NFL seeks to score with Hispanic Fans

Stephen Ross had a vision. What if the new owner of the Miami Dolphins football team brought on limited partners—celebrities turned successful executives—who reflected the complexion of the South Florida community? In turn, they would energize the fan base, become part of a festival atmosphere, and raise game attendance and viewership for the team, its sponsors and the TV networks alike?

In short, what if he pulled off an event like that which occurred the night of Monday, October 12?

That Monday Night Football game between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets ostensibly was just another football game. Yet by the time team investor Marc Anthony had finished the National Anthem and fellow team owner Gloria Estefan had sung her Spanish rendition of Are You Ready for Some Football with Hank Williams Jr., the Hispanic touch was undeniable. President Barack Obama rounded out the pre-game show with a videotaped proclamation in Spanish, “We are all Americans.”

It was Fútbol Americano—Miami style.

The primetime showcasing of the Dolphins’ star-laden ownership is the first big step in the culmination of Ross’ vision. It’s how Ross—who grew up in Miami Beach and became a successful developer—intends to change the team’s moxie and turn it into a popular (and winning) franchise.

To some, Ross is among the vanguard of new NFL owners. There is no doubt he’s as much a part of a very exclusive fraternity of deep-pocketed, white, majority owners like Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys or Daniel Snyder of the Washington Redskins. But Ross’ warm embrace of minorities among his limited partners is changing the make-up of the league’s ownership ranks—and, he hopes, its fan base and viewership. “I’m not looking to be where everybody else is,” Ross tells USA Today of his NFL counterparts. “I want to write my own script.”

Within months of spending $1.5 billion to acquire the Miami Dolphins, the stadium and surrounding property from H. Wayne Huizenga late last year, Ross brought on as investors Gloria and Emilio Estefan, and Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, along with Palm Beach County residents Venus and Serena Williams. As limited partners and high-profile celebrities, they could literally change the face of the team. Ross also signed Jimmy Buffett’s Land Shark Lager beer for the team’s stadium naming rights (Buffett’s casino holdings prevent him from taking an ownership stake in an NFL team). Fergie, the singer from the Black Eyed Peas, was reportedly approved by the NFL owners as another celebrity part-owner of the Dolphins, although no deal had been announced as of press time.

Few would argue against Ross’ maxim that the celebrity factor helps boost attention—especially for a team that suffered a 9 percent drop in attendance before last season’s 11-5 turn-around. Yet the Dolphins are committed to putting a winning team on the field, and to that end, Ross made sure to massage Dolphin’s General Manager Bill Parcells, who is largely credited with the Dolphins historic turnaround last season, and who in the past has shown disdain for meddling owners.

All the while, Ross reached out to the local community in Miami-Dade County, where more than half the population is Latino. Some believe his performances are game-changers. The marketing implications for the Dolphins in the Latino community are “enormous,” says Dr. Richard E. Lapchick, Chair of the DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program at the University of Central Florida. Lapchick, also an ESPN.com commentator on diversity in sports, authored 100 Campeones: Latino Groundbreakers Who Paved the Way in Sport. Aside from Arturo Moreno (owner of the Anaheim Angels) and Linda Alvarado (part owner of the Colorado Rockies), Lapchick says this is the first significant Latino ownership group in U.S. sporting franchises; the Estefans are the first Cuban-Americans to hold an ownership stake in the NFL.

The South Florida spotlight is carrying the images far beyond the local community, he says (the Monday night game was televised nationally and USA Today ran a story on the team on its back cover page for Hispanic Heritage Month). “Even though this is minority ownership, it has such star power that it’s getting public attention,” he says. “The implications for the NFL are that it is helping to move their image as a sport that is dealing in a serious way with diversity issues.”

It didn’t hurt that high-profile Latinos were on the field, too. Mexican-American quarterback Mark Sanchez was the first-round draft pick for the New York Jets and Greg Camarillo is a wide receiver for the Dolphins. In all, the league has close to two dozen Hispanic players, including such stars as Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo and San Diego Chargers defensive end Luis Castillo.

But unlike Dallas’ and San Diego’s role models, Miami’s new stars are owners with talents parallel to, if not distant from, the gridiron. The appeal is different, and the inspiration as well. “Here we’re talking about something much more important,” says Miami-based developer and Dolphins Vice Chairman Jorge Pérez, who facilitated the connection with the Estefans. “Here we’re talking about ownership. Events like this make a whole community feel that there is a huge pride in having one of theirs achieving something that hasn’t been achieved before.”

And while many sports columnists and business impresarios still challenge Ross’ notion that glitter and glamour, albeit Latino, can fill seats (one need only look at the empty stands at a Florida Marlins baseball game), on this Monday night in October, Marc Anthony—a native of East Harlem whose godfather is long-time New York Giants head coach Jim Fassel—literally became a launching pad for the team, and the National Football League. ESPN Deportes, the sports network’s Spanish-language channel, earned a 1.44 coverage rating, its highest pull ever for a game of Fútbol Americano, and well over its average 1.1 rating.

“As the changing demographic continues to take place, it’s important to found on developing that fan base,” says Lino Garcia, General Manager of ESPN Deportes.

To be fair, the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers played to a packed house at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca two years ago, and last year’s Hispanic Heritage Month Monday night game, where the Cowboys hosted the Philadelphia Eagles, was the highest watched MNF game on ESPN Deportes until the Dolphins-Jets game. But such a successful showing in a region known as the “Gateway to the Americas” can only help the NFL spread its influence throughout South America, says Jose Cancela, a long-time Hispanic media executive and principal with the Coral Gables-based Hispanic USA, which is working with the Dolphins to gauge their efforts. “The Dolphins sit at the epicenter of reaping the benefits of that crossroads,” he says. “Their mindset is to be very aggressive locally and to think southward as well.”

The success of the outreach is being felt by both the team and the league, Cancela says. Cancela likened the marketing strategy to an automotive campaign: The NFL handles the national branding, and the Miami Dolphins organization is the local dealer trying to steer people into seats. And since few before Ross tried to tap the Latino market in any significant way—except for the Dallas Cowboys, which are viewed as the most aggressive effort—the upside potential is enormous. “That’s where Stephen Ross saw the opportunity and addressed it,” Cancela says. “The team’s efforts at this stage have surpassed [the Cowboys].”

Savvy executives with other teams will use the Dolphins’ example as a blueprint for similar outreach, says Peter O’Reilly, NFL Vice President of fan strategy and marketing. That’s not to say Miami is unique. The Pittsburgh Steelers—who along with Seattle and Indianapolis broadcast games in Spanish—have one of the strongest U.S. Hispanic and Mexican fan bases among the league’s 32 teams, he says. “This is not a one-game, one-weekend approach for the league,” he says. “It’s really growing and coming to life in all our NFL markets.”

With the glitz and glamour of Miami and nearby South Beach, some liken this setting to a Los Angeles Lakers game. In L.A., fans like Jack Nicholson and Dyan Cannon can be found in courtside seats. But Miami is different. The celebrities are owners—whose involvement goes beyond merely watching the game and creates energy akin to a festival rather than a football game.