While the football world federation FIFA has fired up the marketing machine for the Club World Cup, which is being held for the first time in an expanded format with 32 teams and paying out around 1 billion dollars in prize money, the public's lack of interest has often dominated the picture.

Especially in the big venues such as the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where NFL american football games usually take place, there is a yawning emptiness in the stands. Analysts criticise FIFA for overestimating demand and setting ticket prices too high. For the early clash between Dortmund's group opponents Ulsan of South Korea and Fluminense of Brazil, spectators had to fork out 75 dollars in advance for a ticket in the upper tier; on match day, seats much closer to the pitch were suddenly available for 30 dollars.

The lack of enthusiasm among the US public might turn out to be a poor match for the ambitions of European clubs.

„If we want to grow, we can only do so abroad,“ Carsten Cramer, joint managing director of Borussia Dortmund, told Börsen-Zeitung recently. The club has reached the limit of its commercial possibilities in Germany and is aiming for markets with a growing interest in soccer. In addition to Asia, the focus is on the USA with an audience of around 340 million people. „Regardless of the geopolitical and economic fluctuations in the USA, sport, media and entertainment are of outstanding importance – we want to compete in this prospering market and occupy a niche,“ Cramer explains.

The analysis service Ken Research sees huge potential for the US football market, which it already estimates to be worth 1.2 billion dollars annually. Soccer is becoming more popular, especially among young people in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Miami, which enables major deals for media rights. The World Cup for national teams, which will take place in the USA, Canada and Mexico in 2026, is set to add fuel to the fire. Nevertheless: „We are aware that we are operating in an extremely tough competitive environment,“ says Cramer. After all, BVB and German soccer not only have to hold their ground against the NFL, NBA (basketball), MLB (baseball) and NHL (ice hockey), but also against other European leagues.

The English Premier League is incredibly financially strong and has a greater natural proximity to the US audience, while the Primera División has great appeal with Real Madrid and FC Barcelona and also has access to the large Spanish-speaking audience in the United States. According to Alabama-based Samford University, the Premier League has gained 36.2 million viewers in the USA to date.

Spain's top division reaches 13.7 million Americans in front of TV screens and saw an average growth rate of 22.1% between 2022 and 2024 – surpassed only by Italy's Serie A, which comes from lower levels and has put huge resources into expanding TV coverage on shows like „CBS Sports Golazo“. The Bundesliga recently reached an audience of 8.6 million US fans with a growth rate of 13% per year.

„But we also have some advantages as a Bundesliga that we shouldn't lose sight of,“ says Cramer. The Dortmund joint managing director emphasises the strong fan culture in particular. „With over 80,000 seats, our stadium is sold out at every home game, and the atmosphere there also shapes the image of our club and the interest in Borussia Dortmund abroad,“ says Cramer. BVB's reputation as an „underdog“ in particular is crucial to its success in the USA.

„We also have to maintain our authenticity in the United States – that has a decisive influence on which partnerships we enter into,“ emphasises the sports manager. Borussia, which is listed on the stock exchange, cooperates with the NFL franchise Pittsburgh Steelers – and not just because their black and gold uniforms go well with Dortmund's club colours. „We deliberately chose Pittsburgh as an old steel and industrial stronghold because we see strong parallels with the Ruhr region,“ says Cramer. Partly as a result of this image cultivation, the number of Dortmund fan clubs in the USA has grown to 45, whereas there were fewer than ten before the coronavirus crisis.

FC Bayern Munich, which moved into a new representative office in New York's Rockefeller Center in 2023, is also increasing its visibility through partnerships with Los Angeles FC and the American football franchise Kansas City Chiefs. The German record champions are also rumored to be interested in holding Bundesliga matches or the DFL Supercup abroad – Fernando Carro, managing director of rival Bayer Leverkusen, described a staging in the USA as „possible“ last year.

But particularly due to the importance of authenticity and fan loyalty, Cramer emphasizes that Bundesliga or Super Cup matches played abroad are „completely the wrong way to go“. „The yellow wall at Signal Iduna Park must never degenerate into a little wall, otherwise we will lose a unique international differentiator,“ says the Dortmund Managing Director. Instead, BVB wants to increase its presence in the USA through summer tours, youth programs, tournaments such as the Club World Cup and the awarding of Bundesliga broadcasting rights centrally marketed by the German Football League to American broadcasters.

Together with Bayern, they have succeeded in turning the duels between the top German clubs into a major event that also attracts huge viewer interest in the USA. In addition, documentaries that sponsoring partner Amazon can broadcast via its Prime platform have proven to be very promising. The Bundesliga is currently examining the extent to which an additional joint format can be implemented. „The fact that the Puma flagship store on New York's Fifth Avenue is decked out entirely in black and yellow for the Club World Cup sends out a clear signal,“ emphasizes Cramer. Sponsorship deals would be even more interesting for sporting goods companies if they had the prospect of an increase in jersey sales in new markets.

BVB generates 15% of its revenue – which amounted to 509.11 million euros in the 2023/24 financial year, excluding transfer income – outside Germany. „Of course, we cannot fully reinvest this revenue contribution in international expansion, because, as a soccer club, we are dependent on a high short-term cash flow,“ says the Dortmund Managing Director. During the Club World Cup in particular, however, BVB is devoting considerable resources to raising its brand awareness – including through targeted social media campaigns from the venues.

For example, long-time Dortmund regular goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller has traveled to the United States and is representing the club there at numerous events and on Instagram. „We can use our distinguished former players for tasks that the active squad doesn't have time for due to the busy match schedule,“ says Cramer. „The legends also receive money for this, but they earn back several times that amount .“ It is hoped that the high expenditure of resources will also pay off in the stadiums from the round of 16 of the Club World Cup.