Bayern Munich has agreed to a global content deal with Yahoo Sports, the fourth such partnership for the German soccer club since it opened its U.S. office in February '14. The deal was scheduled to be formally announced this week. It follows earlier deals for the club with MSN, Univision and Goal. Editorial and video content club will be syndicated through Yahoo, with a focus on audiences in the U.S., Latin America and Central Europe. Yahoo also will produce and distribute original content about the team for its audience, such as exclusive player interviews and features. “The goal with our media partnerships is to gain visibility in the market and reach new audiences through the largest sports platforms available,” said Rudolf Vidal, the Managing Dir of Bayern Munich’s U.S. office, a N.Y.-based location that has five full-time employees. Vidal declined to comment on terms of the agreement, but the content will be available across Yahoo’s English-, Spanish- and German-language platforms. Bayern has previously identified the U.S. and China as core markets for its globalization efforts. Taking aim at Central Europe and, in particular, Latin America adds to that international push. “While our primary focus remains the U.S. market, we do keep a close eye on Central and South America, where there is rapidly growing interest in FC Bayern and German soccer, especially since the World Cup in Brazil in the summer of 2014,” Vidal said. For Yahoo, the content partnership with Bayern plays into fans’ desire for exclusive and behind-the-scenes content, said Yahoo Germany Head of Media Gunther Picker. “Across the world, soccer is one of Yahoo’s most-searched-for topics, and in Europe, soccer regularly generates over half of our page views on Yahoo Sports,” he said.
