Miami Dolphins Are Making a Push to Market the NFL in Colombia

The National Football League (NFL) has been expanding its global marketing efforts in recent years, and the Miami Dolphins have been selected as the team that will be the focus of league efforts in Colombia as well Argentina and Mexico.

This expands upon the “Global Markets Program” marking rights that the Dolphins already have been granted in Brazil, Spain, and the United Kingdom, significantly positioning the team located in the Southern Florida mecca of Latino immigration as the most prominent league organization in Latin America and the Spanish-speaking world.

“With more than 2.7 million Miami residents of LatAm origin and more than 66% of Miami-Dade County being Spanish-speaking, Miami is a clear gateway city to Latin America,” said Tom Garfinkel, president and CEO of the Miami Dolphins, in a statement. “And there is no team better positioned to grow the game in LatAm and Spain than the Dolphins.”

For the Dolphins, previous foreign-market engagement efforts have included watch parties for games, fan club meetups with “Dolphins alumni,” youth football activities, and NFL Flag camps.

“Those efforts will continue, as well as expanded programming, digital native-language content and increased retail presence, making it easier for fans to have access to Dolphins merchandise in Argentina, Colombia,and Mexico, to be announced in the coming months,” stated the Dolphins.

Mexico, in particular, has been an early adopter of American football fandom. With a reported 24.1 million total viewers of the most recent Super Bowl, according to the NFL, it has by far the league’s largest international audience.

Mexico is also the nation where the Dolphins have their largest international fan base on social media. But while Miami will share marketing rights in Mexico with nine other teams — including the Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers, and Dallas Cowboys — the Dolphins are the only teams with rights in both Colombia and Argentina.

The NFL hosted its first game in Mexico in 2016 and has now played in front of some 75,000 fans on five separate occasions in Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca. There will be no game held in Mexico in 2024, however, as the Azteca is undergoing renovations.

In September, the NFL will host its first game Brazil in September between the Philadelphia Eagles and a yet-unnamed opponent at São Paolo’s Arena Corinthians.

Globally, only Germany, also with 10 team, has as many franchises with marketing rights as Mexico. The United Kingdom represents that next closest with six teams. Germany and the United Kingdom are also the only other nations to host NFL games outside of the United States.

The Dolphins have yet to play in Mexico but in 2007 became the first team to ever play in England. They also played a game in Germany in 2023.

The Global Markets Program began in 2022 with the goal to award international marketing rights to different teams so they could each individually work to “build brand awareness and fandom beyond the US, through fan engagement, events and commercial opportunities, consistent with their home markets,” according to the Dolphins.

“We are excited to be able to better engage with our passionate fans in Argentina, Colombia and Mexico, in addition to Spain, Brazil and the UK, as well as to meet and engage with new fans through game broadcasts and programming, fan engagement opportunities and local community impact efforts,” said Garfinkel.

Overall, according to the NFL, 62.5 million viewers outside of the United States watched Super Bowl in February. This was the largest international audience of all time, and represented a 10% jump from the previous year.

Photo: Miami Dolphins tight end running with the football. (Photo credit: Ed Yourdon)