Changing the Game — How the New England Patriots are Going Global: Podcast Playback

As the recognized leader in the Employer of Record (EOR) industry, G-P is always advancing the conversation around the future of work and the new opportunities our EOR and global employment solutions are helping to create. In a recent episode of our Pangeo Perspectives podcast, we explored how G-P is helping the New England Patriots expand by building a global team outside of the U.S. to manage their business operations and help support their global ambitions.

In recent years, the league has made a concerted effort to broaden the global appeal of American football, with teams like the Patriots playing in front of sold-out crowds in London, Mexico City, and Frankfurt. With the league’s new Global Markets Program, the Patriots can now officially claim Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and most recently Brazil as their global home markets.

Jen Ferron, CMO of Kraft Sports and Entertainment (KSE), the group that oversees marketing, sales, content development, and event operations for the New England Patriots, sat down with G-P’s CMO, Heidi Arkinstall, for a great conversation about the Patriots’ cross-border success on our Pangeo Perspectives podcast. 

Let’s take a look at what going global means to the Patriots and how G-P helped them get there.

Creating a new home market

The league’s Global Markets Program allows clubs to bid on and win international marketing rights to build brand awareness and fandom beyond the U.S. through fan engagement, events, and commercial opportunities.

In 2022, the Patriots began their global expansion journey by claiming Germany as a home market. As a result of this program, the team can establish a real presence in the country and engage with local fans.

In November of 2023, the Patriots played their first game in their new home market, taking on the Indianapolis Colts in Frankfurt in front of a sold-out crowd. However, the Patriots aren’t just playing the occasional game in Germany. They planned for the brand to maintain a year-round presence, which involved hiring an employee in Germany with G-P’s help to manage business operations on the ground in that market. 

Successfully hiring in Germany

“We really made the decision that to be truly authentic, and to be in the marketplace and call this a home market meant that we actually had to put our money where our mouth was and say, ‘We have an individual in this country who is employed by us,’” said Ferron.

In an effort to demonstrate their commitment and represent the region well, the Patriots wanted to hire someone who has lived in Germany for years. They wanted someone who could help bridge the cultural spectrum between how they activate the brand in the U.S. and their approach in Germany. The hire was a business operations manager, and Ferron says they have been an incredible asset to the organization.

G-P helps companies build and manage teams in 180+ countries, and by partnering together, the Patriots had a turnkey experience that made it easy to bring their new hire on board.

“One of the big things about the way we work with companies is really that partnership approach. And with the Employer of Record model that we’ve enabled, companies like The Kraft Group can hire in Germany without having to go through setting up their own entity or subsidiary,”  Arkinstall explained.

From Boston to Brazil: the passion keeps growing.

The Patriots already have a great success story to tell in Germany, but they aren’t stopping there. After securing Germany in 2022, then Austria and Switzerland in 2023, the Patriots have now been awarded Brazil as their newest global territory. 

“As we continue to explore new opportunities to grow our brand globally, Brazil offers us an already established, passionate Patriots fan base that we can nurture and further develop through the league’s Global Markets Program,” said Ferron.

This provides the Patriots with opportunities for in-person and digital marketing, corporate sponsorship sales, fan events, activations, merchandise sales, and co-marketing relationships with other sports and entertainment properties in Brazil.

The organization has also made its second global hire this July, bringing aboard an employee based in Brazil to lead business operations in that region. Although the Patriots will not play a game in Brazil this year, the new hire assisted in planning the team’s first fan event in the country — a watch party including Patriots alumni, cheerleaders, and the team mascot in São Paulo for New England’s week one’s win against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Take your business global with G-P.

“From enabling the franchise’s first hire in Germany, and now into Brazil, G-P is excited to help the Patriots grow American football’s global fandom and drive the future of the sport,” concluded Nicole Sahin, Founder and CEO of G-P.

The Patriots aren’t the only organization with their sights set on the global arena. Taking your business into new markets is a big step, but G-P is here to support you every step of the way. G-P Meridian Suite™ of global employment products – including EOR, Contractor, and Advisor – helps companies of all sizes build top global teams. 

For more insights and expert commentary on this topic, listen to the full episode of “Changing the Game: How the New England Patriots are Going Global,” delve into other related podcasts in the Pangeo Perspectives series, or check out our 2023 Global Growth Report to discover how other industry experts are seeing the future of business.

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As the recognized leader in global employment, G-P delivers everything companies need to hire, onboard, and manage global teams in 180+ countries, quickly and compliantly. G-P’s industry-leading SaaS-based offerings include Employer of Record (EOR), Contractor, and Advisor products backed by more than a decade of experience, the largest team of in-country HR, legal, and compliance experts, and insights from our proprietary, generative AI knowledge base. We continue to gather key perspectives and insights from growth-minded leaders, HR innovators, and entrepreneurs from around the world through our Pangeo thought leadership efforts as we help shape the global employment conversation.

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