London Calling For NFL
London will be the location for the first regular-season NFL game to be played outside North America later this year. The venue and participating teams will be announced during Super Bowl XLI week. NFL owners voted last October to play up to two games outside the United States every year for the next five years, with the series kicking off with this single game in 2007. Of course, we know how immensely popular the National Football League is here in the States. But, NFL International is reaching out to the entire world. The NFL staged its first regular-season game outside of the United States in 2005 when over 103,000 people saw Arizona and San Fran play in Mexico City — the largest crowd for a regular-season game in NFL history. London was selected based upon several factors, including general fan interest, current NFL visibility through existing media agreements, the range and quality of large, world-class stadiums (including Wembley and Twickenham), the size and value of the overall sports and entertainment market, and the potential to build year-round marketing, sponsorship and fan engagement. We’ve experienced this international appeal first-hand here at BIGPLAY with BPR. One UK fan wrote:
“I am an American living in London, England for the last 10 years or so and, while it is getting easier to follow the NFL from here, your podcast is going to help a lot. Very useful to hear your views on the free agent and trade moves as well. Keep up the good work.”
As of this post, the UK is neck and neck with Japan on our list of countries downloading the podcast, each gathering around 6% of our total listening audience. We expect those worldwide numbers to rise as the NFL continues to gain momentum outside the United States.
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POSTED IN: NFL International
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