Kansas City Chiefs Join With SPORTFIVE To Help Grow Their Presence In Germany

The National Football League is on the rise in Germany, where the league currently has more than 19 million fans, according to the NFL International Fan Tracker. The league is especially popular among young people, as it is already the second most popular sport on television among the German audience between 14 and 49. In addition, the NFL will play the first regular-season NFL game ever played in Germany in 2022, the first of at least one game per season for the next four years.

“We have discussed that a thoughtful, long-term commitment will be required for us to reach our goals in Germany and beyond,” Chiefs Vice President of Partnerships and Premium Sales Kim Hobbs said. “Aligning with SPORTFIVE and its team of professionals will help us reach and exceed those goals and will offer us the chance to learn more about the opportunities in front of us along the way.”

“We’re proud to have been selected by the Kansas City Chiefs to help grow their fan base and business opportunities in Germany,” said Neil Glat, Co-President, Americas at SPORTFIVE. “The Chiefs are an iconic franchise with one of the most exciting rosters in the sport, and this partnership is a great opportunity for us to utilize our expertise to help the Chiefs grow their tremendous brand and business globally.”

“The Kansas City Chiefs are one of the most exciting teams in sports with a long-term vision of becoming a globally leading sports team,” said Christian Koller, Head of Rightsholder Internationalization at SPORTFIVE. “We are excited to be working closely with them to make this vision a reality within the next years.”

The partnership with SPORTFIVE follows the Kansas City Chiefs being granted marketing and commercial rights to the German market as part of the NFL’s International Home Market Area (IHMA) program. The IHMA program grants NFL teams access to specific international territories for marketing, fan engagement and commercialization as part of an important, long-term strategic effort to enable clubs to build their global brands while driving NFL fan growth internationally. The league has said it will use its best efforts to ensure clubs play international games in their International HMAs, where possible.

SPORTFIVE has more than 30 years in global sports marketing experience and has a proven track record of successfully managing and executing international development initiatives for some of the world’s most renowned sports rights-holders including Atlético de Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Los Angeles Lakers, and New York Jets. The agency has an extensive presence in Germany with its global headquarters in Hamburg, more than 22 local offices, and more than 18 comprehensive marketing and sales agreements with leading German sports rights-holders in the Bundesliga, amongst others. SPORTFIVE advises various high-profile brands in sports marketing and develops valuable partnerships through its robust local sales network