It has been a strategic plan for the past few years now for executives in pro sports leagues to find ways to increase exposure and therefore make more money from sales. The NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL are currently trying different methods to do so.
The NBA has done something this season that it has never tried before: staging two regular season games in two different countries, Mexico and England. The only regular season games that have been played outside of the U.S. and Canada in the past have been in London.
From 2010 to 2011, the New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets played the Toronto Raptors in a two-game series in the O2 Arena in London. Nets owner and businessman Mikhail Prokhorov has a vision to turn the Nets into a global brand to rival some of the world’s most famous teams, such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Manchester United and others.
The Nets played in London this season as well, defeating the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 16. In addition, the game that featured San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves on Dec. 4, 2013 in Mexico City was postponed due to a generator malfunction, which produced smoke in the arena. They may reschedule other games in Mexico City.
The NBA has scheduled 148 games outside of the U.S. and Canada since 1978. Many of these preseason and regular games have been sellouts, bringing in fans from all over the world that not only attend games played in their countries but watch them on television and purchase NBA memorabilia also.
Meanwhile, the MLB has staged five season-opening series in countries outside of the U.S. and Canada. Games have been played in Mexico, Japan and Puerto Rico. The sixth season opening series played overseas will happen from March 22 to March 23 when the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks face each other in Sydney.
There should be plenty of Australian fans that buy memorabilia of the top players from the Dodgers such as Yasiel Puig, Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez. This will also broaden the MLB’s fan base into the Australian territory because the games are already sold out.
The NFL has played one game in London each season from 2007 to 2012. In 2013, officials decided to stage two. In 2014, they have staged three. Do you get the pattern?
The NFL is seeing tremendous success in expanding its brand to Europe, particularly London. The lowest turnout at a game played in London was 76,981 on Oct. 23, 2011. Every other game has had a turnout of at least 81,176 people.
The best way to grow the NFL is to play games outside of the U.S., and Commissioner Roger Goodell has been doing a good job of consistently carrying this trend from 2007 to 2016 with the Jacksonville Jaguars committing to play a home game in London last season through 2016.
The NHL, unlike the NBA, MLB and NFL, has tried a method to increase exposure within the U.S., not outside of the country. Having a hockey game at an outdoor stadium triples or quadruples the capacity of live arena attendance. The 2003 Heritage Classic, featuring the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens, was the first outdoor regular season game in NHL history.
The NHL did not approve an annual outdoor game in 2004, but it would later be taken into consideration. The first Winter Classic game, always played on New Year’s Day, was played at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y. between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres.
The game had 71,217 fans in attendance, which was the record attendance for an NHL game at the time. The success of the event led to another Winter Classic game in 2009. The game between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks held at Wrigley Field had the highest American television ratings of any hockey game in 33 years.
On Jan. 1, the Toronto Maple Leafs traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich. to face the Detroit Red Wings at Michigan Stadium. The record attendance set in 2008 in Orchard Park was broken. 105,491 fans attended this year’s Winter Classic.
Separate from the Winter Classic is the NHL’s Stadium Series, which began this season. Four outdoor games were played: The Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings played at Dodger Stadium; the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils played at Yankee Stadium; the New York Rangers and New York Islanders also played at Yankee Stadium; and the Pittsburgh Penguins played the Chicago Blackhawks at Soldier Field this past Saturday. These outdoor games provided the NHL with increased exposure, custom made Winter Classic and Stadium Series jerseys for fans to buy and viewership on television.
Junior environmental science major Dillon George likes the idea of expansion of the four major American professional sports.
“Playing overseas and outdoors will increase the fanbases of all of those sports, and we will see consistent trends of sellouts and people buying merchandise of their favorite American players,” George said.
“It would be very interesting to see if there will [be] divisions of teams from Europe that compete against the American and Canadian teams. Every sport will have increased international games to watch.”
Vicky Swanson, a senior art history major, agrees with George.
“I know that if I lived in a different country, I would be very excited to see American teams compete locally, and I would want to go watch,” Swanson said.
Seeing the attempts from each of these leagues to broaden viewership and fan exposure is a wonderful thing. It is great for the fans to see a change in routine, seeing increased NBA and NFL games in London and NHL games outdoors.
It also benefits these leagues because fans from around the world spend money on memorabilia. American professional sports are becoming increasingly global, and their attempts are successful.
Greg Praver can be reached at gregory.praver@spartans.ut.edu.