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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2005 
Hispanics Are Key To League's Growth
 Kent Somers - The Arizona Republic
| | On Oct. 2, the Cardinals and 49ers will play in the NFL's first regular-season game in Mexico City. |
The NFL is the monolith of professional sports leagues, so powerful in its hold over fans and sponsors that it's hard to imagine that it could grow in popularity.
Yet that's the plan, and a chief target is Mexico and the burgeoning Hispanic market in the United States.
Like most large, powerful entities, the NFL isn't the most nimble of organizations. It admittedly has been a bit slow off the ball in selling itself to Mexico and Hispanic markets.
No more.
The NFL sees those markets as vital to continuing the phenomenal growth the league has enjoyed over the past 50 years. That's why NFL officials view the Cardinals' game against the 49ers in Mexico City next Sunday as so important.
"Traditionally, I don't think we've put the focus on it (the Hispanic market)," said Roger Goodell, the league's executive vice president and chief operating officer. "Our popularity is soaring there (Mexico). There is a great deal of interest in American football."
It will be the first regular-season game played outside the United States, and in many ways, it's a grand experiment for the NFL. If this works, the league could place some future games in Tokyo or Europe.
Tapping a new market
There are several questions to be answered first, according to Goodell.
"What was the reaction in Mexico?" he said. "What kind of excitement can we generate? What kind of reaction did we get from the clubs from an operational standpoint and from the fans in those markets? Has it been a helpful tool in reaching the Hispanic market in the United States?"
That last question is central to the NFL's efforts in Mexico. By playing in Mexico City, it not only wants to attract new fans there but also in the United States. The Hispanic market in the United States hasn't been ignored, but the league and many of its teams have not paid serious attention to it.
Five or 10 years ago, reaching out to the Hispanic community "was not a focus," said Ron Minegar, Cardinals vice president of marketing and sales. "This gives us a neat platform to build upon for the future."
For instance, the game in Mexico City has prompted the Cardinals to work on expanding the Spanish-language broadcasts of their games into additional areas. The team also has found that its sponsors "have an interest in reaching out to the Hispanic community in Arizona."
Numbers indicate why the NFL is selling itself in Mexico. The NFL estimates there are 20 million football fans there, more than any country other than the United States. And there are nearly 25 million Americans of Mexican descent. Maybe some of them will think it's neat that the league is playing in Mexico.
It remains to be seen, however, how much this game will mean to many of them. To them, Mexico City is as foreign as Tokyo. To others, however, this game is intriguing.
"It's good because in Mexico, American football is not that much," said Larry Balderas, a Phoenix landscaper who was born in the United States but visits relatives in Mexico about once a year. "As soon as people start seeing this game, they will be excited."
That's what the NFL is counting on.
Marketing folks like to use words like "paradigm" and phrases like "driving the brand."
In plain English, what the NFL hopes to do in Mexico is draw new fans, convince casual followers to become ardent supporters and induce the diehard fans to strengthen their allegiance to the sport. It's like a five-story building with each floor dedicated to a certain type of fan. The idea is to get them in the building and then to the next floor.
Those people will then watch games on television, boost ratings and buy products of NFL sponsors.
Risk and reward
That's more money in the coffers of a league that's already awash in it.
There is a risk, however. Some Cardinals fans aren't crazy about the team giving up a home game to play in Mexico City. By taking away a team's home game, the league risks alienating some of its core fans.
Several factors contributed to the Cardinals being the ideal team to play in Mexico, and geographic proximity had little to do with it. More important was the team being in the last year in Sun Devil Stadium and drawing fewer fans than any other club in the NFL. It made more sense for the Cardinals to give up a home game than any other team.
To at least one Mexican working here in the Valley, the NFL's most serious venture into a foreign country makes sense.
Rolando Cantu, a guard on the Cardinals practice squad, is the first Mexican native to make it in the NFL, and he thinks Americans tend to underestimate the popularity of football in Mexico.
He came up through Mexico's university system, signed to play in NFL Europe and is in his second season on the Cardinals practice squad.
"You would be surprised," Cantu said when asked about football popularity in Mexico. "We've been playing for over 90 years. There are all kinds of Pop Warner leagues throughout most of the big cities. And there are around 50 university teams that play down there. The average crowd in my hometown (Monterrey) is 22,000 or 23,000."
Being signed to the 53-man roster would be the culmination of a lot of hard work for Cantu. And to play his first NFL game in Mexico City? That would be a dream come true.
"I would hopefully have a starting point from there on," said the 6-foot-5, 361-pound Cantu, who has never played in a regular-season NFL game.
Although Cantu holds an obscure spot in the NFL, he's big news to the Mexican sporting press. When the Cardinals cut him after training camp, it drew headlines, as did his signing to the practice squad.
"There are a lot of children who know of Rolando," said Jorge Iglesias, who runs a Web site, tochito.com, dedicated to flag football. "They know him, know his career. When the newspapers in Mexico presented the news that he had had been cut, I think the people were a little bit sad. They want Rolando playing with Arizona."
Soccer is still the most popular sport in Mexico, but about 1 million kids play tochito, or flag football. To the NFL, those are future fans. To sponsors, those are potential customers.
"This means a lot to our fans down there," Cantu said of the game. "Believe me, the growth is already there." |
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