Over the last few years, the NFL has been slowly branching across from being just an American sport to a global one. London has been the hub of the NFL in the UK recently with the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium being the NFL’s second home.

These regular games have seen the fever of American Football come over to the UK in full force and the main question is why the UK?

The Fanbase Growth

In the 1980s, the NFL slowly started to reach over to the UK and connect with the fans which eventually led to the London Games being created in 2007 which allowed nearly three decades of fan base growth before they really started to double down in the UK. 

Using the NFL’s statistics you can see that the sport has started to amass millions of UK followers with the sport starting to become more accessible with platforms, like Sky Sports, allowing players to watch the sport easily and therefore become more invested. 

The annual London games have added an extra layer to the sporting experience for UK supporters now as the fans can watch the sport throughout the year. As well as this, the growth of betting on American football in the UK has meant that players will be using betting bonus offers and wanting to watch these games to make sure the bets they place are winning. 

The Curiosity Of The UK

The UK has always been a huge sporting nation, this isn’t an unknown fact and is another reason why the NFL is targeting the UK for their global domination. The passion for sports in the UK, especially soccer/football, is a major part of the culture and with American Football being a physical sport similar to Rugby, the UK sports fans are interested in why the sport is so popular in America. 

With the Super Bowl being one of the biggest sporting events in the world, the UK has started to embrace this event with open arms and more Super Bowl watch parties are popping up everywhere. If there’s one thing that the UK loves more than sports, it’s drinking and the Superbowl blends the two perfectly and UK fans appreciate this a lot. 

The Chance Of Further Growth

As we have said, the UK and NFL are in their infancy and the relationship will only get stronger as time goes on. Furthermore, the UK is dominated by sports like Rugby and Football and the NFL sees this as a challenge to become one of the biggest sports in the UK overall because the NFL is such a lucrative company, they have the resources to make changes around the UK that make the sport more recognised by the average sports fan.  

The NFL sees dollar signs when it sees the UK and the reasons are valid. Not only are the fans passionate about sport and curious as to why the NFL is so big in America, but they also see the NFL as an experience because it is rare for live American Football to be played in the UK.

Unlike football, the NFL is a rare commodity for UK residents and we think that the NFL is banking on the UK’s curiosity and love for the sport to branch across from one side of the world to the other.