Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports Inks Deal With Italy’s Serie A Soccer League

Zac Ntim
·2 min read
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Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports has signed what has been described as a new “strategic partnership” with Italy’s top-flight soccer league Serie A.

The deal, which was announced yesterday via Roc Nation’s social accounts, has been forged to enhance the Italian league’s reach in North America. The two entities said they will partner to raise the league’s awareness in North America by engaging existing and new fans through digital content, marketing activations, and events.

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Roc Nation and Serie A have had a working partnership since 2019. In 2020 at the height of the covid pandemic, the agency inked a deal with leading Serie A side AC Milan to host an event to raise support for key workers. The event was hosted by DJ Khaled and featured performances from artists such as Alicia Keys and Kelly Rowland. All proceeds went to charity. The pair later announced a full partnership.

Roc Nation also represents many leading European soccer players, including Romelu Lukaku of Serie A’s Inter Milan. Lukaku is one of Serie A’s biggest names, and he told local Italian press earlier this year that the multi-Grammy Award winner encouraged him to join Inter.

“We spent some time together in New York, and then he pushed me too to return to Inter,” Lukaku said. “He’s a person who follows football a lot, he always follows Inter. He’s truly a nice person.”

Roc Nation has also 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 monkey chants from opposition fans, Michael Yormark, president of Roc Nation Sports, 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”, Yormark’s said.

Speaking of today’s deal, Yormark said: “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.”

Serie A is historically regarded as one of the most competitive football leagues in the world, with legacy franchises such as AC and Inter Milan, Juventus, and Napoli, the former team of Diego Maradona. Paramount+ is the home of Serie A in the United States, with all 380 games of the season shown live.

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