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These days, almost all the major North American sports leagues, including the NFL, have huge international representation.
The NBA boasts a wealth of international players hailing from Canada, Europe, Africa and even the Asia-Pacific region. The MLB has seen its fair share of international legends, from Latin Americans like David Ortiz to Japanese like Ichiro Suzuki.
The NHL has seen a multitude of European greats like Dominik Hasek, Pavel Datsyuk and the Sedin twins. Even the MLS has had its fair share of blockbuster international names, like David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and most recently Roman Burki.
And then there's the NFL: the most heavily Americanized of the major sports leagues, but it has played select games outside the US since 2005. If league executives like Commissioner Roger Goodell have their way, American football may become ain international sport.
Future international expansion was one of the many topics raised during the recently concluded league meetings. According to Front Office Sports' AJ Perez, it may become a reality sooner rather than later:
“We don’t know if it’s going to happen in two years, five years, or whenever, but there’s going to be an international division,” one owner said on condition of anonymity.
Peter O'Reilly, EVP for club business, international and league events, though, made it clear that any international expansion, more particularly in Europe, would come down to a handful of factors:
“I think what we are focused on is building capacity, so if there were that opportunity — whether a club wanted to consider relocation or potentially looking at expansion — we are in that mode. In London, where we’ve been for a long time, and now in Germany, we’re making sure we’ve got the stadium partners, the governmental partners and the fan support to sustain that possibility.”
The NFL has not expanded since the Houston Texans joined in 2002, so adding four new teams to the league will be unprecedented and challenging, especially if they come from another continent an ocean away.
NFL looking to promote flag football internationally
Another issue discussed by Perez is the proliferation of flag football. Last season, the NFL ditched its traditional Pro Bowl tackle football game in favor of what it called the Pro Bowl Games.
It's an assortment of skills competitions and three non-contact flag football games. It also partnered with the International Federation of American Football to create the Vision28 Group, whose aim is to make flag football an Olympic sport by 2028.
The NFL even bought an ad slot for the Super Bowl, which it used on a commercial starring Mexican flag football star Diana Flores. Discussing the progress of Vision28, O'Reilly said:
“The International Federation of American Football is doing a tremendous job at really growing flag at an elite level around the world. We’re doing everything we can to build participation in this country by providing use of our biggest platforms to show we are all in on flag football.”
