MARKETING AN AMERICAN CLASSIC ACROSS THE POND

In September 2008, Forbes dubbed the NFL "the strongest sport in the world." With annual league revenues of roughly $6.5 billion and each of the 32 NFL teams worth $1 billion on average (compared to only four professional soccer teams worldwide worth over $1 billion), the NFL has also proven one of the most lucrative and financially resilient sports leagues worldwide. Forbes' August 2008 list of the world's best paid athletes, however, seems to tell a different story As you'll notice on the chart the names of even the superstars of the NFL, such as LaDainian Tomlinson, Tom Brady, and Peyton Manning, are nowhere to be found. American football has long been just that: American.

Even baseball, a game some might consider more American than football, has gained a substantial following in Japan and Latin America. But considering the amount of athletes' earnings that come from marketing contracts, it's no surprise that the top 10 (and in fact the top 20) are dominated by sports such as golf, soccer, basketball, and tennis, which hold a much more global appeal. For all its success, the vast majority of the NFL's market remains in the United States.

Over the years, numerous attempts have been made to export American football overseas. Its most recent endeavor, NFL Europa, closed down in 2007, without any plans for a replacement. The league originally was designed as a development league, costing team owners about $500,000 per year, which would allow up-and-coming NFL players more field time, and the NFL for some years was able to cite the successes of two-time MVP Kurt Warner and Super Bowl quarterback Jake Delhomme. But Warner and Delhomme played in NFL Europa in 1998 and 1999, and since then the league had produced only journeyman players at best.

By its final season, despite some improvements in attendance, the league had shrunk to six teams, five of which played in Germany. NFL Europa had lost money 15 years straight and was largely being used by NFL owners as a place to stash extra players during training camp. Over the last two years, the NFL has started trying another tack. Rather than promote spinoff leagues, the NFL introduced the new NFL International Series, a program that exports real NFL games overseas.

In 2007, the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins played the first NFL game in London's Wembley Stadium to a sellout crowd of over 83,000 fans, followed in 2008 by the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers. The original game in 2007 proved that offering the real thing to an international audience could generate a lot of excitement, and the game itself provided the Giants a momentum boost in the midst of a run that ended with a Super Bowl victory. In 2008, based on the previous year's success, the NFL made numerous efforts to expand the event in hopes of generating exposure to the London market and reaching out beyond the current fan base. First, in 2007, the teams arrived in London only a couple of days before the match.

In 2008, the teams were brought over at the beginning of the week. They held practices throughout the week to which the media was granted access, along with press conferences. At the same time, the Saints' cheerleaders had scheduled various appearances to mingle with the crowds throughout London. The Saints were designated as the home team, and the league promoted them heavily, decorating the stadium with Saints banners. They also hosted a "Taste of New Orleans" festival earlier in the week at the London O2 Arena and a Mardi-Gras-style pregame tailgate party. Perhaps one of the biggest boosts was the agreement the league reached with the BBC to broadcast the game live, which would potentially add an additional 2 million viewers.

Previously, NFL games could be viewed only on a British pay channel, which garnered about 120,000 viewers per week. Though the program is still young, it has produced promising results, and the NFL hopes to continue the International Series over the coming years, possibly playing more than one game overseas, perhaps even having Wembley host a Super Bowl. A 2009 game in London has already been officially scheduled between the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The league has also considered China as a possible venue for a preseason game; however, due to recent economic constraints, these plans have yet to come to fruition. In the meantime, the NFL has identified education as a key factor in sustaining interest in London (and other potential foreign markets) beyond a one week NFL-fest to a level of understanding where fans tune in every week.

After the 2007 game, the league performed surveys among Londoners about what they liked best about the game. One of their top answers was the strategy. Compared to more internationally popular games like soccer, American football is extremely complex, and if viewers don't understand it, it will be difficult for them to appreciate its strategic value.

To help with this, the NFL launched an interactive Web site to help present new fans with the basics of American football in laymen's terms. With a cast of fictional characters playing roles in a fictional football organization, led by the hard-nosed Coach Stilo who quizzes viewers on what they're learning as they go, and guest appearances by real NFL football players face-to-face without their helmets, viewers are led through a series of 18 episodes in which they learn the basic terminology, positions, plays, and strategy.

The Web site is available in English, Spanish, French, Japanese, and Mandarin. In places like China, the terminology does not translate well, so the league has invented new a nomenclature that better fits with the language. All in all, the NFL believes that a better understanding of the game will make a huge difference in drawing fans in as it continues promoting American football overseas.78

Questions

1. Discuss the NFL's current strategy for global market entry. How has this strategy changed and why did the NFL make these changes?

2. Discuss the major environmental challenges that the NFL has encountered and how they have addressed these.

3. Examine each aspect of the global marketing mix for the NFL International Series compared with marketing mix for NFL Europa.