The Globalization of the Super Bowl: Is the NFL winning big outside the U.S.?
With a strong foothold as the most popular and valuable sports league in the United States, the National Football League (NFL) is looking to expand its domestic US dominance worldwide. Expansion efforts including games in Mexico, Germany, the UK, as well as Spain in 2025, send a clear message of the league’s ambitions.
But have these efforts yielded the desired results?
With the Super Bowl featuring the Kansas City Chiefs for the third consecutive season, Penta’s Intelligence team dug into its proprietary data to measure the popularity of the NFL and its flagship event across the globe.
The World's Team?
The Dallas Cowboys, long coined “America’s Team,” was named the most valuable sports franchise in the world in 2024 at $10.1 billion, according to Forbes. However, when it comes to global recognition, the Cowboys were superseded by the Chiefs last year.
According to Penta research, which analyzed traditional and social media mentions throughout 2024, some of the NFL’s largest non-U.S. markets are more drawn to the Taylor-Swift-adjacent Chiefs:
What drives European interest?
Although the NFL’s viewership numbers show more popularity in North America, an analysis of media mentions reflects a strong correlation between the league’s Euro-centric efforts and its relevance there.
One of the largest spikes in mentions outside the U.S. since 2022 occurred when the NFL named Deutsche
Similarly, media attention in the U.K. and Europe peaked in May 2024 when the NFL unveiled its schedule for its upcoming International Series games in London.
Attendance at the NFL’s games in Wembley have held steady at about 86,000 and 61,000 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium respectively, both at capacity for NFL games at the two London venues.
European audience still lags behind Canada, Mexico
The NFL has played an extraordinary 39 games in London alone since 2007. In 2024, three London games were accompanied by one in Munich and its first in Sao Paolo; next year, an NFL game will be played in Madrid.
According to the NFL’s viewership numbers, global (non-US) viewership of the Super Bowl increased an impressive 10 percent for the 2024 game, compared to the previous year. This is reflected in some of the league’s largest markets below, which all drew more Super Bowl viewers. The growth might also be attributed to the presence of global superstar Taylor Swift in the stadium.
However, despite the NFL’s in-person focus in Europe, that audience is still dwarfed by its North American viewership as it relates to the “Big Game.” For the 2024 Super Bowl, the German total audience reached 3.8 million with 3.7 million tuning in from the U.K. By comparison, Mexico’s total audience reached 24.1 million, trailed by Canada at 18.8 million, with both audiences peaking during the halftime show. It should of course be noted that the 6:30 P.M. EST kickoff time for this year’s Super Bowl translates to 12:30 A.M. in Germany and 11:30 P.M. in London.
The NFL's next global move?
The NFL is clearly making inroads in markets outside of the U.S. Penta’s data shows measurable change in European markets’ attention when news pertaining to the league in Europe breaks. In the most recent example of this, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell discussed the possibility of the Super Bowl being played outside its traditional U.S. home:
“We’ve always traditionally tried to play a Super Bowl in an NFL city — that was always sort of a reward for the cities that have NFL franchises,” he said in response to a question about moving the neutral-site game internationally, per the Associated Press. “But things change. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if that happens one day.”
The quote from October 2024 set off a new spike of media mentions in the U.K. and Europe. Furthermore, it reflects a recognition of the NFL reading its own data. The league has been successful in continually selling out Wembley and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Additionally, some of its largest international markets showing favorability toward the Chiefs (and to a lesser extent the Bills and Ravens) over the Cowboys suggests that those audiences are in touch with the NFL’s recent storylines.
If past data for both attendance and popularity is any indicator, hosting the Super Bowl (or perhaps conference championships games) outside the U.S. in domed stadia could be a boon for the NFL’s expansion, as the event would likely align better with those time zones.
With the Super Bowl earmarked for U.S. locations through 2028 (New Orleans, Santa Clara, Los Angeles and Atlanta), this massive regional leap is not imminent. However, if the NFL is clearly devoted to making its product popular worldwide; it could come sooner than many think.