London Calling: The Globalization of the NFL

Wembley Stadium: Future of the NFL?

In honor of Peyton Manning and his "Omaha!" battle cry in games, flights from anywhere in the country to Omaha are $48 in honor of Super Bowl XLVIII. On the surface level, this seems trivial, and maybe it is, since the entire premise of the airline deal is to increase the number of passengers flying to Nebraska. But at the same time, this deal, and the national excitement spurred by Peyton Manning is the epitome of the football culture in the United States-- in January and February, suddenly everyone is wearing apparel emblazoned with their team's logo, even if their team isn't one of the final two competing for a giant Super Bowl ring. There's a sense of national pride around the Super Bowl that isn't nearly as prevalent with any other sports. There's a camaraderie that spreads across the United States like wildfire when it comes to football, and it very much has become a source of national identity. This is why when the NFL discusses plans for expanding the enterprise "across the Pond," it's certainly a source of controversy.

When it comes to capital, it's not hard to see why the NFL is looking to globalize: if the international expansion works well, from a business standpoint, it's brilliant. At the end of the day, the NFL is a billion dollar business, so when they make plans for expansion, it's not about the fans or the nationalism associated with the game, it's all about generating maximum revenue, and evidently, London seems like a place to do that.

London is, theoretically, the perfect city to host an NFL team. It's a big city, easily accessed, and already equip with Wembley Stadium, which is a stadium used for World Cup qualifying matches and rugby matches, but is largely dormant in the fall and winter-- perfect for football season. 

But like most large corporate decisions, the idea of an NFL team in London is not without a dark side. Globalization is a funny term, because the cross-continental migration of American Football is not a global phenomenon, but rather the Americanization of European countries. I imagine that if the English National Rugby Association were to plant one of their teams in the United States, because it's not culturally relevant, it wouldn't generate the anticipated capital, and this is absolutely mirrored in the UK NFL. Football culture is an American phenomenon; it's just not relevant enough in the UK to generate enough capital to be worth all of the risks. 

It's not unnecessary to point out that NFL stands for National Football League-- if it moves across the pond, will the most familiar brand in sports marketing have to change its entire identity?