Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the CEO of FC Bayern Munich, knows that executives of football and futbol often have shared goals. “I believe the NFL and Bayern have a similar interest and problem; we have a strong home base in Germany where soccer is the most prominent sport, and want to bring our sport here to the U.S. The NFL is the most prominent sport in the States and wants to do the same thing in Europe.”
It’s those common challenges that led to the gathering between executives from the Super Bowl champion Eagles and FC Bayern Munich last week. Bayern was in Philadelphia to play Juventus at Lincoln Financial Field on July 25 as part of the International Champions Cup. A day earlier its executive team met with members of the Eagles front office and Mark Waller, the NFL’s executive vice president of international, to share ideas about how to reach new fans outside their base areas. One such strategy revolves around meeting international business partners in their own markets.
Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben and Rafinha pose at Philadelphia’s Rocky statue. The team used its visit to meet with Eagles and NFL executives.Getty Images
The summit, which was initiated by Bayern once it knew its ICC schedule, also involved a Q&A session for corporate partners. The Bayern executives also planned to meet with executives from the Dolphins as well as media companies that reach into South America when the club played in Miami last weekend.
“We are both challenged with figuring out how to connect locally in ways that resonate with fans in these respective markets,” Waller said. “Bayern knows how to resonate in Germany [better] than we’ll ever know, and doing an event here in Philadelphia with the Super Bowl champs helps them resonate in this part of the country as well.”
That’s been FC Bayern’s mission in the U.S. in the four years since the club opened an office in New York City. Since then, Bayern has grown its U.S. fan clubs from seven to more than 140 and went from zero U.S. company sponsors to six, including deals with EA Sports, Goodyear and Procter & Gamble. In February, the club signed a development deal with FC Dallas and last week acquired 17-year-old Vancouver Whitecaps forward Alphonso Davies in a transfer that could be valued at more than $22 million, which would set an MLS record.
“Our main goal from the beginning has been to build relationships with fans, with partners and with leagues and teams on the executive level,” said Rudolf Vidal, Bayern’s president of the Americas. “Our goal is not to take something from them, but rather work together to create something beneficial.”
It’s a similar feeling for the Eagles, who will play abroad for the first time when they face the Jaguars in London on Oct. 28.
“With the Super Bowl victory, we saw fan support across the globe,” said Eagles President Don Smolenski, who noted that the team is exploring creating local, targeted content for the U.K., Mexico, China and Germany and is trying to learn from Bayern and other European soccer clubs that have come to the U.S. “You can sometimes hunker down in your market because you want to connect deeper with your own fan base, but these global platforms can really help connect you in a deep way with new fans as well,” he said. “If you think about Philadelphia, this is a very mature market with a team that is 85 years old; there is still room to grow here, but we also want to take that same fan affinity and expand it across the globe.”
As FC Bayern wrapped up its participation in the ICC last week and headed back to Munich, its leaders hoped they had planted seeds for future collaborations.
“We’re not just coming in, having two games and leaving after one week,” said Jörg Wacker, the FC Bayern executive board member who is responsible for the club’s international strategy. “We want to learn from the U.S. sports organizations, help them learn from us, and create deep friendships.”
