Cowboys taking steps to expand brand in Mexico
CENTENNIAL, Colo. — The Cowboys have taken a major step to expand their brand and business presence in Mexico, reaching a landmark partnership with Spanish-language media giant TelevisaUnivision in a deal expected to be announced Friday morning.
As part of the threeyear contract, the content provider will broadcast all Cowboys preseason games in Mexico through 2024, beginning Saturday evening at the Denver Broncos on ViX, a TelevisaUnivsion streaming service. The Cowboys also will distribute inhouse media content, which TelevisaUnivision will deliver to its Mexican audience across varied platforms.
Media, however, is only one segment to the deal, said Marco Liceaga, senior vice president of sports growth enterprises at TelevisaUnivision. While using the Cowboys’ intellectual property, including the star logo, the company can leverage its own local business relationships to help the Cowboys explore and secure commercial partners and sponsors in Mexico.
Liceaga was one of two people with knowledge of the contract’s financial terms — the second person spoke to TheDallas Morning News on background — who characterized the Cowboys’ deal as the largest between an NFL club and international company since the NFL launched International Home Marketing Areas in January.
Eighteen teams were granted access to 26 international markets, allowing them to largely conduct business and community outreach as they would in their U.S. homemarket area.
Although the Cowboys were one of nine NFL teams to be awarded Mexico as an International Home Marketing Area, they were the most proactive to secure TelevisaUnivision as a partner.
TelevisaUnivision theoretically could have formed this pact with the Broncos, Arizona Cardinals, Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers or San Francisco 49ers.
“To be honest, we’re focusing 100 percent on the Cowboys,” Liceaga said Thursday in a phone interview. “We haven’t approached any other club, and no other club approached us. So we decided for the foreseeable future, for the scope of this partnership, we will only work with the Cowboys, and likewise, the Cowboys will not work with anyone else in the territory.”
Liceaga added that he considers the Cowboys the most popular team in Mexico.
Mexico’s most established NFL broadcaster team, nicknamed “Los Tres Amigos,” will commentate remotely on Saturday’s exhibition.
Enrique Burak, Too de Valds y Pepe Segarra have called every Super Bowl in Mexico since 1986.
“If we prove that this (partnership) is successful, which we are confident it will (be), maybe it paves the path for other clubs and other territories to explore similar partnerships,” Liceaga said.
“If, at the end of day, that happens and that helps the clubs and the league build more value, then we’re happy to be the ones to lead the way in conjunction with the Cowboys.”