Steelers announce partnership with German soccer club Borussia Dortmund
Black and gold are uniting from across the pond.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and German soccer club Borussia Dortmund announced a partnership Thursday that binds two prominent, black-and-gold wearing “football” teams thousands of miles apart.
Billed as the first partnership of its kind for either professional sports organization, according to a news release from the Steelers, the arrangement “will further both clubs’ efforts in each other’s markets through joint team activities, content and fan engagement initiatives.”
Among the most prominent members of Germany’s first-division Bundesliga, the 115-year-old Borussia Dortmund (BVB) team played an exhibition at the former Heinz Field in 2018. Late last year, a BVB delegation was hosted by the Steelers for a home game at Acrisure Stadium.
Earlier this spring, Pro Bowl special teamer Miles Killebrew joined a group of Steelers front-office staffers in visiting Dortmund for a match.
Dortmund, in the northwest area of Germany, traditionally mirrored Pittsburgh in that it had an industrial past that featured steel production. Three years ago, the cities’ respective mayors signed a “Transatlantic Innovation and Climate Partnership Agreement.”
Steelers director of business development and strategy Dan Rooney said in a statement that the partnership with BVB “builds off the deep connections both of our teams have with the communities we represent, as well as our shared values, rooted in our industrial pasts, of hard work, determination and a winning spirit.”
The Steelers are one of 10 NFL teams given marketing rights to Germany via the league’s Global Markets Program. The Steelers also have rights in Mexico and Ireland, the latter of which is the site of a regular-season game they will “host” this fall. Berlin will host a game involving the Indianapolis Colts this coming season, and Munich and Frankfort have been the sites of NFL games in recent years.
Dortmund recently opened a marketing office in New York.
“Borussia Dortmund and the Pittsburgh Steelers share more than colors. We share the commitment to bring sports and culture together through the power of our brands,” BVB Americas managing director Marc Lingenhoff, said in a prepared statement.
“When exploring various expansion opportunities for BVB in the United States, we saw the Steelers as the ideal partner.”
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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