The ongoing World Cup frenzy throughout the United States should both fascinate and depress the NFL.
On one hand, it shows what happens when a sport becomes a truly global phenomenon. On the other hand, it shows how far the NFL has to go in its effort to globalize.
The notion that an international American football tournament could bring tens of thousands of fans from other countries to the host nation for a 104-match free-for-all lasting more than a month (with hundreds of millions watching worldwide on TV) should inspire the NFL to keep pushing. The fact that American football is a very long way from ever getting to that point could make some wonder why the NFL is even bothering.
Still, the NFL has decided it’s worth the money and the effort to keep pushing the sport to an international audience. The emergence of flag football could be the first step toward eventually having a World Cup-style gathering, especially since it’s much easier to export a game that requires far less equipment. And if flag football assists in the generation of greater interest in tackle football, perhaps more and more countries will embrace that version of the sport, in time.
Time is the key word. When the NFL first started playing regular-season games in London nearly two decades ago, it was seen by some as part of a 100-year plan to take the existing NFL inventory and expand the interest in (and viewership of) those games.
When I first caught the incurable NFL virus in the early ‘70s, thanks to the Immaculate Reception, NFL Films, and Howard Cosell’s halftime highlights, baseball was by far the dominant sport in America. Now, baseball has fallen behind football, basketball, and soccer — with football clearly taking over as the new American pastime.
Football won’t catch soccer, from a global perspective, any time soon. Possibly, the sun will burn out before that ever happens.
Regardless, the NFL is laying the foundation for seeing how far the sport can go. Even if it will take decades (if not centuries) to close the global gap with soccer, the NFL is committed to trying.
The images we’ve seen since the World Cup started nine days ago underscore the simple fact that the potential upside (whatever it may be) is well worth the effort.