This weekend the NFL finishes its two week stint in the UK, fresh on the heels of the NBA taking their brand in the preseason around the world again. MLB has exported games to Australia and Japan and conducts the World Baseball Classic, the NHL has tried Europe and Russia and will have the World Cup of Hockey all with the intention of taking brands here and bringing them “there” so that millions can experience all things about a sports property in person they can’t really embrace on a mobile phone or in a broadcast or online. It also is a great selling point for global brands who may not do well at activating in the States, but want to engage with U.S. professional sport right in their backyard. The same goes for broadcasters who probably pay a nice piece of change to carry games in the wee hours of the morning or on delay still. Every once in a while we bring you the real product, and you can maximize the opportunity.
As the new immigrant population assimilates itself to the U.S., and sports becomes more global, can we see a reverse trend growing? There have been brands looking to engage in the U.S. now finding their way through sports; Turkish Airways, Lenovo and several others, but would leagues and teams look to build their standalone brands in the U.S. marketplace?
The trend seems to be growing. Now we have seen and are well aware of the global soccer brands that have played friendlies across the U.S., and in some cases like Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Manchester City and AS Roma, have even taken up space on the U.S. with marketing offices and academies. Formula 1 has been trying to find its foothold in the U.S., with the only success being in Texas thus far. But what about others? There is evidence that the waters are being tested more and more.
In late September FIBA staged its first ever-promoted games without NBA teams alongside in Chicago and New York, with Maccabi Tel Aviv meeting another European power EA Milan at the United Center and Madison Square Garden. While there wasn’t a great deal of star power and the crowd was medium sized at bet, the first step was taken to showcase the brands in the U.S. to a core audience of basketball fans. In just a little over a week, 20/20 cricket will be staged in three MLB stadia; New York, Los Angeles and Houston, really bringing that global sport to a U.S. audience for the first time.
Then there is rugby, which will be making an entrance into the Rio Olympics with the Sevens version next summer, and has been gaining interest and brand space in the last few years. The sport is listed amongst the fastest growing on the college and high school level, but the knowledge of the professional game on the 15’s side, outside of maybe elite teams like New Zealand’s All Blacks and South Africa’s Springboks, hasn’t made a dent in the American marketplace yet.
That may all be starting to change a bit with an announcement made on Tuesday. The Aviva Premiership will export a regular season match to the United States, when two of their elite clubs, Saracens and London Irish, meet at Red Bull Arena on March 12. It will not be a friendly; like the recent NFL matchups, it will count in the standings, giving fans in the U.S. a first-hand taste of what the Premiership is all about.
This is not the first time in the last few years that rugby has tried to make a bold statement in the U.S. The Las Vegas Sevens event has drawn a big global audience of over 70,000 plus for the last few years, and should get an even bigger bump as the potential Olympic teams from around the world come to the States next March. The U.S. played the vaunted All Blacks before over 70,000 at Soldier Field last November, and had a crowd of over 24,000 for a pre-World Cup matchup with Australia in Chicago this past September. However this is different, and without a U.S. player base to pull in attention, the Premiership and the sport itself is looking to make a statement of the exportability of their brand to fans, both diehard and casual, as well as to media companies and brands who may be interested in trying rugby as a property in a growing marketplace. It also is an interesting opportunity for Aviva, the UK’s largest general insurer and one of Europe’s leading providers of life and general insurance, to spread its wings and tell its story to U.S. consumers and business partners maybe for the first time through the lens of sport.
Some feel that rugby as a property is probably now where soccer was about 20 years ago in the States, and its grassroots following leads marketers and interested parties to think that the sport, if marketed and exposed properly, could be ready for a growth spurt. Can that be spurred along by bringing the best of the best to the U.S. for a match that has real value vs. an exhibition? Americans like the real deal, so we may find out, starting in March. U.S. brands looking for a new way in, watch closely.
