That’s one of every three people in the country, making Super Bowl Sunday practically a national holiday. While the NFL is pleased with that number, recent leveling off of the Super Bowl audience suggests that the most popular U.S. sport might be nearing market saturation. Where does professional football go from here? 

The answer might well be to London. 

The NFL has already increased its broadcast offerings to include not only Sundays and Monday nights but Thursdays as well. Its television and live audiences have grown steadily, but the $9 billion organization remains the only major U.S. sports league still operating exclusively in the United States.

A European venture called NFL Europe ran in Germany for several years, with enthusiastic audiences, but the league eventually failed. It was soon followed by a new and entirely different effort: one regular-season NFL game a year at London’s storied Wembley Stadium. These games have proved so successful with British audiences that the NFL recently announced it was increasing the number to three.

The question for many U.S. football fans now is, will the NFL try to create a London-based football franchise? There’s no doubt the NFL is asking itself this very question, and while London offers many logistical advantages, success in the British market is by no means certain. Soccer is wildly popular in England, where it is known as football; hotly contested matches are frequent and well attended, and broadcasts are widely watched. With soccer entrenched, will the NFL attract enough new fans of American style football to justify an English team, especially if season tickets cost thousands of pounds? 

It’s not just profits that are at stake. Soccer is known as the world’s most popular sport, and that’s a title the NFL would dearly like to share. 

Questions

1. What accounts for the popularity of the NFL games in London? Do the British really like American-style football, or is it just a novelty? How might the NFL answer this critical question if it plans a British league? 

2. Do you think a sports franchise as American as NFL football could become truly global? Why or why not? What obstacles do you think the NFL would have to overcome?