Bayern Munich Looks to Build its Brand in the United States

Bayern Munich, the mightiest of the Bundesliga's clubs, picked an appropriate time to begin building a year-round presence in the United States.

It won five titles last year, including the trophies for the Champions League and the European Super Cup, and the Bundesliga signed a global television deal with 21st Century Fox.

Germany won the World Cup last month with seven Bayern players; another eight were on other World Cup rosters.

Now, the team is in the United States, first to play Chivas Guadalajara on Thursday night at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, and then to face the Major League Soccer All-Stars on Wednesday at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon. The trip is part of Bayern's plan to make fans feel closer to the team of Thomas Mueller and Arjen Robben while adding revenue it would not make in Munich.

"We are coming to the States, and we are staying here," said Rudolph Vidal, the managing director of Bayern's U.S. division, which has a mandate to market sponsorship possibilities to U.S. companies and sell merchandise to U.S. fans through a new website and online store.

The revenue will help to finance transfer fees, further bolstering a profitable club that has been valued at $1.85 billion by Forbes.

"That's what it's all about," Vidal, a former goalkeeper for Bayern's youth team, said last week during an interview at Bayern's newly opened office in Manhattan.

The decision to open an office in New York, and another in Asia next year, came last July, after the hiring of Jorg Wacker as Bayern's head of internationalization and strategy.

"He felt we needed new revenues in different markets, and he came to identify these markets," Vidal said. "And with partners like Audi, Allianz and Adidas" - each of which owns 8.3 percent of the team - "they wanted us to come to the United States first."

So now, a club that has not played a summer exhibition in the United States since 2004 is trying to become a major part of the U.S. sports scene.

"We knew when we came here we had to do more than play one game and go home," Vidal said.

The strategy behind establishing a full-time U.S. office was conceived shortly before the Fox deal with the Bundesliga, which, in the United States, will start in 2015 and last for five years. That will give Bayern and the league a boost with U.S. audiences that could be similar to the success NBCSN had last season with Premier League games from England.

"Bayern is without a doubt the dominant team in the Bundesliga," said David Nathanson, the chief operating officer of Fox Sports 1 and 2, which will show the league's games. "They've had some great rivals, but, ultimately, it is the winningest team in Germany. For them to be a global powerhouse, opening an office in New York will let them have more touch points in this country."

International soccer clubs have long traveled to North America in the summer to play exhibitions as part of their preseason training. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Milan and Manchester United have used these trips to expand their fan bases, which in recent years have increasingly been able to watch European and South American clubs on television.

But while the summer games have become a regular part of the sports landscape, few teams have opened permanent offices in the United States. Two European clubs, Liverpool and Roma, have offices in Boston because they have U.S. owners. Barcelona once had an office in New York but closed it.

Vidal said it was essential to the club's strategy to open an office in Manhattan rather than try to manage its U.S. efforts from Munich.

"To make a difference, to take it really seriously, it's better to be here," he said. "People say, 'Wow, you have an office here.' You have to be on-site and face the market."

From Boston, Liverpool has done some of what Bayern wants to do. But Liverpool has the advantage of its tie to the Boston Red Sox, through the mutual ownership of John Henry.

"We have an active sales team that sells Liverpool regularly," said Billy Hogan, the chief commercial officer for Liverpool, which is touring the United States for the second time in three years. "In the U.S., it's about partnerships with companies like Dunkin' Donuts and Subway and developing new relationships that will bring the club and fans closer together."