Here’s what the NFL can teach football about global expansion
It had taken me 18 years and 40 missed opportunities in London before I got round to seeing my first NFL game in the flesh on Sunday: an attritional contest edged by the Denver Broncos at a packed Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that looked for all intents and purposes as though it had been flown from the Big Apple and dropped into N17.
Aside, that is, from the lack of support for the notional home team, the New York Jets. Against the backdrop of a sea of orange Broncos jerseys, the Jets extended their winless streak, ending the afternoon 0-6 for the season.
I was at the opening competitive association football match at Spurs’ shiny new home back in 2019.
The much-heralded fast-flow beer pumps caused gridlock at the bars as people rubber-necked at the future of half-time drinking; Crystal Palace fans had already left stickers lauding Jeffrey Schlupp on the mirrors in the away section gents; objects were thrown down on us from Spurs supporters in the tier above; and the only footballing surprise was that Harry Kane didn’t score as Palace fell to a 2-0 defeat. Fantastic new stadium, but at heart a traditional football-watching experience.
The wonder of the NFL is that it has developed a formula for replicating its own game-day experience thousands of miles from home.
Partisanship may be diluted – witness the motley collection of jerseys of other teams on display as fans streamed down Tottenham’s High Road – but, almost two decades into the transplanting of games, this was a knowledgeable crowd, no longer simply a curious one (me aside).
It was also a crowd that included committed supporters who had travelled considerable distances to pledge their allegiance to their team.
I had beers before the game with Broncos fans just off the plane from Denver. In the seat next to me in the gods was a German in Broncos orange whose expostulation of choice was “Scheisse!” as his favourites almost conspired to fumble victory. There was nothing he couldn’t tell me about the nuances of the sport.
The NFL’s overseas expansion has in part been facilitated by the introduction of the “17th game” in 2021, creating room in the calendar for more contests outside the US without depriving fans of genuine home fixtures. Years before, a “39th game” was briefly mooted by the Premier League, explicitly to enable it to transport its own product to other lands.
This EPL kite hasn’t been flown for over a decade now, but others in football harbour ambitions to showcase their product to foreign audiences.
Last year Birmingham City’s CEO mooted a stateside match against Wrexham AFC to capitalise on the interest generated by each club’s American celebrity owners and accompanying streaming series. The EFL’s leadership, however, declined to embrace the idea.
Now, Uefa has (apparently reluctantly) permitted a Serie A match to be played in Perth, Australia rather than Milan, Italy, and a LaLiga game to be switched to Miami, USA from Villarreal, Spain. It appears that the regulations left loopholes for lawyers to exploit.
“While it is regrettable to have to let these two games go ahead, this decision is exceptional and shall not be seen as setting a precedent.“
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin
AC Milan’s stadium is unavailable on the date in question because it is being used for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, although a simple switch of games in the fixture list would have solved the issue. FC Barcelona and LaLiga have no such opportunistic excuse. Their motives are purely commercial.
“We are looking forward to reconnecting with all our fans in the United States and are grateful to LaLiga for the opportunity to get closer to one of the club’s key strategic markets.”
Barcelona president Joan Laporta
Doubtless some fans of AC Milan, Como, Barca and Villarreal will make journeys stretching to days rather than hours to watch the two shifted matches live, but it is hard to envisage either Perth or Miami delivering an authentic top-flight matchday.
Australians and Americans attracted by the tribal nature of a European football game may be underwhelmed in the absence of the native crowds who form an essential part of it.
One of the things that struck me most about the NFL event presentation on Sunday was just how “safe” it was: anthems, red and blue smoke, crowd cams, T-shirt guns and a low-key half-time show. Even the music was from the most-thumbed pages of the standard playlist: Thunderstruck, Seven Nation Army, Sweet Caroline, Mr Brightside.
It is as if the NFL has worked incredibly hard for years to earn the right to keep it simple and not look like it is trying too hard. Quite the achievement.
This, then, is the standard by which all other sports with global ambitions will be judged. Many will try. Meanwhile, the NFL will look to roll out games in further flung lands, and doubtless cities with aspirations on the world stage will prove eager to accommodate them.
As to association football, Uefa and Fifa may tighten their rules, but the Italian and Spanish initiatives will surely prove precedents, even if it takes a few years before they are allowed to be replicated.
And with the NFL as a role model, expect the “17th game” to be a focus of debate, providing a route to protecting the interests of local supporters while catering for overseas audiences – even if an additional fixture undermines the inherent fairness of a traditional league structure.
A common thread
Turns out the accursed half and half scarf isn’t confined to soccer. Thankfully, trade in these abominations wasn’t too brisk on Sunday.
Ed Warner is chair of GB Wheelchair Rugby and writes his sport column at sportinc.substack.com