A funny thing happened after the NFL canceled its 2020 International Series because of the COVID-19 pandemic: Nearly every data point used to gauge the popularity of pro football overseas -- television ratings, NFL Shop purchases and video streams, to name a few -- grew measurably from 2019. The numbers bolstered an emerging league strategy that has made overseas games a part, but not necessarily the centerpiece, of brand building beyond the continental United States.
The NFL's return to London this weekend, with a Sunday morning matchup between the New York Jets and Atlanta Falcons at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, is one of only two International Series games scheduled for 2021. Owners approved a resolution last spring to guarantee four such games per season starting in 2022, in the United Kingdom, Mexico and likely Germany as well. But the days of building toward a full eight-game "home" schedule in the U.K., or even an expansion franchise, are less visible than ever.
Instead, league decision-makers have spread their focus toward establishing localized media rights for game broadcasts, building infrastructure to lure and develop international players and launching a new program that will allow teams to market themselves to individual international markets.
"The learning has been that these international games are incredibly advantageous for driving fandom," said Chris Halpin, the NFL's executive vice president/chief strategy and growth officer. "But they cannot be standalones. They are a really important ingredient toward driving fan momentum and development, but they're not the only ingredient and they won't work if you don't have the rest of the elements that supercharge a fan base. We look at these games as a pinnacle experience a fan can have."
Discussion around the league's international efforts have long centered on the presumed goal of establishing a franchise abroad, whether through relocation or expansion. Game tickets routinely sell out in short order, despite the often desultory matchups the league provided. And as recently as 2017, NFL executives were noting that 40,000 people bought tickets to every game in a season (four) -- a pseudo season-ticket base.
The decision to relocate the Rams and Chargers to Los Angeles left London as the most lucrative and available market, but other than the Jacksonville Jaguars' commitment to play one game per season during the previous decade, there have been no hints that owners plan to use the U.K. as leverage to secure local stadium deals -- let alone give serious thought to moving there. Halpin termed the idea of an international franchise "aspirational," but said it's not the focus of the NFL's current efforts. He reiterated that the logistical challenges -- from travel to the last-minute scheduling of playoff games -- are not easily addressed.
"Our job is to set the sufficient conditions that make it an option the owners can pursue," Halpin said. "That means making a market NFL-ready. ... It's definitely possible. You need an owner that wants to go and the belief that it's the right thing for the league and the fans, and you need all of the other elements to fall into place. We view it as our job to get markets ready but not focus on something so many steps down the scenario tree."
Growth during the 2020 season confirmed the validity of those efforts. According to Halpin, viewership of game broadcasts rose in the U.K. after the formation of "Sky Sports NFL," which shows live NFL games, two years ago. Paid subscriptions to game streaming services through GamePass increased 30%. Free video streams via the NFL Network grew 90%, and for the first time, the NFL had more than one million direct-to-consumer videos consumed outside the United States. Sales on NFL Shop grew 80% internationally, Halpin said, and Super Bowl LV reached a record 2.2 million average audience in Germany.
"If you rewound 12 months," Halpin said, "it would be hard to imagine that much momentum for international, out of the depths of COVID. But it's also a reflection of the fact that the sport's in great shape, and when you expose people to it, they love it."
Fan engagement in Germany, especially, has moved to a new level. It now ranks as the NFL's third-largest market for both fantasy football and the Madden video game. The average television audience on the league's partner, ProSieben, rose 50% to 600,000 per game. And of the 120,000 or so tickets sold to London games this season, 17% percent went to fans with German addresses.
As a result, the league hired former World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper to head a newly expanded United Kingdom/Europe leadership team and is in the process of establishing a local office in Germany. The NFL has received bids from seven German cities to host a game as early as 2022 but more likely 2023, and a site announcement is expected soon.
Why is the German market so valued? In addition to fan engagement, it has the deepest pool of potential college and pro players anywhere outside the United States, Canada and perhaps Mexico, said Chris Adamson, the co-founder of the Gridiron Imports Foundation along with former NFL player Bjoern Werner. (Adamson coached Werner, a German native, at a Connecticut boarding school and helped usher the defensive end to Florida State and ultimately to the Indianapolis Colts as a first-round draft pick in 2013.)
German receiver/tight end Moritz Boehringer was the first European-born player to be a drafted without first attending an American university; he was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the sixth round of the 2016 draft. Another Germany native, Seattle Seahawks linebacker Aaron Donkor, became the first Gridiron Import product to make an NFL roster. Donkor, who played at Arkansas State, was placed on the Seahawks' practice squad through the NFL's International Pathway Program, a rebranding of efforts that have been ongoing for more than a decade to create additional practice squad spots for international players who otherwise would not have a chance to make a roster.
Gridiron Imports advocates for European players to matriculate at American universities as a path toward the NFL, but the Pathway Program invites athletes from all parts of the world and from different sports to an annual combine to get in front of league scouts. The next event is scheduled for Oct. 12 in London and will include approximately 50 players from 14 countries. Similar programs have helped international players such as offensive tackle Jordan Mailata (Philadelphia Eagles), tight end Sammis Reyes (Washington Football Team), defensive end Efe Obada (Buffalo Bills) and fullback Jakob Johnson (New England Patriots) find roster spots.
"There is still a disconnect and educational process ongoing about the best way to get to the NFL level," Adamson said. "How do you go from playing football in your hometown to being in the pathway program? ... We're big believers that getting players into NCAA football is the best way to prepare them for the NFL. That is pro football's minor league system. They've got a better chance than coming straight from home."
Ultimately, the effort is less about stocking NFL rosters as it is about establishing direct connections between international fans and the games themselves. Owners approved another avenue toward the same endgame last spring when they approved a Home Marketing Area (HMA) program, which partially lifts the ban on teams marketing outside their local market. All interested owners were instructed to submit bids this month to claim international territories almost anywhere in the world, where they would be allowed to engage fans through social media, marketing and other direct connections.
Revenues beyond $1 million annually would eventually be shared with all 32 teams, Halpin said, but the primary goal is to give international fans a more specific and tangible object to focus their interest.
"At the end of the day," Halpin said, "everyone is an NFL fan because of a team and players. They are way better at building enthusiasm and connections than the [NFL] shield. Teams and players. That's the product."
This season's two-game International Series will be complete before you know it. Sunday's game will be followed in Week 6 by a matchup between the Jaguars and Miami Dolphins, also at Tottenham. Whether there are two or four or none of them, they're now but a small part of the NFL's fast-expanding international ambitions.