(RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL. – Tuesday, November 12, 2024)– X League, the groundbreaking Women’s American Football league, is proud to announce a strategic partnership with Rio de Janeiro based Effect Sport, a leading sports marketing and consulting firm, to drive the growth of Women’s American Football across Brazil and South America. This collaboration will focus on developing media rights, securing corporate sponsorships, organizing exhibition and regular season matches, and facilitating long-term investments in the sport throughout the region.
Effect Sport’s portfolio of blue-chip partners include Nike, Red Bull, Gatorade, the World Surf League, amongst others. Most notable is Effect Sport’s over ten-year collaboration with the National Football League (NFL) more recently highlighted by bringing the first-ever NFL game to Sao Paulo, Brazil as well as consulting with the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins of the NFL. The agency was responsible for bringing the Street League Skateboarding (SLS) to Brazil and was the official agency of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) during the 2016 Rio Games. Effect Sport was also played an import role in the initial expansion of the NBA in Brazil, working closely on their grassroots front.
“The X League’s efforts in evolving the game of American Football to include girls and women aligns with our championing of sports for all,” said Pedro Rego Monteiro, CEO of Effect Sport. “Brazil is fanatical about sport and certainly popularity around American Football has grown considerably with over 38 million NFL fans in Brazil.”
The joint initiative aims to lay the groundwork for a sustainable South American Women’s American Football league while promoting the sport at all levels. As interest in American Football continues to rise across Brazil and other South American nations—fueled by growing enthusiasm for the NFL—the partnership will leverage key media platforms and sponsorship opportunities to raise the profile of Women’s American Football.
A key component of the partnership will be the establishment of competitive exhibition matches and regular season games in Brazil, with the long-term vision of forming a South American Women’s Football league. These efforts are bolstered by the inclusion of Women’s American Football as a representative sport within the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, where Brazil is expected to field a national team.