American football’s National Football League has once again expanded its Global Markets Program (GMP), through which it awards marketing rights for international territories to teams, and for the first time, all 32 NFL franchises are now involved in the project.
The Buffalo Bills (Canada), Cincinnati Bengals (Canada), and Tennessee Titans (Ireland) are the final three franchises to gain their first international markets.
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Other new additions to the program announced earlier in 2025 include the addition of both Greece and the United Arab Emirates as new markets, taking the total to 21, and the Baltimore Ravens, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Chargers, and Washington Commanders franchises all also entering the program for the first time.
One prominent move in the latest round of additions to the program has been from the Kansas City Chiefs, which added the UK, Ireland, and Spain to its roster of international markets, which also includes Austria, Germany, Mexico, and Switzerland.
With seven international markets, the joint-most in the NFL, the Chiefs are making a play to become the international team of the NFL.
Speaking to Sportcal (GlobalData Sport) at the launch of the Chiefs’ presence in the UK, Lara Krug, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at the franchise, commented on its international strategy, saying: “We've tried to take a similar but tailored approach per market. In Germany, we were one of the first clubs there, and we took a first mover approach.
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By GlobalData"We actually have a couple of local sponsors that are only in Germany. In Mexico, we are one of many clubs there, so we took a social and digital first approach, and now have brought on some partners there.
“I think when we look at the UK, we know that the league and many other clubs have been here for quite a while, so I think our approach here is around making sure that we connect with the British fans and then find the right opportunities with partners that want to help grow our brand and the sport as much as possible."
When it comes to connecting with partners internationally, many franchises can also call to extend US-based partnerships with international firms to their new global markets. While this does create strong bonds and allow added inventory for existing partnerships, the global demographics of the NFL allow franchises to bring in new partners from different markets that have never before been able to capitalize on the massive popularity of the NFL.
“I think that's something we've been talking a lot about, [targeting] partners that may not be endemic to sport, but that makes sense. We see this growing opportunity from an audience perspective, and 57% of our fans are female. That certainly unlocks a whole new opportunity for brands who might want to be getting into this space, but have not thought about sport in that traditional way.
"So I think we'll we'll certainly be open to many different conversations and taking the best of what's been working in some of the other countries.”
On what the Chiefs brand means and how it sells itself to potential new commercial partners, Krug continued: “We do think there's a formula, to a certain extent, as to why fans are so are gravitating towards the Kansas City Chiefs.
"Our performance on the field has certainly helped, being in the maximum amount of prime-time [broadcast windows that you can play. We've played every single day [of the week] other than Tuesday at this point, getting to be part of the first ever Christmas day game on [international streaming service] Netflix, being part of the Brazil game this year on YouTube globally, being part of the first Thursday Night Football on Amazon a couple of years ago. I think that's been a big part of it.”
In Germany, the Chiefs are now one of 11 active franchises, one of 10 in Mexico, one of nine in the UK, one of six in Ireland, Austria, and Switzerland each, and one of three in Spain. Despite the struggles of these crowded markets and the fact that the Chiefs simply cannot play in each of them every season, Krug is confident in the team’s strategy to maximise its utility in all of these markets.
She said: “We do plan on activating around every single international game with the brand. So, while we may not be playing in all the games, we do plan on bringing an activation to Dublin, London, Spain, Berlin, and Brazil while we are there. So we do want to show up.
"I think that's been our biggest lesson, just looking at other clubs, is that if you only activate when you're playing a game, it is going to take a very long time for your brand to resonate with fans. I think our approach is frequency and consistency.”
