NFL / FC Barcelona

NFL unveils historic partnership with soccer giant F.C. Barcelona

January 31, 2002
NFL Europe

THE National Football League announced today a historic partnership with F.C. Barcelona, one of Europe's leading soccer clubs.

Under a three-year agreement, the NFL and F.C. Barcelona will work together to support each other's operations in Europe and the United States. The NFL will help to promote F.C. Barcelona in the United States, while the Spanish soccer giant will support the activities of the Barcelona Dragons and promote the NFL and NFL Europe League in Spain.

The first step in the association will see the Dragons change their name to become the F.C. Barcelona Dragons. The team will open its 2002 NFL Europe League home schedule at F.C. Barcelona's Mini Estadi, part of the club's renowned Nou Camp complex, on Saturday April 20.

Meanwhile, the NFL will help F.C. Barcelona schedule two games at NFL stadiums later this year.

The strategic relationship is the first of its kind between a major American sports league and a leading European soccer club.

Speaking in New Orleans, where Super Bowl XXXVI will be played on Sunday by the New England Patriots and St. Louis Rams, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said: "We are excited about this new association with F.C. Barcelona, which we believe is a ground-breaking moment for sport in Europe and the United States. It is the first time that the two strongest, most popular sports in their respective continents have joined forces."

Javier Perez Farguell, general manager of F.C. Barcelona, the former champions of Europe, said: " This agreement with the NFL, the most important sports league in the world, is the perfect platform for F.C. Barcelona to expand our business into the United States and around the world.

"The alliance will help us to meet our international goals because we have joined with a strategic partner who is a leader in world sports. While preserving our independence and our identity, we now have the support, experience and professionalism of the NFL in our commercial activities and we can ensure the promotion of our brand in the US market."

The relationship between the NFL and F.C. Barcelona will include many aspects:

• The Barcelona Dragons will change their name to the F.C. Barcelona Dragons.
• The Dragons will play their first home game of the 2002 NFL Europe League season against the Frankfurt Galaxy at the 17,000-capacity Mini Estadi on April 20, kick-off 5:30 p.m. local time.
• The NFL will make two stadiums available to F.C. Barcelona to stage games during 2002.
• The NFL and F.C. Barcelona will explore other opportunities after 2002 to play Dragons games at Mini Estadi and soccer games in NFL stadiums.
• Beginning this season, the Dragons will incorporate the F.C. Barcelona escudo (shield) into their uniforms.
• F.C. Barcelona will consult with and provide advice to the NFL with respect to broadcasting, sponsorship and licensing opportunities in Spain relating to the Dragons.
• The NFL will introduce F.C. Barcelona to NFL sponsors and media partners and provide advice on broadcasting, sponsorship and licensing.
• Both organisations will have the right to use each other's trademarks in promotional activity.
• F.C. Barcelona will co-operate in promotional activities with the Dragons, while the NFL will undertake promotional activities in co-operation with the soccer club.
• The NFL and F.C. Barcelona will participate in and promote amateur programs aimed at developing American football and soccer.
• Commissioner Tagliabue continued: "This is a significant step in the growth of American football in Europe. We are looking at new, innovative ways of building our business, and these types of alliances have an important role to play in the future of our sport."

Dragons general manager Rafael Cervera said: "This agreement between the NFL and F.C. Barcelona will be beneficial to everyone involved. The Dragons have been an important part of the negotiations and we believe this is most important development in our team's history since we began playing in 1991.

"We are very excited about a relationship that will help us to reinvigorate the Dragons image and we are looking forward to opening our 2002 at the Mini Stadion."

Xavier Casas, a deputy mayor of the city of Barcelona, said: "This agreement is very positive for the city. Linking the Barcelona Dragons and the NFL to F.C. Barcelona will help to project a truly international image of the city back to the United States."

Founded in 1899, F.C. Barcelona is one of the most successful clubs in European soccer history, having won the European Cup in 1992, the European Cup Winners' Cup on four occasions and the UEFA Cup four times. The club has been crowned champion of the Spanish League 16 times.

The National Football League has been America's most popular sport since 1965. Other facts and figures about the NFL's popularity:

• In the most recent ESPN Chilton Sports Poll, 24.7 of Americans named the NFL as their favourite sport. Second was Major League Baseball with 14.4 percent.
• More than 50 percent of American adults follow the NFL.
• A survey commissioned by Sports Business Daily named NFL games as the sports event that most Americans want to see in person.
• Average attendance at regular season NFL games is more than 66,000.
• The nine most-watched television shows in US history have been Super Bowls.
• The four top-rated sports broadcasts in the US in the year 2000 were NFL games.
• Super Bowl is televised this year in more than 165 countries and reaches an estimated world-wide audience of 800 million viewers
• Twice as many Hispanic fans named the NFL as their favourite compared to the next ranked sport
• As the cornerstone of its international business, the NFL operates the NFL Europe League, making it the only major US sports organisation to fund and operate a professional league outside of its own territory. The league comprises six teams: Amsterdam Admirals, Barcelona Dragons, Berlin Thunder, Frankfurt Galaxy, Rhein (Düsseldorf) Fire and Scottish Claymores.

The Barcelona Dragons are one of the original members of the NFL Europe League, which kicks off its 10th season on April 13. The Dragons were World Bowl champions in 1997 and appeared in a record-equalling fourth championship game last June, losing to the Berlin Thunder.

Every game of the NFL Europe League season is broadcast live on US television - on FOX, FOX Sports Net, a cable sports station that reaches 65 million homes, or DirecTV.

Among the almost 50 former Dragons now playing in the NFL are the New Orleans Saints' Pro Bowl defensive tackle La'Roi Glover and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jon Kitna.