There used to be a time when each part of the world had its own past time as far as sports were concerned. Europe would have football(soccer), Asia had Cricket, and other parts of the world like North America were more diversified in their interests(Hockey,Baseball,Basketball, American Football). But lately, I’ve noticed that restricting yourself to only one part of the world is simply not good enough for some owners anymore.
Sports franchises have learned that there is more money to be made by traveling overseas to help showcase their teams as well as their leagues. Whether or not this helps them in the long run is still questionable, but in the mean time let’s take a look at some sports franchises that have taken the plunge into marketing their teams on a worldwide basis.
The New York Yankees( United States)
It was inevitable that baseball’s most storied franchise would expand itself globally and what better of a place to start than in Tokyo,Japan. Baseball is just as much of a pastime in Japan as it is in America and is one of the only other places in the world to have its own professional baseball league. On March 30th, 2004, the Yankees opened up their season against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to showcase to the fans of baseball the American way of playing baseball. This was the second time that MLB has played their opening game in Japan coming four years after the New York Mets played a pair of games against the Chicago Cubs.
It was also a chance for Japanese fans to see their hero, Hideki Matsui, play in Japan again as he left Japanese baseball to come and play for the Yankees. Many people might not know this but MLB has a long tradition with Japanese baseball dating all the way back to 1934 when a U.S. Major League All-Star Tour of Japan featured Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Since then, Japanese baseball has flourished into its own league and has a similar skill level to that of MLB. It’s only recently though that MLB has used Japanese baseball as a marketing tool to showcase some of its franchises like the Yankees to the world. What’s next for MLB?
How about the World Baseball Classic which will begin in 2006 which will have several teams from different countries competing against one another to call themselves the best country in baseball. More on that will follow in a separate article but for now it’s nice to see the Yankees getting some exposure over in Japan.It’s no surprise that after the Yankees; the remaining 4 teams all come from football (soccer) leagues with football being the largest sport in the world.
Manchester United FC (England)
Manchester United has long been a historic football franchise in Europe. During the 90s the team went public on the stock exchange and ever since has been turned into a marketing powerhouse. A team that was once all English has recently seen its roster diversify into more of an international team with star players joining them from all over the world. They have star strikers like Christiano Ronaldo from Portugal, Ruud van Nistelrooy from the Netherlands and goalkeeper Tim Howard from the United States.
Also during the 90s came the emerging spotlight on star David Beckham whose model-like good looks helped him gain advertising deals around the world and helped to put Manchester United on the global stage. The past couple of summers the team has held international tours of countries in the far east like Japan and Malaysia and has also stepped foot into North America where football has yet to capture the imagination of fans unlike in some other countries.
With a new American owner, it’s still questionable whether the red devils will have the same marketability in the next few years but what remains certain is that its ventures into other countries have certainly helped them gain some extra revenue that the team didn’t have before to spend on potential future stars for the Manchester United Football Club.
Real Madrid (Spain)
Real Madrid is undoubtedly one of club football’s most successful teams to play on the pitch. Spain’s most successful team with 29 Spanish league titles and 17 Spanish Cup wins. Real Madrid’s record nine European Champions Cup titles arguably makes it Europe’s team to beat at any given moment. They increased their profile in 2003 when they signed superstar midfielder David Beckham to a 40 million dollar transfer fee from Manchester United.
Being one of football’s richest clubs also allows you to buy other talent as Real Madrid boasts to having 5 of the top 10 soccer players in the world on their team . Imagine having Wayne Gretzky ,Mario Lemieux and Mark Messier all on the same team and that is the type of star power that Real Madrid has at their disposal with the likes of Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Micheal Owen and Roberto Carlos on their team.While these acquisitions haven’t helped Real Madrid to stay competitive lately with them exiting the European Champions League in the round of 16 last year; their star power has helped them to expand the team more globally than ever. At the 2002 World Cup in Asia, David Beckham was treated like a rock star and when he moved to Real Madrid in 2003 his replica jersey sales alone helped pay for most of his salary.
Beckham’s fan base is huge in Asia and it helped to have Real Madrid expand into the Asian market by touring the region and playing a few exhibition games while over there. In 2005 , Real Madrid inched closer to the USA marketplace by playing a few exhibition games against some Mexican clubs. Beckham’s exposure also helped him have his name on the cover of a film (Bend it like Beckham) which received praise by critics in the USA.
With media appearances geared up in the USA soon, it could lead to more exposure for the club in the USA which is the toughest region to break into and get worldwide attention. Real Madrid will surely dip into signing some new superstar soon and hopefully with increased success on the field , it will lead to better success internationally for them.
Chelsea FC (England)
This west London club was nearly bankrupt in 2003 until Russian oil tycoon Roman Abramovich stepped in and bought the club. Since then, he has poured billions of dollars into the club and hired 2004 European Champion Manger José Mourinho to coach the club. Under Mourinho’s eye, the club started to buy star after star for record transfer fees and in only 1 year managed to capture the English Premier League Title from under the grasps of such clubs like Arsenal and Manchester United.
With successful appearances the past 2 years in the European Championships, Europe and the rest of the world have taken notice to this up and coming powerhouse team with unlimited financial supply thanks to their billionaire owner who’s willing to spend the big bucks and see them win championships. In 2005 they branched out into the USA and played some exhibition games against MLS Champions DC United and took a tour of New York City while training there in preparation for the upcoming season. On Aug 23, 2005, Chelsea FC signed a sponsorship contract making Tourism Malaysia one of the Platinum Partners of the Club. Malaysia will become the official travel destination partner of Chelsea FC in a deal set to further increase the club’s standing in South East Asia.
AC Milan (Italy)
It certainly helps when the Prime Minister of Italy owns the team, as is the case with AC Milan. Silvio Berlusconi is Italy’s richest and most powerful man by being a business tycoon and helping his soccer club become one of the most feared and respected teams in all of football. Milan has major sponsors in Opel and Adidas and recently returned from a tour of the USA as well.
Ukrainian striker and European footballer of the year, Andriy Shevchenko, has helped AC Milan stay as one of football’s most dominant clubs in the Serie A in Italy and has brought Milan to The Champion’s League finals twice in the past 3 years. Milan needs to promote their star better in Asia and tour a bit more to that side of the world to help their exposure even more and with the Prime Minster of Italy behind the team that certainly won’t be a problem.
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