The Biden campaign, facing challenges reaching its targeted voters, has been using major sporting events and in-person gatherings unrelated to politics make its case, including advertising during the last National Football League season and the 2024 NFL draft. The campaign has held bracelet-beading events on swing-state college campuses and has organized meetings at local bars, as well as bingo or pickleball games for seniors.
“From mobile phones and tablets to TVs at home and in sports bars, few things will generate as many eyeballs on all types of screens as this tournament,” Adrian Saenz, the co-founder of Conexión, the Biden campaign’s Latino media consultant, said in a statement. “It makes a lot of sense for the campaign to be connecting with the community through advertising coupled with on-the-ground organizing.”
The Copa América tournament — which this year includes national teams from South America along with six guests from North America, Central America and the Caribbean — will be played in 14 U.S. stadiums through July 14, including events in key swing states such as Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina, where the Biden campaign has built field operations to organize volunteers.
Expectations are high for significant viewership this year, given U.S. resident support for the Mexican national team, which joins the United States and Canada among the guest competitors, and Argentine star Lionel Messi’s recent decision to begin playing for a U.S. Major League Soccer team, Inter Miami.
The Biden ad campaign is anchored by a spot that reminds viewers that the 2020 Copa América was delayed because of the covid lockdowns during Donald Trump’s presidency. The ad credits Biden with reopening the country, creating jobs and making communities safer from gun violence. The English version of the ad ends with the narrator using an expletive that is bleeped out but unmistakable.
“Donald Trump talks and talks,” the voice-over says, over a graphic that shows Trump getting a red card. “Joe Biden gets s— done.”
In the Spanish version of the ad, the closing line translates as, “Trump did not do anything good for us. But Joe Biden, he is on our team.”
Biden aides say they plan to buy ads on billboards near stadiums promoting Biden later in the tournament, and they are working to arrange watch parties at homes as well as sports bars and restaurants — with free food and beverages — where people are expected to gather. They have created branded Copa América signs and banners to be distributed at events, and “halftime” and “cervecita break” (beer break) conversation guides for organizers.
The events are planned to include trainings on using Reach, the campaign’s relational organizing app, part of the campaign’s effort to recruit volunteers to encourage their friends and family to vote. Those watching at home on the campaign contact list will be encouraged to take actions at key moments such as halftime, when the television ads will run.
The Biden soccer jersey, which will be added to the campaign’s merchandise store, shows the Biden-Harris logo over broad black and blue stripes. The back carries the number 46, a reference to Biden’s status as the 46th president. The group has also created a T-shirt to celebrate the event.
Two of the four Copa América quarterfinal matches are scheduled for July 6 at stadiums near Phoenix and in Las Vegas. One of two semifinal matches is set for July 10 in Charlotte.
