Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports inks a ‘strategic partnership’ with Italy’s ‘Serie A’ soccer league, expanding the league’s reach in North America through digital content, marketing, and events.
Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports has signed a “strategic partnership” deal with Italy’s top soccer league, Serie A. The agreement has been secured with a focus on enhancing the Italian league’s reach in North America, with the two entities looking to engage with existing and new fans through digital content, marketing activations, and events.
Roc Nation and Serie A have had a working partnership since 2019, and in 2020, Roc Nation inked a deal with Serie A side AC Milan to host an event to raise support for workers during the height of the COVID pandemic. The event was hosted by DJ Khaled and featured performances from artists like Alicia Keys and Kelly Rowland, with all proceeds going to charity.
“We are super excited to help Serie A expand its brand throughout America while helping to develop meaningful commercial partnerships along with enhanced brand visibility that will lead to continued growth for one of the world’s premier football leagues,” says Roc Nation president Michael Yormark.
Roc Nation also represents many leading European soccer players like Romelu Lukaku, one of Serie A’s biggest names, whom Jay-Z encouraged to join Serie A’s Inter Milan.
“We spent some time together in New York, and then he pushed me to return to Inter,” said Lukaku. “He’s a person who follows football a lot; he always follows Inter. He’s truly a nice person.”
Roc Nation has been vocal about issues within Italian soccer, such as widespread racism against the league’s Black players. Last season when Lukaku was subjected to racist chants from fans of the opposition, Michael Yormark, Roc Nation president, released a statement:
“The Italian authorities must use this opportunity to tackle racism rather than punish the victim of the abuse. I am certain that the footballing world shares the same sentiment.”
Serie A is regarded as one of the most competitive soccer leagues in the world, with legacy franchises such as AC and Inter Milan, Juventus, and Napoli, the former team of Diego Maradona. In the United States, Paramount + is the home of Serie A, with all 380 games of the season shown live.