The Game: London Bridges International Marketing Gap For NFL, NBA - Brandweek

Source: Brandweek
By: B. Janoff

In a reverse cry of "The British are coming!" Londoners have been yelling, "The Americans are coming!" as the NFL, NBA and NHL have played or will play games in Britain's capital between Sept. 29-Oct. 28.

On Oct. 28, 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium will be the sold-out site of the Bridgestone International Series featuring the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants, the first regular-season NFL game to be played outside North America. Last week, the NBA dropped into London's O2 Arena as part of its six-city NBA Europe EA Sports Live '08 Tour. On Sept. 28-29, the NHL played its first regular season contests in London when the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks split a pair of games, also at the O2.

In addition to title sponsor Bridgestone, the NFL has plenty of marketing partners on board. Visa, Coors, Chevrolet, Reebok and Canon are among the companies that will activate locally via print and stadium signage and/or with TV in the U.S., during the live broadcast on Fox (1 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. local). The NBA, which is considering London as the site of a future all-star game, had its own brigade of partners: adidas, Sprite, KFC, Spalding, Las Vegas, GameStop and title sponsor EA Sports.

Why has London become hotter than a cup of freshly brewed tea? Much like the effort being undertaken to establish a presence in China prior to the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, the leagues and marketing partners want to build a foundation in anticipation of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. But shorter term, they see it as a way to impact consumers in the U.S., the U.K. and throughout Europe.

"The limited overseas series or game opens up new avenues of revenue in other markets for the leagues," said Robert Tuchman, founder and president at marketing and sponsorship agency TSE Sports & Entertainment, New York. "What would be considered an average game here in the U.S. now becomes a special event with plenty of sponsorship opportunities. It's not so much about expanding the brand in these markets; satellite television is a better investment for that. This is about creating excitement and revenue streams for the leagues today."

Among other local tie-ins, the NFL is working with Foot Locker U.K. to offer exclusive products and has been running a sweeps that includes game tickets, accommodations and passes to a Reebok party.

The NFL folded its Europe league this year (it had operated under various names since 1991) to redirect focus on single-game events. After London, Germany is "a strong candidate to host a regular-season NFL game in 2008," per the league. The NFL also wants to play regular-season games in Canada and return to Mexico City. The latter was the site of the league's first regular season game outside the U.S. when the Arizona Cardinals played the San Francisco 49ers in 2005 in front of 103,467 people, the largest regular season game crowd in NFL history. "There is great interest in the NFL around the world," commissioner Roger Goodell said during a conference call. "Playing a limited number of regular season games outside the U.S. is the next step for us in serving that interest. This is what our international fans, media partners and sponsors want."

In anticipation of the 2012 Summer Olympics, London mayor Kenneth Livingstone said that hosting the NFL game would bring more than 10,000 international visitors to the city. "London will be working with the NFL to build on this success to ensure that Londoners, NFL fans, international visitors and the tens of millions who will watch the game on television have a great day of sport and experience London at its best," Livingstone said during a conference call.

"This game offers the NFL another great special event to sell abroad," said Tuchman. "It's also another opportunity they can add to their list of mega events like the Super Bowl, Pro Bowl and NFL Draft."