Kansas City Chiefs' strategy to expand UK fandom: cultural connections and mascot diplomacy

Associated Press

4 hours ago

LONDON (AP) — In an offseason huddle at the NFL's London headquarters, the Kansas City Chiefs are drawing up a game plan to win over fans in a crowded UK market.
They're getting input from the locals, and there's good news.
'There is something about that younger generation, in the UK specifically, they are really into U.S. sports at the moment,' says Louise Johnson, chief executive of marketing agency Fuse. 'There's a moment in time that you can really capitalize on.'
Chiefs executives visited London after the team added the UK to its list of countries in the NFL's global markets program, which puts teams in the driver's seat to increase fandom overall — as well as land commercial partnerships individually.
A day that began meeting with local agencies in the NFL's glass-enclosed eighth-floor office overlooking Leicester Square ended along the banks of the Thames, where a 'Chiefs cab' was the meeting point to surprise a local fan with a ticket giveaway.
'The UK is another puzzle piece in the larger globalization of the brand,' said Lara Krug, the team's chief media and marketing officer, echoing a franchise theme of becoming the ' world's team.'
Krug led the team's delegation that included business, social media and public relations representatives. Besides marketing agencies, they also met with NFL officials. The takeaways were clear for growing the Chiefs' fanbase.
'One, that 12-to-24 (aged) audience is where there is the biggest opportunity,' she told The Associated Press. '(They're) very much into the cultural part of the NFL and the Americana of it all.'
Second, find creative ways to connect to local fans. The Chicago Bears did soccer-style jerseys last year for their London game.
'The league and the clubs have done a great job on growing the game,' Krug said. 'We see the opportunity of reaching more fans and doing it from a cultural lens.'
Mahomes, Kelce and KC Wolf
Expanding your fan base is much easier when your quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, is the face of the league, and your star tight end, Travis Kelce, is dating global pop star Taylor Swift. Kelce was the UK's top-selling NFL jersey in 2024.
The Chiefs have also played in five of the last six Super Bowls and won three of them.
Still, there are eight other NFL teams with the same rights the Chiefs have in Britain — and six of them have been there longer.
Social media content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram are crucial, especially because NFL fans in the UK over-index on daily social media use compared to other fans, the Chiefs said.
But some old-school methods work too.
Hello, KC Wolf.
'We know mascots do really well in the markets, it becomes an ambassador,' Krug said.
KC Wolf was on hand in Frankfurt, Germany in 2023 when the Chiefs beat the Miami Dolphins 21-14.
They'll soon be looking for 'multiple European-based mascots of our KC Wolf,' Krug said.
'That will be something that we launch later this year,' she said, 'so having KC Wolf show up in a few of our markets more frequently.'
Meetings aside, being on the ground in London was helpful in other ways: Krug noted the long line at a Formula One promotion in the Lego store in Leicester Square.
The Chiefs have experimented before. Last year the team partnered with Hallmark — headquartered in Kansas City — on ' Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story. '
Going international
In the NFL's global markets program, Kansas City has rights in seven countries — only the Los Angeles Rams have as many. All but one — Mexico — of the Chiefs' markets are in Europe. The team added the UK, Ireland and Spain this year.
The team's brass believes the best way to gain fans in foreign markets is to play games there. The Chiefs won their only London game, back in 2015. They are 3-0 overall in regular-season international games.
Dublin, Madrid and Berlin are all new host cities this season.
The Chiefs will play internationally this season — but not in Europe. They open in Brazil on Sept. 5 when they face the Los Angeles Chargers in Sao Paulo.
That's the first of seven international NFL games in 2025 — the most ever in one season — and Commissioner Roger Goodell wants to eventually get to 16 games per year. Goodell has also floated the idea of creating a European division and staging a Super Bowl outside the United States. One theory is the league will package the international games into a billion-dollar rights deal.
Team and league data show that the Chiefs are already popular internationally.
They have the largest overall German-language social media following at nearly 150,000. For consumer products sales, the Chiefs rank No. 1 in the 'DACH' region of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and No. 2 in Mexico. In international Game Pass viewing, the Chiefs were the most-watched team in DACH and Mexico last season.
NFL says UK still has room to grow
The Chiefs brought several British 'influencers' to a game at Arrowhead Stadium last season. They included ' Formz,' a Tottenham fan who raps Premier League weekly recaps and sings about heartbreak; he has 1 million followers on TikTok.
The league saw 'significant growth' in UK fandom last year, said Henry Hodgson, the NFL's general manager for the UK and Ireland.
Confidence is high enough that three teams — the Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens and Green Bay Packers — applied for and were awarded UK rights starting this season, joining the six others already in the market.
'For now, we don't want to cap it,' Hodgson told the AP. 'We see the benefit of these teams being involved in the market. It's something that the NFL will monitor, not just in the UK but in all the markets that the global markets program exists in and make sure that all of the clubs can be successful in all the markets they're in.'
Eleven teams have rights in Germany. Mexico is next highest with 10.
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