The Denver Broncos, of American football’s NFL, have agreed a new partnership with Genius Sports, the international sports data technology company, to build fan engagement in the Mexican market.
Through the tie-up, the two parties have collaborated to launch a new free-to-play game ahead of the upcoming 2022 NFL season.
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The prediction-based Broncos Escogelos game will give fans the chance to win prizes by predicting everything from who will score the first touchdown to the final result.
The Genius partnership is part of the Broncos activating their International Home Market Area (IHMA) rights in Mexico.
The franchise claims Mexico City is the biggest hub for Broncos fans anywhere in the world outside of Denver and the new game will be made available in Spanish to build their following in the market.
Last December, the NFL gave 18 of its 32 franchises access to 26 IHMAs across eight countries, a major initiative designed to give teams a strategic boost in building their brand appeal and fanbase globally.
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By GlobalDataSince January 1, the teams have been able to market their brands, drive fan engagement, and increase their commercial efforts in their allocated territories.
Mexico has been allocated the largest number of franchises, with nine teams having rights in the country.
As well as the Broncos, the Arizona Cardinals, Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers, and San Francisco 49ers have been assigned to the market.
Mexico is among the territories outside the US where the NFL stages regular season games. It will hold its first game in the country since 2019 this year when the 49ers face the Cardinals at the Estadio Azteca.
Genius Sports is also the NFL’s exclusive distributor of real-time and official play-by-play statistics, NGS data, and official sports betting data feed.
The company provides free-to-play games to several sports leagues and organizations including the NFL, basketball’s NBA, baseball’s MLB, and soccer’s world governing body FIFA.
Josh Linforth, managing director of media and engagement at Genius Sports, said: “Our new free-to-play partnership will provide massive value and engagement to both the Broncos and their fans.
“Fans will be able to test their knowledge of all aspects of the Broncos’ games while the team will be given a bespoke new solution to grow their international audience, drive new sign-ups, and deliver new value to their sponsors.”
Marisol Villagomez, the Broncos' director of multicultural marketing, added: “The Broncos are excited to engage with our Mexican fans in a new and exciting way. This will allow our current Mexico-based fans to interact more closely with our brand and the game of football, while also attracting a new audience, and welcome them to Broncos Country.”
Meanwhile, national network Fox has revealed it has almost sold all of its advertising inventory for the 2023 Super Bowl.
Mark Evans, the executive vice president of ad sales for Fox Sports, revealed 95% of the broadcaster’s Super Bowl ads have been purchased with just five or fewer 30-second slots left to sell.
It was revealed in July that brewing giant Molson Coors has purchased a spot for the 57th edition of the league’s showpiece.
The company will make its first Super Bowl appearance in more than 30 years after rival Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) recently ended its spell as the exclusive alcohol sponsor for the game after 34 years.
In 2022, Super Bowl ads sold for more than $7 million for a 30-second spot. It is believed that Fox has sold several ads at a similar value, which could represent a record price for a 30-second spot in the game.
NBC’s 2022 broadcast of Super Bowl LVI generated around $434.5 million, according to Kantar, the market research group.
According to the NFL, last year’s championship game attracted a total of 208 million viewers.
The 2023 Super Bowl is scheduled to take place at State Farm Stadium, home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, on February 12.
Elsewhere, the Detroit Lions have teamed up with IT solutions provider Trace3.
Under the deal, the firm will serve as the franchise's official analytics partner and use its data intelligence to “enhance the fan experience” at the team’s Ford Field stadium.
The Lions will work with the company to construct a Trace3 ‘analytics war room’ that is housed on-site at Ford Field.
From this room, the franchise’s data analytics team will focus on optimizing the game day experience through monitoring of real-time metrics from ticketing, concessions, retail, attendance, parking, and more.
Alex Ballew, the Lions’ director of data strategy and insights said the partnership with Trace3 is “an opportunity to continue to leverage insights now, as well as expand into other areas of focus in the future, including crowd intelligence, player data and more."
