The NFL sold out its Australia game in 30 minutes – but will the sport make its mark Down Under?
- Written by: Weekend Times
On Friday morning in Melbourne, 100,021 people crammed into the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the first National Football League (NFL) game ever to be played in Australia.
Tickets for the
clash between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers – which the 49ers won 27-7 – sold out in about half an hour. So, there is definitely interest in Australia.
But even though the NFL has played games around the world for decades, why has it now chosen to go to Australia, a country with a population of only about 28 million people with its own unique version of football?
The expansion of the US’ biggest sport
Culturally and financially, the NFL is the United States’ most dominant sport.
For decades, the league has hoped international games can bring new fans to the sport and help identify NFL-ready talent around the world.
Its first international game was an exhibition contest in Tokyo, Japan, in 1976.
In the mid-1980s, preseason games were played in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Mexico.
It wasn’t until 2005 when a regular-season match was hosted outside the US, in Mexico City.
After a one-year break, the NFL started hosting annual international games during the season. Since then, regular-season games have been played in countries such as the UK, Germany, Spain, Brazil and Mexico.
This year, Australia and France were added to the slate.
So, why Melbourne?
For the NFL, Commissioner Roger Goodell said expanding to Australia “underlines our ambitions to become a global sport and accelerate international growth.”
He later added:
We’re coming here for the long term. We don’t come as a one-off.
Los Angeles Rams owner Stanley Kroenke also emphasised the value of the Australian market:
When we first identified Australia as one of our global markets, it was not only because of our passionate fans who reside there, but also because of the important role Los Angeles plays in serving as a gateway to Australia and many countries across the Pacific.
But Australia has a small population. Mexico reportedly boasts the biggest fanbase outside the US, with some 40 million NFL fans. Wouldn’t doubling down on the NFL’s investments there be a better use of energy and money?
Or Germany, the world’s third-largest economy? Every NFL game there has sold out almost instantly since 2022.
The time zones of these countries are also much safer bets for US television audiences and media contracts. Additionally, the travel time is much shorter, requiring far less consideration of sleep and recovery for the athletes.
Of course, money is crucial.
International games are a lucrative business: the Jacksonville Jaguars reportedly generate US$35-50 million (A$49-70 million) each time they play in London. The league has made similar gains through broadcasting. Teams are allocated international marketing rights across 22 global regions.
In Australia, the state of Victoria beat out two other states (New South Wales and Western Australia) – in addition to South Korea and Japan – for the NFL deal, reportedly paying $15 million per game as part of a multi-year agreement.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said the asking price was “a king’s ransom”.
The venue choice for Melbourne was controversial, too. Critics argued a rectangular stadium would better suit the sport compared to the oval-shaped MCG.
But Australia – and Melbourne, in particular – makes sense for the NFL due to people’s passion for sport. Research suggests Australia has the second-highest attendance at professional sporting events in the world per capita, behind the UK.
This fandom is not limited to one sport, either, with healthy fan bases for Australian rules football, rugby league and rugby union.
The local NFL fanbase is growing quickly, too. It is approaching similar fan numbers to the NBA, despite basketball having a long head start in the country.
Read more: More Australians are international sports fans, especially the NFL. Are local leagues threatened?
Athletes are part of the picture, too
Developing international talent is one of three stated pillars of the NFL’s global strategy.
The league’s International Player Pathway was launched in 2017 to funnel elite overseas athletes into the sport. It helped the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jordan Mailata, from Sydney, earn an NFL contract. The Super Bowl winner was a former rugby league junior player before swapping sports.
In 2024, the NFL’s first Southern Hemisphere academy was also opened on the Gold Coast, with Mailata as its ambassador.
In recent years, there has also been a pipeline of Australian punters (kickers) heading to the US to play in college, with many later making it onto NFL rosters.
Prokick Australia is the major player here, having spent almost two decades converting Australian-rules football players into punters. It has produced many NFL players, including the Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl champion Michael Dickson (a former Sydney Swans academy prospect).
So, Australia now has three distinct pathways for local athletes into the NFL – more than most international markets.
Flag football – a modified version of the sport – is another element the NFL has invested in to try to attract more athletes and fans to American football. It will make its Olympic debut in 2028.
Recently, the NFL partnered with American Football Australia to expand in flag football in schools across Australia, with the hope of gaining enough momentum to remain part of the Olympics in 2032 in Brisbane.
What will the impact be?
Considering Melbourne’s insatiable appetite for major sporting events, perhaps selling out the first regular-season NFL game in Australia was the easy part.
Time will tell if Australia’s fandom and passion for a wide variety of sports translates into a viable return for the US league.
Adam Cohen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
