What: El Tri announced a deal to play four matches at AT&T Stadium, home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
Why it matters: It’s the latest in a series of initiatives by North American based leagues looking to further connect with Latino fans, still the largest growing population in the U.S.
While the CFL (@CFL), MLB (@MLB) and even the NFL (@NFL) look south for new fans and audiences, North America’s most popular soccer club is putting down more consistent business stakes in the U.S. On Wednesday, the Mexican National team, whose rights are marketed partially by Soccer United Marketing (SUM), announced a deal to play four matches, one per year through 2022 — at AT&T Stadium, the 80,000-seat home of the Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys).
The agreement for “El Tri,” (@FMF) will also include cross promotions with the Cowboys, special festivals and community programs in and around Dallas, as well as some promotions with FC Dallas (@FCDallas) as well.
Bringing National team players who can be role models to a community that may not connect first with Cowboys players will provide a great bridge.
The move to have a consistent presence not that far north of Mexico for the team, will also be great added value for the national team’s business partners like Adidas AG (@adidas), AT&T Inc. (@ATT), Coca-Cola Co. (@CocaCola), Nissan Motor Co. (@NissanUSA), Delta Air Lines Inc. (@Delta), Home Depot Inc. (@HomeDepot) and Wells Fargo & Co. (@WellsFargo), and can help again grow the presence of Liga MX (@LigaMxEng) in the U.S., where their games are already the most viewed North American soccer matches on television. It also sets up a great entrée for international soccer in the U.S. as North America preps to host the 2026 World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup).
The partnership will be a great win for the local community that is increasingly bilingual, and can identify with soccer as their sport of choice in homes where English and Spanish are spoken. Bringing National team players who can be role models to a community that may not connect first with Cowboys players will provide a great bridge.
Join us at PORTADA LOS ANGELES on March 15, 2019 at the Loews Beach Hotel Santa Monica, where we will dive deep into sports and soccer marketing’s preeminent topics. Felix Palau, VP Marketing, Heineken will discuss “How to measure ROI and transfer best practices between sports marketing platforms”. Other speaking engagements include Tiago Pinto, Global Marketing Director, Gatorade who will provide answers to the question: “Will Corporate America jump on the soccer opportunity?”Attendees will also be able to benefit from Portada’s meet-up service of three-eight-minute meetings with top brand executives!
“We look to partner with a lot of the ISD, schools and systems within the area to create those programs and the Mexican National team has agreed to work with us through that and be able to expose some of those children with the national team and help with reading,” Monica Paul, Dallas Sports Commission executive director said.
For the Cowboys, in addition to bringing new faces and filling additional dates at AT&T Stadium, the partnership will enhance their community efforts on both sides of the border as they, and the NFL, look to further connect with Latino fans, still the largest growing population in the U.S. It’s a step forward in making “America’s team” more of “Mexico’s team” than they are (don’t forget the Houston Texans have the closest proximity to the border), with the L.A. Rams (@RamsNFL) and Chargers (@Chargers) also looking to grow into the added value of Mexico as well) today.
It makes great business sense for all, with consistency and elite brands sharing a stage with no downside.
Fútbol and football keep growing together.
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The Campeones Cup (
So what would a combined North American professional soccer organization look like, beyond the Campeones Cup? Liga MX, which has been in existence for more than seven decades, is currently comprised of 18 teams across Mexico, and MLS, which began competition in 1996, comprises 20 U.S. and 3 Canadian sides. 41 clubs would seem to be an unwieldy number, but fans who follow college sports here know that “Power 5” schools, the largest NCAA programs, total more than 60 schools, each with huge fan bases over a diverse combined footprint.
Much has been made about the strong growth of both Mexican football and Liga MX (
Following a Sunday home loss in what has been a dismal season, coach Jose Cardozo gave the usual post-match press conference, telling the media the problems that losing clubs have. However the presser was record setting not because of word, but because of product. 
AT&T Mexico has inked a deal to sponsor Liga MX football club Puebla FC. With this partnership, Puebla will include AT&T’s brand on the front of its shirts and, as main sponsor, its logo will also feature throughout the team’s Estadio Cuauhtemoc home ground. AT&T also sponsors Liga MX teams Monterrey and America.
Heineken kicked-off its partnership with Italian Sportswear brand 
Toyota’s sponsorship also includes participation in 
Heineken extended its Major League Soccer partnership for five more years, to serve as the Official Beer of MLS. Heineken will continue to sponsor Rivalry Week. “Soccer has been a crucial platform for Heineken across the globe with multiple league, team and championship game sponsorships. In the U.S., our partnership with MLS has helped drive the sport’s rapid expansion and growing popularity,” said Felix Palau, Heineken SVP of marketing, in a statement.
LigaMX soccer team Chivas and German Borussia Dortmund have started a knowledge-sharing partnership. The Bundesliga and Liga MX teams will collaborate on financial, sports and administration strategies, as well as player signings and marketing.
“Well, basically there are more than 40 million fans of the Mexican national team in the United States. We practically have two territories — Mexico and the United States — because of the amount of fans we have in both countries,” Guillermo Cantu, the general secretary of the Mexican federation, said at a news conference last Thursday. “We could call it our second home.”
With one exception: the Rayados de Monterrey club. “It’s a highly sought after prize. Citibanamex and the local Monterrey banks especially, already have a strong club presence. It helps us in positioning our brand,” notes Pallares. The fact is that Nuevo León, the team’s hometown, is recognized nationally for its regionalist culture, so for Bancomer to carve out a brand presence there by way of its league sponsorship was a strategic move.
The challenge for any sponsorship, including that of Liga Bancomer MX, explains Pallares, is to make it profitable and keep improving the show so that more people get on board and increase the brand’s impact: “Being a soccer sponsor is not cheap. If you decide to put your logo on a team jersey, there are so many brands already on it that the impact is diluted. You always have to look for a way to make each impact count, in order to get a return on your investment.”
Liga MX clubs have made a significant leap in the last ten years. Mexican teams began to study their international peers to copy their best practices and learn from their mistakes.
Liga Mx, which according to statistics is followed by at least 60% of the Mexican population, has a series of sponsoring brands that are split among those which produce team uniforms, and those which stamp their names or logos on the garments used by the players on each of the 18 teams that make up the largest Mexican soccer league.
But even when sportswear brands are globally renowned, industry experts say that the crux of the sponsorship business is not in who makes the uniforms, but in the brand that supports each of the teams – and whose logo appears on team jerseys – as is the case of beer brands in markets like Germany, Brazil, and Mexico.
LATIN AMERICAN MARKET