Isabelle Van Coevorden [#90] - Growing the Seattle Seahawks Globally

On today's episode of the Sports Pundit Podcast, we're joined by Isabelle Van Coevorden, Managing Director of Global Markets at the Seattle Seahawks. Isabelle walks us through her career path, from playing semi-professional soccer and interning at UEFA in Switzerland, to brand-growth roles with Major League Soccer, FC Barcelona, and the Bundesliga, before joining the Seahawks to help translate American football to international markets from both a fan and a B2B perspective. She discusses how the Seahawks leveraged their Super Bowl win for an immediate global momentum boost, while stressing the importance of building year-round market presence beyond the NFL's Super Bowl-centric spike in attention. The conversation covers long-term ROI on international investment, community-building through events and flag football, the difference between global and regional commercial partnerships (including Accenture and Condor Airlines), cross-sport collaborations with clubs like Bayern Munich and AFL/NRL teams, the Seahawks' ambassador program with players, and the wider "halo effect" of promoting Seattle as a global city. Timestamps 01:00 - Isabelle's Career Journey 04:00 - Joining the Seahawks 05:00 - Leveraging Super Bowl Momentum 09:30 - Seahawks' Global Markets 15:00 - Activating Without a Game 17:30 - Measuring International ROI 23:30 - Global and Regional Sponsors 33:00 - Seattle World Cup Halo About The Host Andy Marston is the founder of Sports Pundit, a community and media platform for sports and technology executives. Through a weekly newsletter, podcast network, lively group chat, and regular social events, he shares industry analysis and connects leaders across the sector. Alongside Sports Pundit, Andy leads Corporate Venture at athlete-backed venture firm, The Players Fund, where he works with high-profile sports IP such as Como 1907 to design venture strategies and drive innovation initiatives.