For the third time in the 2018/19 Premier League season, GESM provided on-the-ground digital and experiential support for the Premier League and NBC’s PL Mornings Live event. This event series serves as a live broadcast for NBC’s team, as well as playing host to the best Premier League watch party in the U.S. Working alongside the Premier League and NBC allows GESM to continue to collaborate with and learn from some of the best in the business.
Boston, you truly are a special city with an incredible history and a passion for champions. The final PL Mornings Live event of the 2018/19 season shattered previous Premier League event attendance numbers, as thousands of fans descended upon Cask ‘n Flagon and Lansdowne Street, directly behind the Green Monster of Fenway Park, over the two-day event.
With more than 12,500 fans in attendance and the likes of ex-Manchester City midfielder Shaun Wright-Phillips, ex-Everton midfielder Leon Osman, and former Chelsea striker Tore Andre Flo, it was a memorable two days for all involved. Let’s take a look at what made this event the biggest and best yet.
Premier League Fans of Boston
While Premier League games didn’t kick off until Saturday morning, there was plenty to do in the days leading up to the event. Following up on the PL Fans of New York series back in December, we uncovered the stories of six different PL fans from the Greater Boston area who live for PL mornings and brought a photographer on board to showcase each’s unique fandom. NBC even invited Caitlin on-air to be interviewed with Rebecca Lowe on Sunday’s broadcast after she revealed she wants to follow in Rebecca’s footsteps – after winning the Women’s World Cup, of course. You can see the final video output from PLinUSA’s Instagram below.
Janelle and JJ’s PL Stadium Adventure
In the weeks before the event, we uncovered the story of a Boston couple who quit their jobs in November to travel to England for 2.5 months to visit every PL stadium. After 24 games in 20 stadiums they headed back to the States. Due to construction delays, they missed out on their #1 stadium to visit – the new White Hart Lane. The reason for their trip? To honor Janelle’s late brother, who, like Janelle and JJ, was a massive Tottenham fan and passed away in November 2016. Working with our client, the Premier League, and the broadcaster, NBC, we were able to surprise them on-air with a trip to see Tottenham host Huddersfield on April 13th for the second-ever PL match played at the stadium.
In honor of her late brother, @JJablonski5 and @jj_comeau left everything behind for a PL adventure. They saw a match in each team's stadium but one – her brother's beloved @SpursOfficial.
Today, live on @NBCSportsSoccer, they found out their adventure will have one more stop. pic.twitter.com/okbZLW9A33
— Premier League USA (@PLinUSA) April 1, 2019
Dancakes Pancake Art
Name a more iconic duo than breakfast and the Premier League for American fans. You can’t. That connection is one of the reasons we reached out to pancake artists Dancakes at the start of this season for some delicious social media content. That relationship took another step when they created their custom PL pancakes for fans at the New York City event. They were back for Boston and this time PL legends took a turn at their artistry skills.
Who will create the better Sergio Agüero look-a-like pancake: @swp29 or @drdancake? 🥞#MyPLMorning pic.twitter.com/81WPc04UVp
— Premier League USA (@PLinUSA) March 30, 2019
WWE Superstar Sheamus
The weekend’s main event was Liverpool hosting Tottenham on Sunday, so we had to bring in a true headliner. Enter Sheamus – the larger-than-life WWE wrestler and massive Liverpool fan. His passion was on display from the moment he did his ring entrance – with the one-and-only Mighty Red. Sheamus also got an airbrush tattoo, made pancake art, and excited the crowd with over-the-top celebrations following Liverpool’s late winner. The superstar made waves on NBC’s broadcast before the match when he shared the history of his fandom, and after the match, when he fired up the Reds on Lansdowne Street before providing his post-game analysis.
Sheamus stars heavily in the full event recap below:
You simply can't beat this.
See how everything unfolded during an incredible weekend in Boston. #MyPLMorning pic.twitter.com/BHU9gXsg0N
— Premier League USA (@PLinUSA) April 1, 2019
From the quick-fire American goalkeeper quiz, to PLinUSA’s on-the-ground foreign correspondent – Chris Macchi – making his way to Boston for more great Instagram stories content, to all of the pieces above, we had a great experience in Boston and look forward to continued work with the Premier League and NBC. Here’s to the next PL Mornings Live coming soon to a city near you!
Categories: Europhile, Event Marketing, Experiential, NBC, Premier League, Uncategorized