NFL's Global Marketing Strategies: A Comprehensive Case Study

This case study examines the NFL's efforts to expand its popularity beyond the United States, focusing on the challenges and opportunities in international markets. The analysis highlights key marketing issues, including competition from soccer, cultural differences, distribution channels, and infrastructure limitations. The study explores why the NFL has found more success in countries like the United Kingdom and Canada compared to Germany and China, and it discusses the global forces that act as barriers to expansion. The author argues that the NFL may need to customize games to better fit local cultures to increase its global appeal. The case study concludes by emphasizing the importance of strategic marketing and cultural adaptation for the NFL's international success. It uses external references to support the arguments and provides a detailed analysis of the NFL's global marketing challenges and potential solutions.

Running head: MARKETING
Marketing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Case Summary
The case in this section is concerned with the growing popularity of the NFL in America.
It has been said that the game of football is not similar between America and other parts of the
world. In America, football refers to NFL and they call the sport soccer which is called football
all over the world. Still, the heart of the matter is the fact that NFL is getting popular in most of
the countries like the United Kingdom, Mexico, Australia and others (Silver, 2014).
This sporting event has become so popular in England that it has been hosted in the
Wembly Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur stadium and Twickenham stadium. Thus, it can be
expected that more teams will continue to follow in those regions in Europe. However, there are
some challenges that have shown for the sport to become the most popular all over the world.
The biggest challenge it faces is from the sport which Americans call soccer. It can be
said without any doubt that soccer is the most popular sporting event and all the countries in the
world have participated in it (Silver, 2014). Though it has made a strong fan base in the United
Kingdom, still it will need more following in other countries as well.
Key marketing issues
Challenge from soccer: This sports of NFL has been facing several challenges from soccer
because of its wide acceptability all over the world. It is very difficult to deviate the market base
from the current viewers. A huge section of people do not have any proper idea about the rules of
this game (Dzikus, 2017). Most of them do not even know the legends of this game. Proper
communication has to be made with the viewers if they want to achieve the success in increasing
the viewership.

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Cultural challenges: The cultural challenges have also come up in this regard for the
consideration. It has been identified that some countries have embraced this sport like UK,
Canada, Australia, Mexico and others. The Europeans are finding it very difficult to accept this
event since their cultures are completely from that of the Americans. Their probable destination
id Germany but it has been observed lately that they could not convince the German sports lovers
since they are hard core supporters of the traditional soccer.
Distribution of sport events through channels: Apart from Sky Sports in the United Kingdom,
most sports channels have not agreed to show the NFL games in their channels. One of their
biggest fears is the fact they have no idea whether the fans have any idea about the game. This is
why it is of utmost importance that legends of the American NFL should be utilized to spread the
popularity of this game (Dzikus, 2017). The social media platforms like YouTube and Twitter
can help the authorities for this purpose.
Infrastructure issues: Proper marketing of the game can only be done at the time when the
infrastructures are available. The infrastructures for NFL are not at all present in the European
and Asian countries (Smith, 2017). It looks like the local governments are not that much
interested in this also. Also, time differences due to different hemispheres will also impose a
steep marketing challenge for the promotional activities of the game.
Personal case analysis
After going through the case study, I have come to realize that NFL is gaining more
popularity in some countries outside USA. However, it will need more public knowledge so it
can be spread across Europe and Asia also. The promotional activities must be done for the
spreading of the game. Though the time differences are problematic but the local channels can

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make arrangements for running the highlights shows for the interested sport lovers. The cultural
differences are truly significant matters in this scenario (Smith, 2017). Therefore, the NFL
authorities should try some other means to convince the local people that will compatible with
their culture.
Case questions
1. Why do you think the NFL has an easier time expanding into countries such as the
United Kingdom and Canada than countries such as Germany and China?
It is easier for NFL to expand into the countries like United Kingdom and Canada. It is
because of their cultural similarities with the United States. (de Oca & Cotner, 2018). On the
other hand, cultures of the countries like Germany and China are completely different from them.
This is why they will face several problems to expand there (Scott, 2017). The lack of
infrastructure for NFL football is also absent in those countries as well. All these barriers will
pose the challenges.
2. Describe some of the global forces acting as barriers to the NFL as it expands globally.
Some of the global challenges that NFL will face to expand are the lack of infrastructure
and food habits will also create the challenges. The size of the stadiums, the shape of the fields
and other problems may also be considered in this section. Many players have pointed out the
fact that they face problems to digest the foods of different other continents (Rinke, 2016). The
narrow sidewalks are also problematic for them to walk through the stadium. The player safety
issues have also been highlighted in this segment also.

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3. Do you think the NFL will have to customize the games it plays overseas to better fit with
local cultures? Support your response.
Remember to use at least 3 outside resources.
It has to be kept in mind that NFL football is not able to compete with soccer i.e.
regarded as the no 1 most popular sporting event in the world currently. Many experts believe
that NFL might have to customize their games so they can make their way into European and
Asian countries (Crepeau, 2014). It has been estimated that around 160 million people watch the
Super Bowl which is the biggest event in NFL. On the other hand, 1 billion people all over the
world view the soccer world cup. Therefore, the game must be customized to fit into local
cultures (Montez de Oca, Meyer & Scholes, 2016).
Conclusion
In the concluding part of the paper, it can be said that this sport named NFL must make
some positive strategies so it can be popular in other countries apart from the United States.
Their attempts must be directed towards customizing the game to a certain extent so a large
number of spectators can arrive in the stadiums and make the situation successful. The attempts
of the NFL authorities can be implemented if they satisfy the cultural needs of their proposed
destinations.

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References
Crepeau, R. C. (2014). NFL Football: A History of America's New National Pastime. University
of Illinois Press.
de Oca, J. M., & Cotner, M. (2018). Killing the Football Widow: NFL Marketing Beyond “Pink
It & Shrink It”. In New Sporting Femininities (pp. 111-132). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
DZIKUS, L. (2017). Chapter Sixteen: American Football in Europe. Touchdown: An American
Obsession, 273.
Montez de Oca, J., Meyer, B., & Scholes, J. (2016). Reaching the kids: NFL youth marketing
and media. Popular Communication, 14(1), 3-11.
Rinke, B. (2016). Sports Beyond Borders: The Global Expansion of Professional Sports Brands.
Scott, M. (2017). Football in London: An Antitrust Examination of the National Football
League's International Expansion Efforts. Int'l Comp., Policy & Ethics L. Rev., 1, 533.
Silver, N. (2014). The NFL Should Expand to London. But First: Canada, Mexico, and LA.
Smith, B. (2017). An American Football Team in London: How Tax Consequences for
International Athletics Could Affect the Success of a Potential NFL Franchise in
London. Bus. Entrepreneurship & Tax L. Rev., 1, 157.