Andy: Ask anybody what’s the first thing they think of when they hear of London, and I bet you nobody will say American football. Yet NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and other league officials have targeted London as the key to globalizing the sport.
These efforts have had little consequence for the league up until now as only two regular season games have been held in London over the past two years. However, soon one of those games might be the Super Bowl.
Nothing is official yet, and the sites of the next three Super Bowls have already been announced, but league officials have discussed the process London would have to go through to make a bid to host the Super Bowl.
Considering that the last two regular season games held in London sold out and brought in a hefty profit for the league, it’s clear what the league is after with a move to one of the biggest markets in the world. However, the Super Bowl is now a two-week event with several events happening outside the stadium before the actual game. The league counts on active participation in these events for revenue and it’s uncertain whether Londoners would have sustained interest in American football for two whole weeks. Two years ago the league constructed a giant animatronic statue of Jason Taylor of the Miami Dolphins and few people showed up to see it. I’m sure the league would have no problem selling tickets to the game or commercial space on television, but every other aspect of the game would suffer.
In general, the league’s desire for globalization is understandable. They’re the most popular sport in America and they want more money. Ultimately, the move to London is a move for more money and is another example of corporate America imposing on foreign territory. It’s laughable to say that American football is an international game when the NY Times found that only 4 percent of NFL players in 2007 were foreign born. That’s horrible in comparison to the 20 percent of foreign-born players that make up NBA rosters, and the 29 percent in Major League Baseball. Even if Londoners show up to a Super Bowl there’s no way for them to forge a personal connection to the sport that would last beyond the one day spectacle and the league’s efforts would have cost an American city the hundreds of millions of dollars that comes with hosting the event.
Billy: The British or any international audience may need more than one Super Bowl to sustain an interest in American football, but winning loyal fans should not be the NFL’s goal in bringing the Super Bowl to London. The league does not need to go for a touchdown on first down, so to speak. Televising the game around the world globalizes the sport and peaks some interest in it (at least for a day) because it gives fans a closer look at the sport, so the actual game itself will draw even greater interest. The sellouts suggest the regular season games in London successfully attracted potential customers for the NFL. By bringing Londoners the Super Bowl, the league is rewarding them with a new and improved product.
I agree that Londoners would likely ignore all the festivities that take place two weeks before the Super Bowl, but the NFL doesn’t have to pick up the Super Bowl and plop it down in London the way it is in the United States. Rather, it can modify the festivities to fit a less-informed audience, such as by hosting more activities that educate London about the sport. Goodell could even hand out bracelets that spread NFL awareness. The league should not mind sacrificing the revenue of all those festivities once in favor of building a solid fan base that will provide it with even more money in the long run. Anyway, depriving rich Americans of the game just once wouldn’t hurt that bad. It’s not like Andy Taylor has the money to take Opie down to the Super Bowl when it rolls into Mayberry one Sunday afternoon.
Lastly, the league will likely attract more international players once it has built a solid fan base in foreign countries, such as the United Kingdom. The NFL is really the only vehicle for football to spread to foreign markets. Sports such as basketball and baseball lend themselves well to recreational pick-up games. You only need a ball and a basket to play basketball, and there are relatively few rules required at the recreational level. You can even still shoot baskets if you’re lonely and have no friends. In contrast, if you don’t have enough players and don’t know all the rules (because you’ve never seen the sport on TV), you’re probably not going to play any pick-up football. While the NBA can promote basketball across the world, the NFL has to first teach football to the world.
