introduction
[Wen Yan] Last week and this week, two NFL games were staged in Germany. This is the concrete embodiment of the cooperation between Bundesliga and NFL. For the most conservative Bundesliga, can NFL help it to go international?
Compile Zhang Bin
[1]
Last Sunday, in front of 50 thousand fans at Deutsche Bank Park Stadium, the Kansas Chiefs fought the Miami Dolphins. Fans enjoy sports, entertainment and American customs. NFL football game is famous for its noise, arrogance, brutality and cruelty. The chiefs finally won by 21-14. In this process, every pause in the game is filled with as much noise, entertainment and advertisements as possible.
This is the second NFL game in Germany. A year ago in Munich, the NFL brought the game to Germany for the first time. On Sunday, another NFL game was also played in Frankfurt. Accompanied by the marketing storm, the NFL can bring its influence to a brand-new territory.
German football hopes to follow the example of NFL.
In order to compete with the lavish Premier League, the Bundesliga must go beyond the domestic boundaries. Although the relationship between the Bundesliga and the NFL is somewhat irrelevant, the NFL has become a part of the Bundesliga strategy.
The cooperation between NFL and the German professional football league, which operates Bundesliga and Bundesliga, can be traced back to 2020. At that time, the Bundesliga became the first major league to return to normal after the epidemic, and the NFL returned later that summer. Before the reunification, the NFL consulted the German professional football league. Since then, the cooperative relationship between the two sides has been deepening, and finally a memorandum of cooperation was signed last year.
Frankfurt’s tradition of American football can be traced back to the end of World War II. The facilities of Deutsche Bank Park Stadium and the giant pendulum scoreboard hanging high above the stadium are also convincing signs for hosting the competition. The headquarters of the German professional football league is in this city, and it is no coincidence that the NFL chose to land in this commercial capital of Germany this year.
German football is restricted by law and ideology, which affects its position in the agreement. It is impossible to hold the Bundesliga outside Germany; It can’t hold its own international series. If the German professional football league openly considers the possibility of hosting overseas matches, it is not difficult to imagine how much anger it will arouse. The result will be very real.
[2]
The 50+1 rule requires that 50%+1 shares of the club must be kept in the hands of members, and supporters should be regarded as shareholders. This means that supporters have the right of agency. Managers who are inconsistent with the philosophy of club fans may be fired. In the Premier League, discontent is usually associated with “So what?” This indifferent attitude is linked. In Germany, no management member is stupid enough to believe that they can hold the Bundesliga competition in Shanghai, Dubai or Dallas.
The German professional football league is well aware of this. Christian seifert, the agency’s then CEO, promised that overseas competitions would “never” happen by 2020. Pierre Norbert, the chief marketing officer of the overseas market business of the Bundesliga, said that nothing has really changed since then.
“The competition between Bundesliga and Bundesliga is so deeply rooted in German society that it is very difficult and cruel to bring any of them to other different markets.” Pierre Norbert said in an interview with TA, “There has always been discussion about the Super Bowl, and” never “may not be that important.”
However, he quickly followed up and clarified, “However, there is nothing on the table and there is no discussion.”
The Super Cup is somewhat similar to the Community Shield Cup before the Premier League season, which is held between the Bundesliga champion and the German Cup champion every summer. This is still a sensitive area. For some fans, this is the first domino. If you let it fall, it will have an unstoppable momentum. Therefore, this has become a controversial conflict point and an insurmountable bottom line.
From the perspective of league development, this is another complicated situation. The Bundesliga is not a star league. Their clubs don’t have so many stars who have great appeal in other countries, and they hope they can get a lot of business income there. Coupled with the inability to hold competitions outside Germany, they have to seek innovative solutions and are not allowed to make any mistakes.
[3]
There will be no NFL game in Dortmund, and Carsten Kramer is sure of that.
Dortmund Club’s office is located in the shade of Signer-Iduna Park Stadium (formerly westfalen Stadium). The weekend before Dortmund played Bayern Munich, heavy rain beat against the windows and the streets below were filled with water. As an executive of Dortmund Club, Carsten Kramer explained that although their stadium has the conditions to host American football games, they will never.
“I doubt whether the NFL team can benefit from a club like Dortmund, or whether Dortmund can benefit from the NFL team. It doesn’t make sense that American football has no real connection with this city. This does not mean that I criticize Bayern and Frankfurt here, because they have different positioning methods. I am still very happy that other clubs can hold such competitions, because many times we have to follow the requirements of the Bundesliga. “
Recently, many attempts to comply with the norms of the Bundesliga have not progressed smoothly.
Last season, in the wave of opposition from fans all over Germany, 36 top clubs in Germany voted against a deal. The deal will sell 12.5% of the Bundesliga media rights to private equity companies in exchange for 2 billion euros-40% of which will be used to finance international business and digital content creation, and the remaining 60% will be used to subsidize the infrastructure reconstruction of various clubs.
Carsten Kramer and Dortmund are among the supporters. They believe that this investment will enable the club to conduct more overseas trips and training camps overseas. However, those clubs that disapprove (11 clubs voted against it, 5 abstained, and the proposal needs two-thirds consent to be approved) oppose unfair distribution methods and the spread of marketing influence. In short, another domino fell.
It is expected that the plan will eventually reappear in some form, but doubts remain unresolved. The act of holding a vote is confrontational enough and the atmosphere is very tense.
In the “National Derby” between Dortmund and Bayern, a banner appeared in the south stand of Signer-Iduna Park Stadium-“DFL (German Professional Football League) and investors: we are staring at you!” This is not an empty threat.
For many fans, ideological protection is as important as success.
Although Bayern set a record of 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles and won two Champions League trophies, their success did not ease the attitude of fans. They oppose the establishment of a business partnership between the club and Qatar Airways because of the human rights record of the Gulf countries.
In November 2021, at the annual general meeting of shareholders, an open debate took place and the meeting fell into chaos. Shareholders openly questioned Hulbeart Heiner, president of the club, and Kahn, then CEO of Bayern.
“We are Bayern! You are not! ” The fans shouted.
Like any federal country, Germany is full of conflicts. German football teams often reflect this difference, at least in the vitality and enthusiasm of the stands.
Kramer described Dortmund as a product of the Ruhr area and a representative of Germany’s tough and industrialized west. What matters, he said, is the people in the stadium and the city where they live. He believes that this is what makes westfalen Stadium unique.
However, how can we export our values without betraying the principles of the club or angering members, and without relying on the star power that Dortmund can no longer bear?
“When we enter foreign markets, whether in the United States or Asia, we will try our best to keep the club in close contact with the public. This means that we try to avoid using the exclusive terminal as much as possible, try to open the door to open training classes, and interact with the fans after the game. This club is people-oriented. We don’t just regard it as a business trip, and the goal is not just to disappear immediately after getting a large game check and sneak into another city. ” Kramer said.
Since 2008, Dortmund’s annual business income has increased from 39 million euros to 1.5% in 2022..7.4 billion euros. According to the latest data from Deloitte, Dortmund is the 13th largest club in Europe in terms of total revenue. Their size and relative wealth do not represent the whole Bundesliga, even so, they have to make fancy sales promotion.
[4]
The NFL provides the background for this difference; This is the most striking part of this partnership. Last Sunday, the match between Emirates and Dolphins was a carnival of QR codes, commodities and chief partners. During the suspension of the game, a snack partner fired bags of cornflakes at the crowd with an air cannon, and the fans never stopped competing to appear on the big screen or were urged to “make noise”.
This is very interesting. The NFL wants the public to like it, so that it becomes irresistible during the three hours of a game.
The Bundesliga club can learn some of these skills when playing overseas. Understanding the local culture is priceless, as is sharing facilities and introducing famous stars and broadcasting talents. These are all necessary tools to penetrate into new places.
However, as the banner warns, extreme fans are glaring. It is unwise for any business leader to play sledgehammer games or fire many air cannons, even if these happen thousands of miles away. It always takes great care to push these clubs to the world.
Because of these narrow restrictions, the innovation in broadcasting is particularly important for the present and future of the Bundesliga. The soul of German football lies in its stadium and city, but the popularity of broadcasting technology has made more people participate in it.
The official APP of the Bundesliga is more detailed and has more data than the official APP of the Premier League. The ball-level acoustics recently mentioned by the German Professional Football League is another enhancement function, which is a microphone network widely used on the side of the stadium and can be adjusted at any time according to the position of the action.
In the first week of November, the Bundesliga also introduced a new ultra-accurate shooting speed index. Besides propaganda, they do enhance the content of digital sports.
The Bundesliga and American media giant ESPN signed a six-year broadcast agreement in 2019, and now it has been four years. Tim bonnell, senior vice president of ESPN, said that exploration is one of the reasons why the Bundesliga attracts partners. “When we look at the Bundesliga, our advantage is the production level. One thing we like about the Bundesliga is that it is not only innovative, but also willing to try new things. It can accept some fresh ideas, and even these ideas are not what we often think of. “
This is an interesting point of view. Maybe this is the area where it overlaps with the NFL.
Although English football believes that they are good at self-promotion and can make contracts sweeter, the Bundesliga has NFL-like determination to make people.Children like it. It wants you to know how hard it works and what it is willing to do.
It is expected that the agreement between Bundesliga and ESPN will be extended beyond 2025. One of the cornerstones of their future strategy will be Goal Arena, a service launched on ESPN+ streaming media this season.
Goal Arena will broadcast five Bundesliga games simultaneously at 3: 30pm on Saturday. Of course, this is not an original idea. The seven-hour advertising-free Red Zone product broadcast by NFL Network every Sunday has long been the market leader, while in Germany, the Bundesliga has had its own version-Konferenz on TV and radio for many years.
This is the role that German traditionalism and cultural conservatism are playing.
Although there are five kick-off times in each Bundesliga round, five games a week are scheduled at the sacred time of 3: 30 pm on Saturday. There is no TV stop like that in England, which means Konferenz has become a regular part of sports weekends. It is ready-made, authentic and can be exported overseas.
Norbert hopes that the Goal Arena can stimulate the imagination of young audiences. “We have turned obvious disadvantages into advantages because we can create products with such versatility,” he said. “We know that young people don’t have to spend 90 minutes focusing on a game. Now they have the opportunity to browse the game and see different things: there is a goal here, a penalty there and a red card here.”
Tim bonnell emphasized that focusing the games together does not necessarily lead to the described situation of goals, penalties and red cards, and it has proved to be valuable for non-top clubs: “In the United States, many Bayern and Dortmund attract the most attention. Goal Arena provides a chance to reach fans for clubs one level below them. Audiences are also used to instant gratification. It is absolutely part of the idea to always take action. “
“Always act” is undoubtedly the concept of the NFL. For Europeans who watch football games for the first time, the lack of sensory relaxation is shocking and even oppressive. Entertainment activities can never miss any node. There is always something to see, listen to, even scan and buy.
One question is that the NFL has too long games and too many interruptions. Another view is that the Football Association does not allow enough space for a large number of entertainment activities, nor does it want its product packaging to adapt to today’s popular culture.
[Wu]
The Bundesliga will never be like the Premier League.
One of the most striking comparisons is the income obtained by various leagues from foreign markets. The Bundesliga contract with ESPN is worth 35 million euros per season..Yuan. The contract signed by the Premier League with NBC in 2021 is worth 3 per season..8.2 billion euros.
This gap needs to be narrowed-and the Bundesliga does not have the help of superstars and sovereign wealth funds, nor does it have the ability to correctly push its products to new audiences.
Any new strategy must interweave irrefutable factors such as identity, social responsibility and local pride, and guide fans to become more intense and admirable in protecting their initial intentions after seeing the supporters of other countries eroded.
Can technological development, overseas competitions and cross-project partnerships bring local identity and shared facilities?
This is one of the most subtle and fascinating stories in European football: how to sell things that can’t really be sold?