Exporting Americana: The NFL’s International Expansion

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Outside of the United States, there has been a running joke about how American sports fans consider the winners of their national championships, e.g., the Super Bowl or World Series, to be de facto world champions. The crux of the joke is that, perhaps except for basketball, no other nations take those sports seriously. For instance, you would be hard-pressed to find a baseball field anywhere in Spain.

For many years, it was clear that America’s most significant sports leagues also looked on enviously at what remains the globe’s favorite sport – soccer. A few hundred million people will watch the Super Bowl yearly, yet the FIFA World Cup Final has an audience in the billions. And yet, there has been a concerted effort to export American sports as a product, and it seems to be working. The most celebrated example is the NFL. The approach has been measured and patient, but has been highly successful.

The exporting started in the 80s

There were attempts to ‘export’ the NFL to other countries, particularly in the 1980s. Success was moderate, with scattered television coverage in European countries. There was a legacy, however, as some fans caught the bug for watching gridiron. Other activities, like betting on NFL game lines, remained popular in countries like the UK.

The 1990s saw the rise of the English Premier League as the most popular sports league. It remains so to this day, but it’s clear that the NFL saw how the EPL made itself into a commercial global product and decided it wanted in on the action. It started by focusing on broadcasting. In the UK, Sky Sports got serious about broadcasting the NFL in 2012, showing prime-time games live. By 2020, the NFL had a dedicated channel on Sky, meaning UK fans could see almost every game live.

The NFL also had an ace in its bid to catch up with the Premier League. The latter considered playing games abroad, which was met with massive backlash from fans. The NFL has no such problems. In 2007, the NFL’s first regular-season game was played outside the USA. London was the venue of choice, and the NFL has been back every year since (except 2020 due to the pandemic). It now has three permanent fixtures in London, each fall.

Games in every corner of the globe

While the UK makes the most sense for expansion, the NFL has been elsewhere, including Mexico, Brazil, and Germany. The first NFL games will be held this season in Spain and Ireland. Next season, there are plans to host games in Melbourne, Australia, which should also become permanent. While eight games played abroad are a small part of a 276-game season, the significance should not be lost.



Another interesting part of the strategy is for individual teams to target specific countries. For instance, the Jacksonville Jaguars have set up a semi-permanent home in London, and the LA Rams have been targeting Australia. The NFL has a wider strategy to facilitate this, tagged as Home Market Areas for each team.
Finally, there is, of course, social media. The NFL knows that fans in places like Austria don’t have tailgating parties or have a favorite college football team, so the content is tailored to reflect cultural specificities. It’s not always easy and often subtle, but it helps drive fan engagement for sports games played thousands of miles away.

All of this has been carefully planned over years, decades perhaps. If Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi were to walk down a street in New York, it’s fair to say that most people would recognize the global soccer stars. But if Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen were to walk down a similar street in Berlin or Istanbul, you can be sure that most people wouldn’t blink an eye. Changing that is the goal for the NFL. It might take many more years to happen, but they have started on the front foot.