As a primarily American sport, it's no surprise to find that the National Football League or NFL is taking steps to grow American football on the global stage. Increasingly, viewership is growing around the world when it comes to the Super Bowl event, but this has been a hard-won battle. In fact, the NFL has taken a lot of careful steps to ensure this is the case, branching out into untapped areas of the market to do so. In fact, from adding in overseas games in various countries, to having American football more easily available for betting in more countries such as on the Premier Bet Zimbabwe platform, there are many different ways the NFL is expanding. And it is working. So let's take a look in detail at the strategic drive NFL has performed.
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Games in other countries
What should be noted at this point is that this expansion is all for viewership. Right now, this is not from a financial or revenue standpoint, though this will likely become improve once these expansions take hold. But what have they done?
Well, in recent seasons, the NFL has begun having some of the conference games in other countries. These international games are to encourage viewership and get the sport seen outside of the rather narrow window afforded by the USA. Such a move has been successful, with more stadium seats being filled internationally across many different countries. The latest season saw eight different games held in other countries, including a couple of games in London. Of course, the NFL recognizes that just holding the games on foreign soil isn't enough to keep building the sport internationally. So, unlike other sports such as baseball that tried to do the same thing but rather unsuccessfully, the NFL has made strategic business partnerships in order to cultivate a local fanbase in the country they are in, all based around existing American NFL teams.
The Global Markets Program
And this is where the Global Markets Program comes in. All 32 teams are part of this program, which gives all the teams international marketing rights in specific countries. Each team can apply for the rights in more than one country, and can target a location that makes sense for that team from a business and cultural standpoint. In this way, the NFL encourages individual teams to cultivate their own fandom and build brand awareness overseas. Many of the teams use local events to engage with fans directly, which includes options like watch parties or football clinics and the organisation of flag football events for those who want to participate more actively. This is a very smart approach, as it not only gets fans engaged and grows the viewership but also paves the way for more sponsorship and collaboration opportunities. Since all clubs joined at the beginning of the year, some clubs and teams have already announced new partnerships, indicating that the process is working. The Seattle Seahawks, for example, signed a deal with TGI Sports so that they can work in Australia and New Zealand to expand their reach.
