Why American Sport Does Business Differently: Navigate VP Kevin Kane on Sponsorship, Global Growth and the Premier League
From the commercial power of the NFL to the Premier League's international appeal, Kevin Kane, Vice President of International Consulting at Navigate, joins The Business of Football Network to explain how two of the world's biggest sporting markets approach the business of sport.
The Premier League and America's major sporting leagues are among the most commercially successful competitions in the world. Yet behind their broadcasting agreements, sponsorship portfolios and international growth strategies lie two very different approaches to doing business.
For Kevin Kane, Vice President of International Consulting at sports and entertainment consultancy Navigate, understanding those differences has become a central part of his career.
Having spent much of his professional life working across Major League Soccer, American sporting organisations and commercial partnerships, Kane moved to London to establish Navigate's European presence. His experience now spans both sides of the Atlantic, providing a distinctive perspective on how football clubs and sporting organisations generate revenue, engage supporters and expand internationally.
Speaking to David Chimbaza on The Business of Football Network Podcast, Kane explored the growing commercial sophistication of football, the contrasting sponsorship models of the UK and US, and the opportunities emerging as clubs increasingly operate as global businesses.
Football Clubs Are Becoming Year-Round Businesses
One of the most significant developments Kane has observed is the changing role of the football stadium.
Traditionally, clubs relied heavily on matchday activity, broadcasting income and commercial sponsorships. However, increasing financial pressures have encouraged organisations to explore how their facilities can generate revenue throughout the year.
Kane pointed towards Tottenham Hotspur's stadium and Fulham's Riverside Stand as examples of clubs looking beyond conventional matchday income.
At Fulham, where Kane is a third-generation season ticket holder, the redevelopment of the Riverside Stand illustrates how clubs are attempting to combine premium hospitality with a broader leisure offering.
Restaurants, hospitality facilities and other amenities allow clubs to appeal to customers beyond those attending football matches.
For Kane, this reflects an important commercial lesson from American sport, where premium hospitality represents a substantial source of stadium revenue.
However, he also acknowledged the importance of protecting the traditional supporter experience. Clubs must consider how far they can expand premium offerings without undermining the accessibility and culture that make English football distinctive.
The challenge is therefore not simply generating more revenue, but developing additional income streams while maintaining the relationship between clubs and their supporters.
The Premier League's Greatest Commercial Strength Is Its Global Audience
While American sporting organisations have developed highly sophisticated domestic commercial operations, Kane believes the Premier League possesses a particularly valuable advantage: its international following.
During the conversation, he challenged Chimbaza to estimate how much of a leading Premier League club's viewership comes from the UK.
Using Manchester United as an example, Kane explained that the overwhelming majority of the club's audience is international.
He also highlighted the geographical distribution of United's Instagram following, citing audiences in the United States, Indonesia, Nigeria, India and the UK.
The significance extends beyond social media statistics.
For clubs with supporters spread across several continents, commercial strategies can no longer be designed exclusively around their domestic market.
International sponsorships, regional partnerships, overseas tours and digital engagement have become increasingly important in converting global popularity into sustainable revenue.
Kane contrasted this with the NFL, whose broadcasting business remains heavily concentrated in the United States.
Although the NFL generates enormous domestic media rights income, its international expansion presents a different challenge from that facing the Premier League.
English football has already established passionate communities of supporters around the world. American football, by comparison, must continue developing familiarity with the sport itself in many overseas markets.
This helps explain the NFL's growing emphasis on international games and initiatives designed to introduce the competition to new audiences.
The wider lesson is that international expansion is not simply about broadcasting a product overseas. It requires understanding local sporting cultures and creating meaningful reasons for audiences to engage.
Why American Teams Have More Sponsors Than Premier League Clubs
Perhaps the most revealing part of the conversation concerned the different approaches to sponsorship.
Drawing on Navigate's research, Kane outlined a considerable difference in the average number of commercial partners held by clubs and franchises across the two markets.
According to figures he presented, an average Premier League club has approximately 24 commercial partners, compared with 78 for an NBA franchise and 97 for an NFL franchise.
These figures reflect fundamentally different commercial environments.
Premier League clubs frequently pursue a smaller number of substantial agreements, often involving international companies seeking exposure to global football audiences.
American franchises, meanwhile, can develop extensive portfolios of regional and national partnerships.
A business based in Boston, for example, may see considerable value in partnering with a local sports franchise through hospitality, employee engagement, community initiatives and brand association.
This creates commercial opportunities that extend well beyond traditional advertising exposure.
Kane also pointed towards the concentration of major corporations in the United States as an important structural advantage.
With a significant proportion of the world's largest businesses headquartered in America, franchises in cities such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco can access substantial potential sponsorship markets relatively close to home.
Premier League clubs often operate differently. Their international audiences and the smaller concentration of major corporations within the UK encourage them to pursue commercial opportunities across multiple countries.
Neither approach is necessarily superior. Instead, each reflects the economic environment, audience geography and commercial objectives of the organisations involved.
For businesses seeking to enter football sponsorship, understanding these differences is essential.
Business Intelligence Could Become Football's Next Major Opportunity
Beyond sponsorship, Kane identified another area where American sport may offer lessons for Premier League clubs: business intelligence.
Across major US franchises, dedicated business intelligence departments increasingly support several commercial functions.
These teams can analyse ticket pricing, customer behaviour, marketing segmentation, sponsorship prospecting and promotional performance.
Rather than having analytical expertise confined to individual departments, the business intelligence function can provide a centralised source of information for decision making.
Kane suggested that this model has not yet developed to the same extent across the Premier League, where analytical responsibilities may remain distributed among different commercial teams.
He believes there is considerable potential for this to change.
For students and professionals interested in entering the football industry, the development of business intelligence departments could create opportunities for those with analytical, technical and commercial skills.
It also reinforces a wider theme of the discussion: the modern football industry requires expertise far beyond coaching, scouting and player recruitment.
Building a Career Across Two Sporting Markets
Kane's own career provides an example of how opportunities within sport can develop in unexpected directions.
Despite growing up with a passion for football, working in the industry initially felt like an ambition rather than a clear career pathway.
After studying business at Miami University in Ohio, he gained experience through an internship with Columbus Crew before pursuing further opportunities at Navigate.
He recalled completing three unpaid internships with the consultancy and making repeated efforts to demonstrate his commitment.
His early work involved sponsorship valuation, an area he initially found challenging.
Analysing impressions, advertising exposure and commercial valuations required technical skills that did not come naturally to him.
However, with the support of colleagues and mentors, he gradually developed the expertise that would become central to his professional career.
More than a decade later, Kane has worked with 23 MLS clubs and contributed to projects involving major football organisations and international brands.
His decision to establish Navigate's London operation represented another significant professional challenge.
Moving to the UK shortly after getting married meant building new relationships, understanding a different commercial environment and establishing the consultancy's presence in a highly competitive market.
One of his most practical lessons concerned the importance of providing value when developing professional relationships.
Rather than approaching club executives simply to request meetings, Kane offered presentations and insights into commercial trends and behavioural economics that could benefit their organisations.
This approach helped create conversations with Premier League clubs and demonstrated the importance of understanding what a potential client or contact might gain from an introduction.
For aspiring football business professionals, his experience highlights the importance of persistence, adaptability and the willingness to develop unfamiliar skills.
What Can Football Learn From Both Markets?
The conversation demonstrated that the commercial development of football cannot be understood through one market alone.
The Premier League has become an international sporting product with extraordinary global reach. American sporting leagues, meanwhile, offer established examples of premium hospitality, regional sponsorship networks and data-led commercial operations.
As clubs continue to diversify their revenues and seek new audiences, the exchange of ideas between these markets is likely to become increasingly important.
For Kane, the future of football business lies in recognising that clubs are no longer simply sporting institutions operating within their local communities.
They are increasingly complex organisations balancing global commercial ambitions with the traditions and expectations of their supporters.
And for those hoping to build careers within the industry, that transformation is creating opportunities across sponsorship, consulting, data analysis, business development and international strategy.
Kevin Kane's conversation with The Business of Football Network offers a detailed examination of how football's commercial landscape is evolving, and why understanding the differences between the UK and US could be increasingly valuable for the next generation of industry professionals.
Listen to the full conversation with Kevin Kane, Vice President of International Consulting at Navigate, on The Business of Football Network Podcast.
