NFL casting the net far and wide as fan base goes global
While basketball has thrived in Europe and China and baseball has formed profitable and passionate offshoots in Asia and Latin America, the NFL has struggled to replicate its domestic domination on the world stage.
Since 2005, it has tested international waters, playing a regular season game in Mexico City and subsequently a relatively successful run of one-off fixtures in London to which UK and Irish fans have flocked, regardless of their preferred teams.
The desire to reach out to new markets is also a priority within North America.
The Buffalo Bills are moving more and more into the Toronto and Ontario market, even playing an annual home game there while LA, starved of professional football for a generation, could be first in line if the Vikings leave Minnesota.
Distances travelled by teams within the US mean that it isn’t a logistical stretch to imagine that one day a team or even an entire division could be based in Europe, a prospect which has been mooted and shelved over and over.
The failure to get players to agree to an 18-game season is a significant setback considering Roger Goodell’s wariness to see domestic fans lose out on a game by eating into the current 16-game set-up.
However, the fact that NFL owners are willing to double the amount of games played in Europe shows that the prospect of an increased overseas presence approaches, even if steadily.
