Arsenal owners target global brand leadership after title celebrations

Arsenal’s ownership group believes the club can become the world’s biggest global brand, with the international response to their Premier League title strengthening ambitions to expand their commercial reach.Kroenke Sports and Entertainment executives have identified celebrations across Africa, Asia and North America as evidence of a substantial supporter base that the club can engage more closely following their championship success.Kevin Demoff, KSE’s president of team and media operations, said: “I think Arsenal can be the biggest global brand in the world.“When you look at the opportunity in London and the success the team’s had, and when you look at the parade in Kenya, I think that’s what we’re all striving for. We build our global brands to model them after Arsenal.”Demoff, who is also president of the Los Angeles Rams, was speaking at Leaders Week London, where his comments positioned Arsenal as a reference point for international brand development across KSE’s sporting portfolio.The group’s interests include the Rams in the NFL and Denver Nuggets in the NBA, giving its executives experience of building commercial operations across several major sports markets.Arsenal’s title celebrations included large supporter gatherings in East Africa and landmarks illuminated in red from New York to Guangzhou, while approximately one million fans attended the trophy parade in north London.Chief executive Richard Garlick commented: “Suddenly we realised that we had this latent set of fans that perhaps had been slightly dormant for 22 years that suddenly all felt that connection.“I share the optimism that Kevin has about the brand, but it’s the fact that we’ve got a successful football team, we’ve got a really strong women’s team, and we’re based in London. They give us a real advantage.”Arsenal rank third behind Real Madrid and Barcelona in Brand Finance’s latest assessment of football brand value, with their Premier League title and Champions League final appearance contributing to the club’s stronger position.The executives’ ambition therefore builds on an established international profile, with Garlick highlighting the combination of sporting performance, women’s football and geography rather than the men’s title alone.Arsenal have also confirmed a new long-term contract for Mikel Arteta, providing continuity as the club seek to sustain the success underpinning their commercial ambitions.Garlick added: “We can’t sit there, pat ourselves on the back, and say job done. This is the beginning, not the end of our journey.“We want to go on and show the confidence that win is going to bring to us. We want to dominate football for the next number of years. We’re in a really strong position to do that.”