On Sunday (October 6) the National Football League (NFL) will return to the United Kingdom as a part of its annual International Games, the league’s initiative to bring matches to developing foreign markets.

Since its inception in 2007, the International Games has brought games to four, soon to be five, different countries and helped to embed the game in new regions with as many as eight international fixtures per season across the UK, Germany, Brazil, and soon Spain.

After 17 years and 36 games, London is no longer just an “emerging” NFL market, but a matured example of the reach the sport has in the UK.

The games between the New York Jets and the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Chicago Bears on October 13, and the Jaguars and the New England Patriots on October 20 will be the 37th, 38th, and 39th London games since the inception of the International Games, a milestone that NFL UK and Ireland general manager Henry Hodgson says is a testament to the strength of the league’s offering in the country, not just on the turf but beyond it.

Despite its maturity in the country at this stage, Hodgson told Sportcal (GlobalData Sport) that the aims for the UK remain the same, explaining: “We're heading into games 37, 38 and 39 coming up in the next couple of weeks, and that means we are a mature market, that's exciting.

“But for a lot of the fans that are coming to the stadium, regardless of whether it's game 37 for us, it might be game number one for them, so we have to make sure that the experience that we deliver meets the expectations of the people that are coming into the stadium, experiencing the NFL for the first time.”

Hodgson has been with the NFL in some capacity since 2003, well in advance of the league's first game in the country in 2007, and has been general manager of NFL UK since 2022.

Since then, the league has taken ever-increasing steps to ensure the growth of the NFL in the UK is not just consistent, but sustainable.

According to ticketing platform Viagogo, the 2023 London games collectively were the first time that ticket sales to UK-based buyers outstripped those to non-UK buyers.

No NFL game in the UK has ever drawn fewer than 60,000 attendees, with the 2023 edition notching as many as 86,215 at Wembley Stadium for the games’ opener between the Jaguars and the Denver Broncos.

Now that each NFL team is obliged by the league to play an international game at least once every four years, it means that every franchise is receiving international exposure and a personal presence in foreign markets.

This has been powered by the NFL’s Global Markets Program (GMP), which has allowed franchises such as the Jets to build real, tangible connections with prospective UK fans.

Following its latest expansion, seven teams have marketing rights in the UK through the program, the Jaguars, Bears, Jets, and Vikings, all of which will play in the country in October, as well as the Miami Dolphins, San Francisco 49ers, and the Pittsburgh Steelers (the rights of which extend only to Northern Ireland).

This is a trend that has conversely impacted the NFL in the US, with Viagogo also seeing a 43% year-on-year increase in international ticket sales to US NFL games, with the UK as the largest ticket-buying market on the resale platform.

Sustainable growth

UK interest in the NFL has been powered by the league’s TV exposure, primarily through its long-term deal with pay-TV operator Sky.

Sky broadcasts NFL fixtures, shoulder content, ancillary programming, highlights, and more across its dedicated NFL channel, social media platforms, website, and its range of other distribution methods, and in Hodgson’s words has been a “great” partner for the league, and one the league hopes will continue given that the media rights deal expires at the end of the current season.

“We're working through with Sky and other broadcasters in the UK at the moment, and would expect that, given the momentum that league has, we'll have some positive news to share in the coming months,” he explains.

Although the pay-TV distribution side of the business is still in full flow, for the 2023-24 season the league’s free-to-air UK highlight show broadcasted on ITV was canceled.

While many smaller breakout sports would lament this loss of crucial national coverage, Hodgson explains that the NFL’s position in the UK market, its target demographic, and other free-to-air activations means that the highlights show is simply not necessary at the moment.

“ITV will be broadcasting two of the three London games, and then the Super Bowl. Our focus is on 12-24-year-olds, [linear TV] is probably not the place you're finding 12-24-year-olds engaging with content and media these days,” he says.

In its stead, the NFL has created several different highlights offerings on YouTube and other social media and video platforms to reach the league’s target demographic where they consume media.

“Social media is clearly a great way for us to engage that young target audience that we have, the [NFL UK] team does a really good job of making sure that the content that we're programming across all of those platforms is super targeted and relevant to that audience, but also to what fandoms like in the UK,” Hodgson explains.

“What we really targeted is differentiating our channels to either bring in new fans or to serve existing fans, but with their experience of things in the UK.”

This means that content was targeted to enhance the UK viewership experience in particular, for example posting earlier highlights and recaps in the morning should a game in the US take place during the night time in the UK.

“You can certainly be a fan of the NFL on the main NFL accounts, but what franchises do a really good job of is capturing both what's happening in the league, but also the experience of what it is to be a fan in the UK,” Hodgson outlines

This extends to the strategy across all 32 NFL franchises, in particular those that hold UK marketing rights.

When Sportcal spoke to Jets vice president for finance and analytics John MacCarter earlier in 2024, he affirmed his opinion that it's “critical” for teams to be programming around their global market, and the International Games in particular.

Hodgson added on that: “Whenever we're promoting the NFL, we're promoting the 32 teams and the star players. When you follow a sport, it's probably because there's a team or players that you are following closest.

“The combination of the clubs and the league together help to promote the game as best and as authentic as we can, and we can certainly help the market [each franchise] is going into.”

This consumer focus has extended beyond the NFL’s broadcast partnership and social media operations, to its commercial partnerships also, most recently with TV giant Samsung and UK snacks brand McCoys in a pair of UK-focused partnerships.

“They're going to be fantastic partners,” Hodgson stated, despite the fact both deals are only weeks old. “Because both of them have from the get-go been very clear on how they want to activate with us and how our brand can bring attention to theirs, but also how their brands can bring attention to the NFL and the UK.”

Laying down roots

Despite the maturity of the NFL in the UK, Hodgson does admit that there are still challenges that come with the reality of being a sport in a non-native market, particularly in encouraging grassroots interest and uptake of the sport in young people, an avenue the league is exploring through the provision of flag football programs in schools nationwide.

“We had 60,000 kids playing flag football in school programs last year, which doubled where we were the year before. So, some of [the challenges are] really just how do we continue to keep the momentum going, keep growth [up], but those are challenges that we relish and are taking on head-on,” he says.

Teams such as the Bears and Jets sponsor flag football initiatives in the country.

“We certainly are trying to align opportunities for the six UK GMP clubs to play in the UK, because we know that when people get a chance to see those teams, whether they're already a fan of them or potentially looking for a team to follow, if those teams are activating [in the country], fans are especially likely to follow the team and the players going forward,” Hodgson asserts.

This grassroots approach is one that the NFL hopes will work upward.

The league has established a UK academy to give budding European talents a chance to develop and potentially enter a US college program, a precursor to going pro.

40 NFL UK alumni have gone on to grasp US college scholarships for football, 19 of which will play Division 1 college football in 2024-25.

Hodsgon says the example of Welsh rugby star Louis Reese-Zammit, who swapped his professional rugby union career for a chance to play in the NFL through the league’s International Player Pathway, is working alongside the NFL Academy in the UK to grow the influence of the sport on the participation front in the country from professional athletes down to youngsters, which will naturally in-turn feed into public interest.

“We need to be known more than just games,” Hodgson explains of NFL UK’s plans for the future.

“[We] can't just be adding [more] UK games, although we'd love to do that. We need to put our roots down and be considered not a challenger sport from the US, but a sport that's really put roots down in the UK, and that's what we've been trying to do. That's been a decade-long approach, not just being one where we turn up in October and play some games.

“We have broadcast partners that can engage with events on the ground year-round, an NFL Academy that's developing kids, flag football programs, social media channels, and an NFL foundation in the UK that's supporting charities and getting kids opportunities to take part that might not otherwise.”

He concluded: “We want to be a top-three sport in the UK. We know that right now we're not there, but we have our sights set on that ambitious goal. That's our target.”