Popularity of Football in the UK

We have seen the NFL play regular season games in London over the last 5 years, but exactly how popular is the sport in the UK?  Sources familiar with the NFL reason that because the NFL is very committed to these regular season games, that they are seriously contemplating putting a franchise in London at some point.  NFL Vice President of International Business, Chris Parsons, says the NFL is looking to get into the “top 5” spectator sports in the UK.  In front of the NFL is soccer, cricket, rugby, tennis, golf, and motorsports.  That puts the NFL at 7.  Do you think that the NFL can pass motorsports and golf at sometime in the near future and even think about getting in this top 5?

Ben Lev

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000084365/article/nfl-team-in-london-league-entering-new-phase-of-uk-project

NFL vs. MLS

A comment I received on another post had to do with comparing the NFL globalizing into your Europe with the already globalized game of soccer in America. I thought that this comment was perfect when thinking about how the NFL is trying to expand into Europe. The game of soccer is a European sport and always will be. This is shown by how unpopular the MLS is. Kids in America follow European club teams like Manchester United and FC Barcelona more then MLS teams. The ratings for the 2012 MLS Cup were even worse then they were last year. Football, on the other hand, in America is an American sport and always will be and the popularity of the game just keeps on growing throughout the country.

Therefore, I believe that if the NFL expanded into Europe then it would just be like how professional soccer and football are in America but switched around. Soccer and the English Premier League would remain extremely popular like the NFL is in America and the NFL in Europe would be extremely unpopular like the MLS. I just don't see Europeans beginning to follow American football just like Americans don't follow the MLS. If the NFL is smart they will look at how the MLS is struggling and think of better ways to globalize the game.

One idea that the MLS is trying improve on is getting stars to play in their league. A superstar like David Beckham recently played in the MLS and that helped the popularity of the league a lot but there hasn't been any other prominent players. If the NFL expands into Europe then they will need superstar players that the fans will want to see and follow to help globalize and grow the popularity of the game. This is one good idea but the NFL is going to need to come up with many more if they want to succeed at globalizing the game.

Advertising NFL in Europe

One way the NFL would be able to expand to the European market would be to improve their advertising. One radical way we believe the NFL could globalize their product would be to put their logo on the front of a soccer teams logo. If the opportunity occurred where the NFL had an opportunity to put their logo on a major teams jersey it would expand their fan base to great extents. Soccer fans would become intrigued by the logo and find out more about the product. At the same time, the NFL would be interested in spending hundreds of millions of dollars to have many dedicated sport fans see their logos. When the Qater Foundation signed their deal with FC Barcelona, for signed a five-year, €150 million or roughly 200 million US dollars, it was the richest deal in soccer history (Yahoo! Sports). I do not think that a club as big as FC Barcelona would feel threatened to put their logo on the front of their jersey because their fan base is already so big. For example, if you saw advertisement for FC Barcelona at your favorite American football stadium, it would only grow your interest towards the new sport, but not ruin your interest in your favorite club. Also, I believe the NFL would be able to offer more than 200 million US dollars. “The NFL makes roughly $9 billion in revenue per season. Over the next decade, the league will make aguaranteed $27 billion on television contracts alone. That breaks down to about $200 million per team per year, before any tickets, parking passes, jerseys or $10 beers are sold.” (Pittsburgh Magazine) With this kind of revenue, it would make sense for the NFL to invest even more than the Qatar Foundation in an effort to globalize their game.

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Barcelona-sign-richest-shirt-sponsor-deal-ever-w?urn=sow-294396

http://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Best-of-the-Burgh-Blogs/Pulling-No-Punches/September-2012/Welfare-Kings/

Solutions to Globalize the NFL

Using the MLB and NBA as an example, it is clear that the NFL is trying to globalize football in the same way. Next season, there will be three games played outside the United States with the Buffalo Bills playing an annual game in Toronto and then two games being played in London. While I believe having games outside the states is a great way to market the NFL, I believe it will be hard to globalize the national football league this way. One of the premier reasons football is not watched is because the timing of the games. Since the time change, it is very hard for people outside of the United States to watch football games, unless they are already dedicated followers.  I believe if the NFL wants to globalize in Europe they need to start youth programs. By establishing youth leagues in major cities across Europe, children will become fascinated with the game at a young age. If the NFL were able to establish successful leagues abroad and produce a future NFL player, I believe the popularity would grow significantly.  Similar to Yao Ming or Pau Gasol, and the many other international athletes who have played in America, international fans are fixated and fascinated by following a star from their country. I believe the best way the NFL could start this is by having players travel to countries and hold two week introductory practices during the summer and have that lead into football practices or games in the fall, similar to America. If an NFL player held a camp abroad, similar to the many camps they currently hold in America, their popularity would grow as children and interested athletes would have a player they know and can relate to.

NFL Europe: Why it failed

From 1991 up until 2007 the NFL was backing a professional football league in Europe.  However after the 2007 season the NFL announced that there would no longer be a European football league backed by the NFL and instead they would start to play a few regular season games each year in Europe.  Why did the NFL Europe League fail, and can American football ever catch on in other parts of the world other then North America?  I think it can, however they will need to try other strategies other then a sub par league in Europe.  According to the NFL, the league was losing around $30 million a season (a major reason why it disbanded).  Also Europeans who are fans of American football realized they were watching a vastly sub-par product compared to the normal NFL as NFL teams were using NFL Europe to send over players who needed to "develop" or other players who just could not make it in the top league.  Therefore, if the NFL is going to expand its brand it needs to be the best quality of the sport that they are marketing.  Also by the time the league disbanded in 2007 there were only 6 teams, 5 in Germany and 1 in Amsterdam, while other teams in Spain and Scotland had folded over the years.  It seems that Germany finds football most appealing and maybe the NFL should concentrate on where they can be accepted, instead of having to force their way in.  Can the NFL succeed in marketing themselves in Europe?  I think they can, but they just need to find the right strategy.

Why Globalization in Europe won't work

Over the past decade the National Football League has continued its efforts to globalize the game of American football. The league is trying to get new fans from all around the world in an attempt that I can only see failing. Beginning in 2005, the NFL has held one regular season game outside of the states to try to accomplish their goal of globalization. However, the league realized that their best way to get American football popular around the world is to emphasize Europe and since 2007 the annual NFL regular season game not to be played in the states has been held in London.

Even though focusing on Europe to globalize the NFL might be their only option, I still think it’s going to fail for many reasons. First of all, there is only one game of football recognized in Europe, and that is known in America as soccer. Soccer is so beloved in Europe it is a religion for most fans and the tradition in most teams is so rich that it’s incomparable to any teams history in the NFL.  Therefore, there is no way die-hard soccer fans in Europe will let American football come in and be prominent unless they change the name of the sport. Another reason why I don’t think American football will make it in Europe is because the way the game is played and the pace of it. I went to an FC Barcelona game and it took less then two hours. 90 minutes of that was non-stop action on the field and the rest of that was an extremely quick halftime compared to any American sports games. Now, if you watch an NFL game there are stoppages of play, coaches timeouts, television timeouts, and the quarter and halftime breaks are ridiculously long compared to soccer games in Europe. Because of that I just don’t see an average European sports game wanting to sit down and watch a whole game. They want to see action and in American football there are too many stoppages of play compared to soccer.

Even if the average European sports fan did want to watch the annual game in London they wouldn’t be seeing a good game. This was the second time the New England Patriots have played in London and both times they have blown out their opponent. If the NFL wants to show Europe why the NFL is so great then they need to put a competitive matchup together every year with their best teams. Ultimately, I don’t think the NFL can successfully expand into a European market and these were some of the reasons why.