September 20 – Germany’s DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga is building on its US ambition with a partnership with the LaLiga joint-owned football marketing group Relevent Sports in a bid to capture a North American fanbase and money for the German league.
Whereas before Bundesliga International’s focus had been on the US market, under the new deal with Relevent the focus will expand to Concacaf’s 35 nations and with a direct assault on the regional governing bodies nations and commercial partners.
The German business within the Relevent umbrella will operate from offices in New York City and Guadalajara in Mexico with Relevent expanding on the personnel already in place with a dedicated Bundesliga Americas team that will have a focus on content creation, marketing, PR and sales.
Steffen Merkel, DFL CEO, said: “The American market is currently in an exciting development phase and offers great potential for the Bundesliga. Last summer, the Copa America was held in the USA and the next mega-events in the region are on the horizon, with the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and the FIFA World Cup 2026. These events will drive even more enthusiasm for football, especially among a younger audience.”
Relevent will sell the media rights to Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 matches across the Americas from the start of the 2026-27 season, “which will run over several rights cycles”.
Starting immediately with the 2024-25 season Relevent will support the Bundesliga’s media and sponsorship sales. Relevent said the approach will be built on localised content for the target markets, “leveraging existing content creators, partners, and media outlets, and exploring avenues for fresh and creative organizations to join the network.”
Boris Gartner, Relevent President (he is also CEO of LaLiga North America), said: “This partnership marks a significant step forward in Relevent’s mission to bring the best of international football to audiences in the Americas and help grow the sport. The long-term nature of this collaboration will allow us to expand the Bundesliga’s presence in the region by leveraging our expertise and networks.”
Relevent will also work with German clubs on the oganisation and marketing of matches in the US.
This is an area where Relevent have a strong track record. It has also been controversial both globally and particularly in the US domestic football business.
Via Relevent’s 15-year joint-venture partnership with LaLiga that began in 2018, the plan was to bring a regular season LaLiga game to the US. The plan met with huge opposition and neither international or national match sanctioning was given.
Relevent took the case to court on an anti-trust argument, losing initially but later winning on appeal with a ruling that forced FIFA, and ultimately the US federation, back to the discussion table. Depending on the outcome of those discussions – and Relevent and LaLiga have been adamant that a regular season league game will be played in the US – the door would then be open to bring regular season Bundesliga games to the US.
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