The Jacksonville Jaguars officially partnered with the Welsh digital marketing firm, UpriseVSI, in order to help the Florida-based NFL franchise expand and grow their market in the UK.
UpriseVSI will design and create the Jaguars’ UK based website and booking platform for the teams’ new UK academy, Jaguars Academy. The team already has a strong fan base in the UK, but they are looking to lengthen their reach by helping to grow the sport of American football at the grassroots level.
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The Jaguars Academy will be held in July at Loughborough University. The three-day event will focus on developing skills for coaches and players. Coaches from the Jacksonville organization will help amateurs between the ages of 18 to 24 learn more about American Football. While the event is open to anyone in that age group, the Academy is hoping to attract amateurs who are currently playing or coaching American Football who want to expand their skills; offering the added benefit of showcasing their skills in front of people at the sport’s highest level.
UpriseVSI will aim to allow people to sign up for the academy in very user friendly ways. However, they will truly help the Jaguars by drawing interest in the event and generating as many leads as possible. The Welsh firm already works with the Jaguars’ owner, Shahid Khan, who owns Fulham FC, to conduct the online booking for the Championship side’s soccer schools. They will now help the Jaguars carve out a place in a similar market using their insights and expertise.
UpriseVSI’s thinkBooker technology will be used to manage online registration for the Academy, but more importantly help provide greater lead generation. The goal of their Academy and Jaguars partnership with UpriseVSI is to help gain more interest in the team from fans in the UK, but maybe more importantly they want to help get more people playing American football in general. In order for this to happen the sport needs to grow at a grassroots level, and the Jaguars senior vice president, Hussain Naqi, is very bullish about the partnership.
“It’s our ambition to not only increase awareness of the Jacksonville Jaguars here in the UK ,but also to increase the number of people actually playing American Football… The academy offers a way for coaches and players to improve their skills by gaining access to our highly experienced coaches… We’re looking forward to working with them to deliver a fantastic website and booking system, which will help us grow The Jacksonville Jaguars brand in the UK.”
This deal highlights the Jaguars and the NFL’s push into the UK market, where American football’s popularity has been growing immensely. The Jaguars are positioning themselves as an NFL team that is ready to grow and build huge fan support in the UK.
The Jaguars have not won more than five games in any of the last five years, yet they have still managed to grow their fan base in the UK. Now the team’s play could soon start trending upwards. The 2016 NFL Draft took place a few weeks ago and the Jaguars selected what many experts claim to be one of the top classes this year. Adding top defensive players in 2016 to a defense that has been bolstered by veteran acquisitions and young talent should make the team more competitive next season.
Success in 2016 is all speculative for now, but there will be more hype and excitement surrounding the team this year than in years past. With their ambitious owner who has strong ties to the UK, and the NFL’s push to bring their league and their sport to the UK market, the Jaguars could find themselves more prominent across the pond in years to come. However, they are not waiting around to grow their support simply through more live games in London or on television in the UK, rather they are looking to generate greater support in a unique fashion now.
Partnering with UpriseVSI will help bring as many American football fans, players and coaches as possible to the Jaguars’ training academy this summer. The success of the new website and booking platform could potentially grow the UK fan base for not only their team but their sport, helping the Jaguars continue their push towards becoming one of the NFL’s most popular teams in the UK.