The Bundesliga will open an N.Y. office this week, the latest European football entity to "reach across the Atlantic," according to Ian Thomas of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. It will be the second int'l office for Germany’s top league, which opened a Singapore office in '12. Robert Klein, CEO of Bundesliga Int'l, the league’s subsidiary responsible for int'l sales and marketing, said that the league has been working on opening a U.S.-based office "for more than a year, providing closer access to its partners," U.S. broadcaster Fox Sports and fans. Bayern Munich was one of the first European clubs to have a full-time office and staff in the U.S. when it opened its doors in June '14. Klein: "Bayern has done a great job with its event presence and what it has done with digital and social media, but we need to bring more than just Bayern, we need to bring the other clubs." The Bundesliga U.S. office, which will be located on Park Avenue in the Union Square neighborhood, "is expected to have five or six employees to start," with additional space and desks available to representatives of any of the league’s clubs. The office will be led by Arne Rees, who was named exec VP of strategy, and Head of Bundesliga Americas Melanie Fitzgerald (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 10/15 issue).
