To date, the NFL has played over 50 regular-season games internationally – in England, Canada, Mexico, Germany and Brazil. Recent reports have indicated that Australia could be a new market that regularly hosts NFL games.
Australia was selected by the league in April to be the location for a new NFL Academy, based in south-east Queensland. This new project will aim to expand the NFL’s search for new global talent, with the prospect of Asia-Pacific players joining the American football college system and potentially going on to enter the NFL.
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Since the NFL Academy in the United Kingdom was set up in 2019, several graduates from the Academy have gone on to play for ‘power four’ conference schools.
Both Sydney and Melbourne have been rumoured to be the host cities chosen to stage NFL games, with the league being undeterred by the time difference issues – Sydney is 16 hours ahead of Eastern Time, 14 hours ahead in September when the regular season begins.
The NFL continues to show immense drive to expand its presence across the globe. Currently, the league hosts five international games annually with three played in the UK.
Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner, has stated that he plans to explore adjusting the league schedule to fit more international games into the NFL regular season. Goodell, it seems, has big aspirations to increase the league’s international games to 16 a season.
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By GlobalDataHe stated in September: “We feel like this game is destined to be global. We expect to be in Asia soon. We expect to be in Australia soon. We’re going to make sure that our game is available around the globe.”
In 2025, the NFL could be playing as many as eight international games. The Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid is a confirmed host, with the league also expected to announce Dublin as a host city, as the Pittsburgh Steelers are keen to play a game in Ireland. Furthermore, the league is set to return to Mexico City and Brazil.
When the NFL targets a new region, new commercial opportunities are created with the league open to associating itself with brands from outside its home market, which are keen to become regional partners.
Across the 2024-25 NFL season, the league is estimated to have generated roughly $10.43 million from nine partnerships that are regional agreements based in the UK.
The most lucrative of these is The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s one-year agreement to serve as the NFL’s lead partner across the UK and Ireland, as well as becoming the presenting partner of the 2024 NFL London Games, worth $3 million.
Three of these agreements are with brands based in the UK, highlighting the potential for the NFL to partner with Australian-based brands in the future as the league looks to embed itself into Australian sport.
A key reason the NFL is looking to break into the Australian market could be to try and tempt some of the Oceania region’s top young athletes to take up the sport. The NFL has already seen many players with Polynesian heritage compete in the league.
In 2013, a group of former NFL players set up the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame which honors Polynesia’s greatest players, coaches and contributors. A significant amount of Polynesian sporting talent live in Australia, with many of these athletes playing rugby union and rugby league.
By increasing its presence in the country, the NFL will be aiming to sway athletes to compete in American football, selling them the dream that they could follow in the footsteps of the Australian Jordan Mailata who in 2018 converted to American football from rugby league.
The former rugby league professional player took part in the NFL International Player Pathway Program and was subsequently drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2018. Six years later, the Australian, who has Samoan heritage, is one of the highest-paid players in his position group, earning a guaranteed $48 million.
The Mailata success story is the perfect sales pitch the NFL wants to make to Australian-based athletes with the potential to play the sport at the highest level.
It is clear the NFL is fully committed to its latest international expansion, bringing NFL games to Australia and putting in place a pathway for athletes to enter the league one day.
With flag football, a limited contract variant of American football, being chosen as an Olympic sport for the 2028 games in Los Angeles, the NFL will clearly use this momentum so it can be confirmed as an Olympic sport for a second consecutive summer edition in Brisbane, Australia in 2032.
The time difference and weather conditions could be tricky obstacles for the NFL to tackle. However, it seems these are minor concerns for the league. It is likely NFL games taking place in Australia would kick off at roughly midday local time, which would mean fans in the United States could watch the games in the evening, so television figures should be strong, potentially even better than London games which are broadcast in America in the morning.
Other cities that have been evaluated by the NFL to potentially host games include Abu Dhabi, Paris, Barcelona and Rome. This further highlights the NFL as one of the most ambitious sports properties in growing its product internationally.
Under the stewardship of Goodell, the sporting world should expect to see the NFL decisively increasing its presence in more regions across the globe.
