The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the most popular franchises in the history of the National Football League, and vice president of sales and marketing Ryan Huzjak said the team isn't stopping at the border to attract new supporters.
“Our biggest pocket of international fans, unquestionably, No. 1 is Mexico," he said, "and that’s been something we’ve been cultivating for a number of years.”
The Steelers ran their 8th annual football camp in Mexico City this summer, inviting current and former players to a three-day, on-field, meet-and-greet event, and the franchise recently hired a full-time staffer to create Spanish language content specifically for Facebook.
Huzjak said they are hoping to score big in other markets, too.
“Two years ago we started working with one of the biggest social media platforms in China called Weibo, utilizing a Carnegie Mellon University student to help us with translations and create some content we could push out to that platform,” he said. “We’ve also created German Facebook and Instagram accounts, and we’re also running a contest to bring in two folks to a game, all expenses paid.”
England is another market poised for growth. The National Football League launched a new NFL Academy in London for kids ages 16-18 in May. The camps offer a pathway to employment and education and the potential opportunity to play NCAA college football in the United States.
Player ambassadors involved in the initiative include Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith Schuster.
Huzjak said boosting global followers through traditional, social and digital platforms translates to increased advertising and merchandising revenues as well. And ideally, he said, all those fans will eventually make their way to the Steel City.
The Steelers contracted an internal review of more than 1,000 team events with over 5 million attendees between 2012 and 2017. Many flocked to Pittsburgh from outside the city, he said, and they brought in more than $700 million in direct spending.
Huzjak said people from 30 different countries purchased tickets for Steelers home games in 2018.
WalletHub.com called Pittsburgh the No. 1 city in America for pro football fans this year.
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