The Oakland Raiders are set to square off against the Miami Dolphins on the grass field of Wembley Stadium in London, England today. It's the latest game in a yearly program, started in 2007, that the league is calling it's "International Series."
A recent report though states that the NFL isn't happy just playing a smattering of games in London on an annual basis; they want to set up a permanent franchise there.
According to Mark Waller, the NFL's international chief, it's now a foregone conclusion that an NFL team will eventually set up shop in London.
Now that we know there's no longer an "if", the only thing left to figure out is the "when."
Waller, and the NFL's, current forecast have a team in Wembley Stadium by 2022.
To many, that seems ambitious. To the league, it is right in line with expectations - Waller sees the process as unfolding exactly as planned.
"When we started (with the series in 2007), I reckoned it'd take 15 years to do it," said Waller. "That was what I expected, and we're still on course. We're at the midpoint now."
The league has, over the last several seasons, built slowly but surely from 1 game, to 2, to the current 3. This weekend's London game between the Miami Dolphins and Oakland Raiders is expected to draw "a quarter of a million fans to Wembley."
Waller, who was born in Africa, lived in Hong Kong and went to boarding school in the U.K., is himself a sign of the league's desire for international expansion - his job and title were created specifically for him in reflection of the NFL's shifting focus.
A focus that is no longer about establishing a fan base, but instead about further developing the fan base that already exists.
"I'm less focused on going from three to four, four to five, five to six," said Waller. "Can we do back-to-back games? Will the surface hold up? Can we start sending teams there without the bye attached? It's not about the number anymore. ... We're at a place now where if we continue to do the job with the fans, the fan base will grow, and we'll be able to have a team (in London). The questions now are logistical."
Helping the NFL's bid is football's growth in popularity with European network Sky Sports. The NFL has gone from the networks 18th-most-watched sport to 6th. Amateur football participation has grown by "an average of 15 percent per year since the league took the Giants and Dolphins to Wembley seven years ago."
The NFL and Sky just extended their broadcasting deal. And with a slew of cross-platform owners, like Stan Kroenke (Rams/Arsenal), Joel Glazer (Buccaneers/Manchester United) and Shad Khan (Jaguars/Fulham), there exists ample opportunity for growth through a partnership with the Barclays Premier League.
"We have goals that mirror one another," Waller said of the Premier League and the NFL. "They're big in the U.K. and want to be bigger in the U.S., and we're big in the U.S. and want to be bigger in the U.K.."
All in all, the NFL's international push should come as no surprise to fans of a league that has always placed a major premium on growth and revenue.
Waller thinks the NFL's continued expansion owes much of its success to, not just progressive and aggressive ownership, but the changing nature of the world and how sports of all kind are ingested.
"I think the real answer there is not in how the sport has changed, it's how the world has changed," he said. "When I grew up, there wasn't an Internet. There were three TV channels in the U.K., and you had no idea what was happening around the world in sports, other than the World Cup and the Olympics. Now you have the world sports fan and, particularly with the younger demographic, they belong to a global community. To a young person, the idea of the NFL in the U.K. is not a strange concept."
Waller and the league hope that London is a jumping-off point for expansion to all corners of the globe. Europe, Latin America and Germany are all being eyed. And China is a remote possibility as well.
The first order of business though, is establishing that initial franchise in London. And if Waller and the NFL are to be believed, it's a lot closer to coming to fruition than many fans may think.
