Dortmund's global popularity is performing well in the USA, but club CEO Carsten Cramer voiced their intent in expanding into South American and Spanish-speaking nations.

MÜNCHEN (Bulinews) In order to maintain their growing US-based fan base, Borussia Dortmund CEO Carsten Cramer has said the club is pulling out all the stops to get to grips with the American market. This ranges from watch parties to signing US stars.

“We really try to understand the American culture, how to use and attract people to a sports club. We build fan relationships and grassroot initiatives with our academy," he said at a media round last week in Munich where Bulinews.com was also present.

“We are founding fan clubs, offering them watch parties and we try to play friendlies as often as possible [in the USA]. The Club World Cup took place there because Americans want to finally touch the club [in person]

“It’s difficult but we try to invite as many people and partners as possible, because you cannot copy and paste the experience through the digital channels. Life experience is our big advantage in current times.

“[Things like] Ai is multiplying many activities, but it will never be able to substitute a lived event. We want to make content that is interesting to the Americans and we have an advantage there too.

“We hired the first American player who made their big steps to an international career at Dortmund. Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna were some of the first, and the Bundesliga is good for American talents as well.

“That’s one way to get American attention. We also have an office in New York, we’ve developed some activities near Times Square a few weeks ago. It’s a huge bucket of activities to reach as many Americans as possible," he added. 

Comparatively, the BVB's chief was honest enough to admit they have some shortcomings. Dortmund, according to Cramer, are now hell-bent on expanding their global reach in South America and Spanish-speaking nations.

“We have some weaknesses regarding our appearances in certain markets [like South America]. It’s a market where we know that the interest in our club is crazy,” Cramer explained as his eyes started to light up. 

“We know that interest in football generally [in South America] exists. We just decided to open a Spanish [language] Instagram account called ‘El Dortmund’, which is maybe the first step into this market.

“We see good reach regarding he Bundesliga [here] and when we are playing in the USA, the Hispanic peoples are really interested in football and our club. We do have a long history regarding Brazilian players too.

“We are a smaller club; we can’t be everywhere around the world in five years. It has to be step-by-step but it’s still a territory on our black and yellow map where the flag is missing. We have to consider how to change this.

“Of course having one [a star from South America] is a big unique selling proposition, but we are a football club. We are not just a marketing or business entity. We try to sign players to help us on the pitch.

“We never hire players just based on their nationality so we can open the markets. For example Justin Lerma from Ecuador, we hired him not because of that but for us abilities and his talent," he concluded.