The Seattle Seahawks are eager to grow their fan base internationally.

Now, the NFL franchise is relying on Counselor Top 40 distributor Bensussen Deutsch & Associates (BDA, asi/137616) to help them capture the hearts of those sought-after new fans.

This week, the Seahawks announced that BDA will serve as the team’s official branded merchandise partner in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Jay Deutsch, BDA (asi/137616)

Through the partnership, BDA will be handling the creation and fulfillment of team merchandise, co-branded giveaways and gifts in the three Central European nations.

BDA is pumped about the opportunity, with CEO Jay Deutsch sharing that the Woodinville, WA-headquartered firm has more than 40 years of experience helping teams create fans through merch initiatives for retail, giveaways and high-end gifting programs.

“Leveraging our vast European account teams and distribution resources, we are proud to expand our long partnership with the Seattle Seahawks and the NFL,” said Deutsch, who co-founded BDA and is a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list of promo’s most influential people. “We believe this is just another step in our evolution to become the best sports-merchandise agency in both the U.S. and Europe.”

For sure, BDA has been ramping up its presence in Europe.

The company already had a firm foothold across the Atlantic when last year it acquired ipm | gruppe, a distributorship based in Germany, Europe’s largest national market for promo sales. Then, this year, BDA purchased The Great Branding Company, a sports-merchandise provider headquartered in the United Kingdom whose clients include some of the biggest names in European professional athletics. 

About
$4.36 billion
- Combined promo distributor sales in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 2023.(ASI Research)

The 2024 acquisition in England will “enable us to take both our promotional and retail sports-merchandise solutions to the next level,” said Deutsch, noting that BDA currently operates European offices in the U.K., France and Germany.

As for the Seahawks, BDA has been delivering merch solutions for the NFL team since 1984. The new focus on Germany, Austria and Switzerland expands the partnership.

It comes as the Seahawks join other NFL franchises in the league’s Global Markets Program, which awards NFL clubs international marketing rights to build brand awareness and fandom beyond the U.S.

An official NFL licensee, BDA currently serves as the Seahawks’ preferred merchandising vendor.

Based on reported 2023 North American promotional product revenue of $452 million, BDA ranked sixth on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry. The Sports Business Journal this year named BDA one of the best places to work in sports.

ASI Research shows that total 2023 promo distributor sales across the United Kingdom, European Union and Iceland, Norway and Switzerland were $14.1 billion.