Touchdown: Inside the NFL's international strategy and broadcast plans for the growth of its future European fan base By Heather McLean
Thursday, October 24, 2024 - 08:52
Print This Story
American football is becoming increasingly popular in Europe, thanks to the NFL's international series which grows in size and splendour every year. We have just witnessed three back to back games happening in the UK, and next up is a match in Germany, where fans will be whipped into a frenzy of excitement by the circus that the NFL inevitably brings to town. We caught up with Henry Hodgson, NFL UK and Ireland general manager, to find out more.
Could you talk about the NFL's international strategy?
We've been in the process for the last year of really looking at our international strategy holistically and trying to see how we can evolve it; how we can change it with the goal of how does the NFL become a truly global sport. Obviously it's been the number one sport in the US for quite some length of time and by quite some distance, so inevitably the focus has looked at, okay, how does that become something that could become more global? . You look at F1, you look at the Premier League, you look to some extent at the NBA, and what they've been able to do to garner global attention, and that's what the NFL wants to do. And so that happens in a few different ways.
I think the most obviously the global piece of it is playing international games, and we've [just played] three in London. We've been playing games here [in the UK] since 2007. I think to some extent this market, the UK, has been a bit of a blueprint for what we want to do internationally in terms of not just playing games, but then really putting roots down.
While on the one hand we have a really exciting opportunity to play games in more markets up to eight games per year, and the commissioner has talked about even potentially extending that to 16 at some point in the future that's, as I say, the most obviously external facing facet of being a global sport. As part of that, it can't just be about showing up in a market, playing a game and waving goodbye again; it needs to also be about putting down real roots and being accessible to a sports fan in that market, or even just an entertainment fan who's come in via all the other ways that you might be attracted to the NFL, but being more accessible to them for the other 364 days a year that we're not playing games.
Henry Hodgson, NFL UK and Ireland general manager
How are you working with European broadcasters to push that agenda?
I think a big part of that is finding the right broadcast partners, finding the right ways to distribute our content, and make it accessible to the broadest possible audience. And by accessible, I don't just mean you can access it, but also relevant locally to that audience so that it's understandable whether that means language, and that if needed because perhaps you don't have the capacity or desire to watch a three-plus hour game that it's on the platforms that are most relevant in that market. Obviously that changes depending on both market by market, as well as the demographics that you're targeting in a market. So I think there's lots of bits that go into it. There's also a whole piece on grassroots and trying to grow participation in the sport that will help us make it global.
Certainly we work with our broadcast partners, especially in the UK with Sky Sports, ITV and Channel 5, who are our broadcast partners here, and we've worked with them on evolving that production and as I say, to make it more accessible to a more casual fan. So that's certainly one part of it. That's our broadcast partners and us working closely with them to help them build the audience.
On the production, if you've been looking at what you've been doing overseas in a bit more depth in the last year or two, have you changed your production over that period for this market?
The one element that we've been able to directly touch is producing a world feed of games, so that instead of it having the US broadcasters' logos and bugs on the graphics, it's more of a neutral one that then can be overlaid by our international broadcast partners in ways that they would want to as well. So I think that's probably the biggest evolution specifically to the broadcast production that we've been able to do ourselves rather than influencing through a partner.
The NFL I think is incredibly consistent in terms of its production, whether it's in the UK or the US, or we played a game in Brazil for the first time earlier this year. But the reality is that that shouldn't change anything in terms of the quality of the broadcast, number of cameras, etc, would remain identical. And in fact, that's part of the process as we look at new cities and new stadiums around the world that we may end up playing in; [we ask] can you accommodate all of the different needs of our broadcast partners, to be able to deliver the high quality broadcast that fans wherever they're watching in the world expect from the NFL?
Is there anything you can tell me about the game in Munich which is coming up 10 November, with the New York Giants versus the Carolina Panthers?
From a broadcast standpoint, again, it'll be broadcast globally. NFL Network will carry it in the US, it'll be broadcast in the UK by Sky Sports and in Germany, RTL. But again, the broadcast itself will look like a normal NFL game, but they'll be highlighting all of the unique things that are relevant to Munich, and showing cityscapes and all those kind of things as they intro and come out of ad breaks, etc.
Is there a real interest from the US fans at home on what these international games
I think p
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
14/06/2026
HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65
Brie Clayton June 14, 2026
0 Comments
Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters.
Black...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
Touchdown: Inside the NFL's international strategy and broadcast plans for the growth of its future European fan base By Heather McLean 
