The NFL’s international expansion, particularly with games held in London, is part of a broader strategy to grow the sport’s global audience and tap into new markets. The Minnesota Vikings’ recent game in London, one of several matchups that season, highlights the NFL’s commitment to reaching fans overseas
Vikings go big with marketing push around London game
The Vikings’ marketing blitz around yesterday’s game in London “might have exceeded anything the team has done in its previous three trips” to the city, according to Ben Goessling of the MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE. The Vikings are one of six teams with NFL marketing rights in the U.K., and their ambition to build their international following was “as clear as ever this week in London.” Purple-and-gold digital ad banners “lined the hallways of London Underground stations” on Saturday, “flashing images of Vikings players on the escalators that led up to the Outernet,” a new entertainment, arts and cultural complex above the Tottenham Court tube station in London’s West End. The Outernet takeover took “nine months of planning.” Passengers who emerged at street level were “greeted by four-story LED screens that displayed animations” of WR Justin Jefferson, Vikings graphics alongside a Union Jack flag and a “360-degree view of U.S. Bank Stadium.” Former NFLer Jared Allen “posed for pictures with fans, while paid actors portraying a referee and Vikings players led fans through everything from mock football drills to a Skol chant.” The spires of Tower Bridge also were “lit in purple during the week.” For the Vikings, Friday “felt as much like a junket as a regular-season practice day.” Allen and fellow former NFLers Cris Carter and Jake Reed were “on hand for practice, before fan events in London on Saturday.” More than 30 British media members asked Jefferson about the “enduring popularity of the Griddy,” while coach Kevin O’Connell was “given opportunities to stump for the NFL’s appeal to European fans” (MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE, 10/5).
