NFL seeks to convert 'futbol' fans to 'football' fans

MIAMI (AP) _ For 14-year-old Emanuel Arrosa, life is about playing _ or watching ``futbol.'' Like millions of Hispanics whose passion is soccer, the son of Argentinean parents can't remember

Friday, January 26th 2007, 11:40 am

By: News On 6

MIAMI (AP) _ For 14-year-old Emanuel Arrosa, life is about playing _ or watching ``futbol.'' Like millions of Hispanics whose passion is soccer, the son of Argentinean parents can't remember a time when he couldn't dribble a ball with his feet.

About American football, Arrosa is less enthusiastic. ``It's OK, but it doesn't take the same agility. You just hit people.''

Yet if the NFL can work its Super Bowl magic Feb. 4, Arrosa might join the growing legion of Hispanic fans who love the choreographed violence of American football as much as the fancy footwork of soccer. The NFL has stepped up efforts in recent years to market the sport to the children of Latin American immigrants, and as Super Bowl XLI approaches, the league is going all out in its bid to win over the Hispanic community.

In the days running up to the Chicago Bears-Indianapolis Colts matchup at Dolphin Stadium, NFL players will take on Hispanic celebrities and TV personalities in a touch football game. Telemundo, one of the country's largest Spanish-language broadcasters, will telecast a pre-game concert Feb. 2 from Miami featuring Puerto Rico reggaeton singer Don Omar and New York City-based Dominican boy band Aventura.

Even Coors Light, the game's official beer sponsor, is promoting the game with the bilingual tagline, ``One game. One Dream,'' or ``Un juego. Un sueno.''

In part the push represents a nod to the demographics of Super Bowl host Miami-Dade County, where more than 50 percent of residents are Hispanic, many of them first-generation immigrants. But it's also part of the league's recognition that to remain the country's dominant sports league, it's got to keep up with its changing demographics _ Hispanics are the nation's fastest growing minority group.

``I saw a little bit of outreach beginning in Houston a few years ago, but this is definitely the most I've seen, especially in terms of the city, and it's more on the NFL's radar as part of their long-term initiative,'' said Michael Kelly, president of the Super Bowl's South Florida Host Committee.

In the last year, the league also revamped its Spanish-language Web site, NFLatino.com, with a basic guide to football and profiles of the league's 23 Hispanic players, and it signed a contract with Telemundo to air more football ads on its radio stations across the country.

Despite the push, the NFL maintains that drawing Hispanic fans hasn't been hard.

``Football is the most American of sports, and people who come to this country, that's something they want to be a part of,'' said Beth Coleton, the NFL's director of community ventures.

Alfonso Cueto, 30, who works in sales for ESPN Latin America, agrees. The son of Cuban immigrants, he grew up playing basketball but was always a football fan, in part because of how big the sport is in Miami, where the Dolphins and the University of Miami Hurricanes dominate the sports landscape.

``It's a football town here,'' Cueto said. ``I loved the action, the excitement, the hits, the big plays. I was a Hurricane fan when they won the five-time championships.''

But with the increasing influx of new immigrants, and the world's most famous soccer player David Beckham about to make Los Angeles his home, it's no surprise the NFL is going the extra yard to win over fans.

The question is how best to reach them.

Cueto said it's important for the league to recognize the distinctions between Hispanic groups in the U.S. Second-generation Americans like himself might want to read about other Hispanics in the league but prefer to do so in English.

And while recent Caribbean, Central and South American immigrants tend to be die-hard soccer and baseball fans, many Mexicans already follow football thanks to the cross-cultural exchange along border states such as California and Texas.

Rogelio Fernandez, 39, a lifeguard supervisor for Los Angeles city beaches and an Oakland Raiders fan, remembers visiting his father's family in the Mexican state of Michocacan as a boy and playing football _ not soccer _ with the neighborhood kids.

``They'd watch it on TV and were really psyched to play with us,'' he said.

Whether it's because of direct Hispanic outreach, general marketing or simply the thrill of the game, the NFL is making inroads.

Even Arrosa, the teen soccer fanatic, says he plays football now because his friends want to.

And there is the case of veterinarian Jorge Archilla, 35.

He'd rarely watched a football game since arriving in Miami five years ago from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

``People tried to explain the rules to me, but I didn't get it,'' he said.

Then, about a year ago, his 12-year-old niece got free tickets to a game through her school and begged him to take her.

It was the Miami Dolphins versus the Buffalo Bills, and in the first few minutes, the Dolphins were down 14-0. By halftime, it was 23-3. Many in the stadium started to leave.

``But in Argentina, we don't leave games in the middle,'' Archilla said. ``Then suddenly it was this incredible game, and the Dolphins ended up winning 24-23. I was hooked.''