James Bisgroves international Rangers mission revealed as commercial boss bids to expand U.S brand(Record)

copy and paste is essential for Record articles. do not give them the hits.

Rangers commercial boss James Bisgrove has jetted to the United States as the Ibrox club bid to expand its business brand.
Former UEFA executive Bisgrove will spend this week meeting with leading sports teams as he aims to forge commercial partnerships and boost the Ibrox fan experience.
Disgraced ex-director Imran Ahmad and chief executive Charles Green were ridiculed seven years ago when they claimed the club were in talks with the Dallas Cowboys over a tie-up.
The Texans denied ever holding discussions, but this time a visit to an NFL franchise is part of the itinerary.
Bisgrove will also meet with organisations from the MLS and its feeder league, the USL

(Image: Daily Record - Tony Nicoletti)
Rangers are bidding to expand their business reach in North America after recently concluding a two-year-deal with leading Indian club Bengaluru FC.


Bisgrove also wants to study best in practice stadium designs and function as part of the ongoing modernisation of Ibrox as Rangers prepare to mark their 150th anniversary in 2022.
He said: “The plan is to build our international strategy around North America and India moving forward.
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“The objective of the visit is to draw upon learnings and inspiration that can enhance and modernise the Ibrox stadium fan experience and discuss commercial partnership opportunities.
“We’re meeting a few clubs and with a few potential commercial partners to gauge the opportunities to build an audience there.
“We have a fantastic fanbase in Scotland and it must continue to be the focus, but there are opportunities internationally and that has been the nature of my experience before.

Rangers Managing Director Stewart Robertson and Mandar Tamhane of Bengaluru FC announce a new partnership between the two clubs (Image: SNS Group)
“We’ll be mostly on the west coast and hopefully when we return we can be a little more concrete.
“I don’t want to pre-empt anything until we’ve had those conversations, but it’s a signal of the club’s intentions to build our international network and fan base.
“We can look at the Bengaluru FC partnership as a model. It’s predicated on football, with soccer schools and academies, but it also has a commercial element that allows us to engage with audiences there.
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“One of the great assets is the strength of the Rangers brand and when you align that with the strength of manager Steven Gerrard’s brand, you have some fantastic ingredients to resonate the club in international markets.
“The potential is in unlocking those opportunities. We see a real opportunity in India, with 1.3 billion people and the popularity of football growing all the time.
“I don’t think any other European club has really moved into India and cracked it, whereas China is saturated.

The club hope to draw on Steven Gerrard's international profile (Image: DAILY RECORD)
“The other market we have identified is North America. I’m a great believer you have to go out there and meet individuals on the ground to put those plans in place.”
The Rangers board have spent £5 million on Ibrox in recent seasons after years of under-investment and new look electronic sponsorship boards will be introduced early in the new year.
Bisgrove added: “We’re putting in a new LED system around the first tier, similar to those in operation at venues such as Tottenham and Twickenham. It will look great from a sponsorship platform perspective and something top tier sponsors will want to engage with.”
Bisgrove joined Rangers four months ago as commercial and marketing director from Team, the marketing arm of UEFA that oversees the commercial aspects of the Champions League and Europa League. He has previously worked with Emirates, Betfair and Royal Bank of Scotland.

(Image: SNS)
Rangers are also planning further upgrades of their stadium and are currently in discussions about increasing the capacity of Ibrox, as exclusively revealed by Record Sport.
There are also plans to transform Edmiston House into a retail centre, ticket office, events space and museum ahead of 2022, while the current Rangers megastore could become a sports bar.
Bisgrove added: “We want to draw on the best of class when we are looking at the type of investment that may come to life here in terms of the Ibrox infrastructure.
“The visit to the US will also give us the opportunity to look at brand new stadia and how they use modern technology - everything from hospitality and beer pourage to interactive museums.
“We really see an opportunity to elevate the fan experience and increase the dwell time of people when they come to the stadium.”
 
The Rangers board have spent £5 million on Ibrox in recent seasons after years of under-investment and new look electronic sponsorship boards will be introduced early in the new year.

Bisgrove added: “We’re putting in a new LED system around the first tier, similar to those in operation at venues such as Tottenham and Twickenham. It will look great from a sponsorship platform perspective and something top tier sponsors will want to engage with.”

Bisgrove joined Rangers four months ago as commercial and marketing director from Team, the marketing arm of UEFA that oversees the commercial aspects of the Champions League and Europa League. He has previously worked with Emirates, Betfair and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Rangers are also planning further upgrades of their stadium and are currently in discussions about increasing the capacity of Ibrox, as exclusively revealed by Record Sport.

There are also plans to transform Edmiston House into a retail centre, ticket office, events space and museum ahead of 2022, while the current Rangers megastore could become a sports bar.

Bisgrove added: “We want to draw on the best of class when we are looking at the type of investment that may come to life here in terms of the Ibrox infrastructure.

“The visit to the US will also give us the opportunity to look at brand new stadia and how they use modern technology - everything from hospitality and beer pourage to interactive museums.

“We really see an opportunity to elevate the fan experience and increase the dwell time of people when they come to the stadium.”
 
much was made of the previous commercial director, not heard much about the new guy yet. no news is good news i suppose in FF world...
 
The Rangers board have spent £5 million on Ibrox in recent seasons after years of under-investment and new look electronic sponsorship boards will be introduced early in the new year.

Bisgrove added: “We’re putting in a new LED system around the first tier, similar to those in operation at venues such as Tottenham and Twickenham. It will look great from a sponsorship platform perspective and something top tier sponsors will want to engage with.”

Bisgrove joined Rangers four months ago as commercial and marketing director from Team, the marketing arm of UEFA that oversees the commercial aspects of the Champions League and Europa League. He has previously worked with Emirates, Betfair and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Rangers are also planning further upgrades of their stadium and are currently in discussions about increasing the capacity of Ibrox, as exclusively revealed by Record Sport.

There are also plans to transform Edmiston House into a retail centre, ticket office, events space and museum ahead of 2022, while the current Rangers megastore could become a sports bar.

Bisgrove added: “We want to draw on the best of class when we are looking at the type of investment that may come to life here in terms of the Ibrox infrastructure.

“The visit to the US will also give us the opportunity to look at brand new stadia and how they use modern technology - everything from hospitality and beer pourage to interactive museums.

“We really see an opportunity to elevate the fan experience and increase the dwell time of people when they come to the stadium.”

Here's hoping someone in North America or India likes safe standing. That'll increase the 'dwell time, going forward'.
 
Clearly I want foreign endeavours to work. But, other than better serving ex pats, I can’t see a big untapped fan base.

We are competing with the Liverpool’s, Man U, Barca’s and real Madrid’s of the world.

Maybe I’m wrong. I hope I am.
 
Clearly I want foreign endeavours to work. But, other than better serving ex pats, I can’t see a big untapped fan base.

We are competing with the Liverpool’s, Man U, Barca’s and real Madrid’s of the world.

Maybe I’m wrong. I hope I am.

Even if we can get a couple of % of what those clubs get, we will get a significant boost to our revenue.
 
Clearly I want foreign endeavours to work. But, other than better serving ex pats, I can’t see a big untapped fan base.

We are competing with the Liverpool’s, Man U, Barca’s and real Madrid’s of the world.

Maybe I’m wrong. I hope I am.

You might be right but we should still try and explore the possibilities.

There are huge numbers of Scots descendants in North America. There surely must be a reservoir of goodwill in there to tap into.
 
I hope we don't go down the Man City route of using the led boards to advertise our supporter's clubs flags. Looks tragic.
 
Glad to see the board are taking advantage of having a world superstar as our manager. Also, his links with LA Galaxy will help too.

Can't help but be excited about the future
 
I hope we don't go down the Man City route of using the led boards to advertise our supporter's clubs flags. Looks tragic.

It’s not only tragic , it’s nauseating when you’re at the game as it catches your eye all the time and puts me off the actual game . I don’t think they should be allowed . Ibrox needs work externally , the surrounds and internally , we do not need new annoying flashing advertising hoardings .
 
I was in the soccer shop at Florida Mall today and a full section was dedicated to the manky
mob. Not a Rangers top in sight, hopefully this can be fixed going forward
I was there in July and they had our Old tops on sale then I think they were down to $60 instead of $100
 
they will be exactly the same as the ones round the pitch but bolted to the stands where the current advertising is in between the lower & upper stands?
Aye they'll just run along between two tiers. Gives us a lot more scope for advertisement and looks pretty smart.
 
It’s not only tragic , it’s nauseating when you’re at the game as it catches your eye all the time and puts me off the actual game . I don’t think they should be allowed . Ibrox needs work externally , the surrounds and internally , we do not need new annoying flashing advertising hoardings .

We heard all this when the pitch side LEDs went in originally.

People moaning they couldnt follow the ball, were distracting, etc and now its just the norm, these new ones will be the same.
 
You might be right but we should still try and explore the possibilities.

There are huge numbers of Scots descendants in North America. There surely must be a reservoir of goodwill in there to tap into.

we’ve also had various well known American players play with us in more recent past. We also have a patriotic fan base that the yanks can relate to. Also partial to an American ditty..;)
 
It’s not only tragic , it’s nauseating when you’re at the game as it catches your eye all the time and puts me off the actual game . I don’t think they should be allowed . Ibrox needs work externally , the surrounds and internally , we do not need new annoying flashing advertising hoardings .

If they make us money, then yes, we absolutely do!
 
I'm always very sceptical over these overseas ventures. I just don't think there's proper money to be made by a Scottish club.

The areas that we are looking at - they only really watch the EPL, bit sof L Liga and some Serie A. Scottish football doesn't feature in their viewing and never will.
 
I always thought a very easy tie up in the USA would be with NY Rangers NHL team, same name, same colours. They produce some smashing merchandise too.

Even if it was just selling some if each other’s merchandise in the stores
 
Many moons ago I went to Maddison Square Gardens to watch them. Being a naïve tourist I ended up with the cheap seats at the back row of the upper tier - all I could see was a wee group of guys randomly skating around on ice. Didn't see the puck once LOL (no big screens in those days either).

I did though leave with some very nice 'Rangers' gear - so your point is good.
 
I think the attendances at the Florida tournament a couple of years ago shows the reality. Compare that with EPL sides who sell out stadia across the U.S and elsewhere.

I'm sure Bisgrove has good intentions but I think that he will soon find out that he is totally up against it. I have no expectations for this 'overseas market' stuff. We have small pockets of ex-pats dotted about North America and Australasia - but that's about it.

And people in India aren't going to start watching our games and buying our merchandise. Why would they??
 
Clearly I want foreign endeavours to work. But, other than better serving ex pats, I can’t see a big untapped fan base.

We are competing with the Liverpool’s, Man U, Barca’s and real Madrid’s of the world.

Maybe I’m wrong. I hope I am.
True ,but I guess we need to start somewhere
 
Clearly I want foreign endeavours to work. But, other than better serving ex pats, I can’t see a big untapped fan base.

We are competing with the Liverpool’s, Man U, Barca’s and real Madrid’s of the world.

Maybe I’m wrong. I hope I am.
I don't think you are wrong - at all.

To cut to the chase, I think it's absolute fantasy to think we can tap into the US and Indian markets and loads of people in these regions are suddenly going to start trying to watch us on tv and buy our stuff as a result.

As you - and me also in this thread - have mentioned, we have a small ex-pat community dotted about, but that's about it. And they are already engaged with Rangers, so no 'new business' from there.

Good luck to Bisgrove, but on this one I have no genuine expectations.
 
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