Creative Editors' Picks Featured Marketing

Shantelle Nagarajan

posted on Jul. 03, 2025 at 4:00 pmJul 4, 2025

Inside the strategy behind NFL’s San Francisco 49ers’ Middle East expansion

Shantelle Nagarajan

posted on Jul. 03, 2025 at 4:00 pmJul 4, 2025

San Francisco 49ers Stephanie Rogers and RISE Group's Dave McCann discusses the NFL team's marketing strategy as it expands to the MENA region

San Francisco 49ers

49ers' mascot Sourdough Sam with teachers at GEMS World Academy Senior School.

National Football League’s (NFL) San Francisco 49ers hosted its first activation in Dubai this June, following the announcement in March that the major league professional sports team were granted activation rights in the UAE.

The team hosted a flag football coaching session at GEMS World Academy Senior School, training more than 24 physical education teachers in the fundamentals of coaching flag football.

The activation also included a youth flag football clinic for 30 students, aged 10-11 who enjoyed different NFL-themed practice drills and an introduction to flag tag. Sourdough Sam, the 49ers mascot made a special appearance to engage with the students and interact with fans.

Ste

To continue reading this article you need to be registered with Campaign. Registration is free and only takes a minute. Register Now or sign in below if you already have an account.

Tags:Campaigns creative Dave McCann digital Levi’s Stadium marketing NFL RISE Group San Francisco 49ers Social Stephanie Rogers Strategy

the authorShantelle Nagarajan

Shantelle Nagarajan is Campaign Middle East’s Junior Reporter who covers marketing news which focuses on FMCG, real estate and brand retail industries. Her features delve into brand strategy, appointments, trends in consumer behaviour and CX. Shantelle also contributes to social media coverage, editorial event programming and print content work. She previously worked in PR and marketing, most recently at Edelman, where she was part of the Brand team. When she’s not writing for her day job, you can find her with her nose buried in a book, playing at a weekly open mic night or doom-scrolling the latest make-up challenges on TikTok.