Current:Home > ContactChiefs want to be ‘world’s team’ by going global with star power and Super Bowl success -TrueNorth Capital Hub
Chiefs want to be ‘world’s team’ by going global with star power and Super Bowl success
View
Date:2025-04-15 14:41:16
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Patrick Mahomes circled the Frankfurt game on his calendar when the NFL schedule was announced.
“It’s really cool just to be on this stage, the world stage, in Germany,” the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback said Friday. “I’m excited to be able to play out here.”
The Chiefs are excited, too, because the game against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday at Deutsche Bank Park is a big step for an organization with global ambitions to become the “world’s team.”
The blueprint is simple enough. They have won two of the past four Super Bowls, they have dynamic stars in reigning MVP Mahomes and All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce, and the NFL has prioritized international growth. Taylor Swift just adds to their good timing.
“We feel like this is our era,” Chiefs president Mark Donovan said. “Based on the timing, the success and the stars, it’s a responsibility to take advantage of this. If we don’t aggressively take advantage of this, that’s a failure.”
The Chiefs have commercial rights in Germany under the league’s global markets program, meaning they can sign corporate sponsorship deals, hold events to attract fans and sell merchandise as they do in their home markets. That country list includes Austria and Switzerland, as well as Mexico.
The NFL added a 17th game to the schedule to facilitate playing more games abroad, and it is reviewing Spain and Brazil as future hosts, one of them possibly for the 2024 season.
“It can be looked at as maybe arrogant. I like to look at it as ambitious, but we want to be the world’s team,” Donovan said. “We think the opportunity exists today for us to set a foothold that we are the world’s team, that people look at the Chiefs as an international representation of the NFL.”
They say they have some numbers to back it up, too. The NFL told the Chiefs that they are No. 2 in “revenue generated from the international markets,” Donovan said. He declined to say which team is first, and the NFL didn’t comment.
The Chiefs have played two other regular-season international games, winning in Mexico City in 2019 and in London four years earlier.
This one is different, though. The global markets program only took effect in January 2022, the Chiefs have another Lombardi Trophy, and Mahomes is increasingly the face of the league following the retirement of Tom Brady.
“From our standpoint, we’re going to be aggressive in looking at additional markets, and we’re going to be aggressive in looking at additional games,” Donovan said. “We think games are the best way to have that foothold activation.”
With the league studying Spain and Brazil, those two countries are atop Kansas City’s list of potential next markets, Donovan said.
The Chiefs are “talking to the league” about ways to play more international games. As is, they are a big draw around the U.S., so other teams don’t want to give up the revenue that comes with a visit from Chiefs Kingdom. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for example, rejected the Chiefs as the “away” team for their game in Munich last season, Donovan said.
Kansas City is the designated “home” team in Frankfurt, as will be the New England Patriots next week against the Indianapolis Colts.
The Chiefs have spent about $1 million in preparation and fan events for Frankfurt — that includes docking a Chiefs-themed yacht in the Main River. Over the past nearly three years, the team has spent about $3 million on its international efforts, with the majority invested in Germany, Donovan said.
“It’s going to pay off over time,” he said.
The late Lamar Hunt was an early proponent of going international. The Chiefs have played preseason games in Japan, Mexico and Germany.
A memorable preseason game took place in August 1990 when the Chiefs played the Los Angeles Rams at Olympic Stadium in West Berlin after the Berlin Wall fell and just before reunification. Media reports said there were 55,000 fans.
Growing an international fan base these days “is much easier to do now because of social media, because of the digital delivery of games,” Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said this week.
As for becoming the world’s team, Donovan acknowledges it won’t be easy.
“It’s a big, audacious goal,” he said.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
veryGood! (6963)
Related
- Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
- New Hampshire gets its turn after Trump’s big win in Iowa puts new pressure on Haley and DeSantis
- Uber shutting down alcohol delivery app Drizly after buying it for $1.1 billion
- North Carolina election board says Republican with criminal past qualifies as legislative candidate
- Working Well: When holidays present rude customers, taking breaks and the high road preserve peace
- The Baltimore Sun is returning to local ownership — with a buyer who has made his politics clear
- Hit your 2024 exercise goals with these VR fitness apps and games
- Hit your 2024 exercise goals with these VR fitness apps and games
- Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
- New Zealand’s first refugee lawmaker resigns after claims of shoplifting
Ranking
- NFL Week 15 picks straight up and against spread: Bills, Lions put No. 1 seed hopes on line
- Emmy Awards get record low ratings with audience of 4.3 million people
- Josh Duhamel and Wife Audra Mari Welcome First Baby Together
- Linton Quadros – Founder of EIF Business School, AI Robotics profit 4.0 Strategy Explained
- Who's hosting 'Saturday Night Live' tonight? Musical guest, how to watch Dec. 14 episode
- Officials respond to pipeline leak at Point Thomson gas field on Alaska’s North Slope
- Linton Quadros's Core Business Map: EIF Business School
- Massachusetts governor unveils plan aimed at improving access to child care, early education
Recommendation
At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
At 40, the Sundance Film Festival celebrates its past and looks to the future
An investigation is underway after police raided the wrong Ohio house, sending baby to ICU
Introduction to Linton Quadros
Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
NYPD says 2 officers shot during domestic call in Brooklyn expected to recover; suspect also wounded
RHOSLC's Meredith Marks Shares Her Theory on How Jen Shah Gave Heather Gay a Black Eye
Attention, Taco Bell cinnamon twist lovers. There's a new breakfast cereal for you.