the same way as you would with the Vikings audience in Canada.

Brands, like Disney, have had issues in the past with global expansion when they tried to introduce an Americanized product into foreign markets, such as Euro Disney. As much as these foreign markets appreciate the American product that is the NFL, you still need to be wary of not forcing America down their throats and not respecting their traditions. A perfect example would be Euro Disney initially not allowing alcohol to be sold in the park. Big no-no by the French public.

Therefore, lessons can be learned by past global brands and their international expansions. Understand and respect the culture you’re operating within and curate an approach that allows for your product to adapt to their culture. We’ll make sure to stay up to date with each new development and share the good, bad, and ugly of the NFL Granting Select Teams with International Marketing Rights.

Published: December 17, 2021 - Issue 18 of The Sport Marketeer