NFL teams are pressing on with marketing efforts geared toward women, including fan clubs, special events and hosting stops by The NFL Style Lounge, a retail show that offers makeovers and female merchandise.
The Style Lounge was on display at Bank of America Stadium on Oct. 5 during the Carolina Panthers-Chicago Bears game, and women appeared to have no hesitation doing business with the NFL given the league’s handling of domestic violence cases.
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Carolina Panthers fans check out merchandise at The NFL Style Lounge, which was on display at Bank of America Stadium Oct. 4-5.
Photo by: Huntley Paton |
Jackie Stinson of Stanley, N.C., was among those who visited the attraction and said she had no problem patronizing the league in light of recent incidents.
“I’m a domestic violence victim from earlier in my years,” Stinson said. “And I don’t have a problem with the NFL; I have a problem with the individual. I think it’s an individual thing — and they should give them some help instead of just disqualifying them and having them lose everything that they’ve worked hard for. They
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need help and counseling, as do the victims.”
Jennifer Baucom of Kannapolis, N.C., said she chooses to look at the positive role models in the league.
“Certainly I think about those things,” Baucom said, “But I have sons who are 11 and 8, and they look up to certain players in the league. And they watch the games and the news and know people do good things and bad things. Like [Panthers linebacker] Luke Kuechly — we just got his jersey today, and he’s a really good guy. So we love sports and know there’s a positive effect, especially on young children. It keeps them from doing drugs and bad things.
“So if we can continue that and keep looking at the positives and teach our children right from wrong, then it’s
good. So, yeah, I don’t think it would discourage me as much [from patronizing the league] — I mean, you can’t control everybody’s actions.”
Launched three years ago, the Style Lounge hopscotches around the league.
The New England Patriots thought long and hard about whether to host the attraction on Sept. 20-21. Patriots stakeholders, including players’ wives and partners, urged the club to proceed with the event despite the domestic violence uproar encircling the league, said Jessica Gelman, New England’s vice president of customer marketing and strategy.
“People were happy we were reaching out to female fans in this way,” Gelman said.
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Carolina Panthers fans check out merchandise at The NFL Style Lounge, which was on display at Bank of America Stadium Oct. 4-5.
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Over the weekend, which included the Patriots’ Sunday afternoon game, more than 3,000 people went into the lounge, Gelman said.
Additionally, the Patriots have built out a lifestyle page as part of the team’s website geared toward women, underscoring the point that the club is not backing off on outreach to the female demographic.
The Patriots are not alone.
The Washington Redskins are not pulling back with their women’s club, one of the only such clubs in the NFL.
“We have not changed our content plan,” said Shripal Shah, the Redskins’ chief strategy officer, via email. “We continue to focus on topics our fans want us to discuss. We recently launched our 100 Days of Wow campaign in celebration of our 100,000-plus members.”
Wow is the Women of Washington Redskins club.
In Baltimore, the Ravens planned to host their annual girls night out, called A Purple Evening, Oct. 13 at M&T Bank Stadium. The event has drawn hundreds of attendees in previous years.
The Atlanta Falcons had their own Style Lounge activation for their first home game in September, the day before the second Ray Rice elevator video emerged. The team has received some correspondences expressing concern from fans and partners since the video, said Jim Smith, the team’s chief marketing and revenue officer, but nothing overwhelming. Asked if women’s merchandise sales were up or down, he replied he did not have the number off the top of his head, but if they had materially changed one way or the other, “Someone would have called me,” he said.
Mark Donovan, president of the Kansas City Chiefs, said his team also has received little outreach from fans and partners about team efforts in the context of the league’s ongoing challenges. “Most discussions with partners and season-ticket members, it’s because they are just interested,” he said. “It’s less about what are you doing.”
SportsBusinessDaily writer Adam Stern contributed to this report.
