Two of the highest ranking sports officals in the league: Adam Silver (left), and Roger Goodell (right). They run the leagues, but money runs them.
In 2024, major American sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, MLB and the NHL will all play overseas. The globalization of their respective sports is positive, but the leagues’ intentions cannot be as simple as that.
The National Football League (NFL) negotiated a long-term deal in 2016 to play regular season games overseas in London. Over the next several years, the league would play games in Mexico City, Brazil and Germany. Despite the league’s stance of the “expansion” of American football, the financial gains outweigh the more genuine reasons.
Virtually untapped markets, the London market has seen a “38 percent year-on-year increase in cumulative ticket sales, the biggest increase outside of North America.” Because these markets heavily rely on soccer as their main source of sports entertainment, introducing a completely new sport to a new audience is tremendous for the game.
The Jacksonville Jaguars is the team who has played the most in London, playing there 11 times since 2013. Despite building a strong overseas presence, their home fan base is the one of the worst in the NFL.
Out of the 32 teams in the NFL, Jacksonville ranks in the bottom half of the league in home game attendance. In 2022 and 2023, they ranked 22nd and 17th, respectively. Through two home games in the 2024 NFL season, the Jaguars rank second to last in the league.
The Jaguars’ 2022 fixture against the Denver Broncos at Wembley Stadium had 86,000 people–its 90,000 seat capacity left around 4,000 seats empty. In comparison, the Jaguar’s home stadium, EverBank Field, averages around 7,000 open seats.
In 2022, the Jaguars ticket revenue was expected to be “40% higher than it is from the average 2022 regular-season home game at TIAA Bank Field.”
The benefits of growing American football overseas are impactful, but focuses need to be held first on the home fans. Other than financial gain, playing overseas comes with no benefits for the Jaguars–especially when their home stadium atmosphere is suffering.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has taken advantage of overseas expansion as well. In the last five years, the NBA has played ten regular season games in Europe and Mexico. The league has also played past preseason games in Abu Dhabi, Japan and China.
China is one of the biggest overseas markets for the NBA; the league has not played there since 2019.
In 2019, the NBA faced controversy during their preseason trip because of a tweet by Houston Rockets’ general manager Daryl Morey, where he expressed support for the Hong Kong protests. Chinese broadcasters and government officials called for Morey to be fired.
After five years of inactivity in the country, NBA commissioner Adam Silver says that he expects the league to play in China again. In an interview last week, Silver said “Anybody in our league has the right to speak out on political matters.”
Notorious for their censorship of opposing political ideologies, the Chinese government censored an accidental reference to the Tiananmen Square massacre by two Chinese hurdlers.
The Tiananmen Square massacre occurred on June 4, 1989, where Chinese protesters were killed by the Chinese government. After weeks of protests, the Chinese government imposed martial law; the Chinese government censors references to the event on social media.
Playing overseas is beneficial for the growth of sports, but money is the common denominator amongst both American leagues. The NBA hypocritically says they support political freedom, although they put aside their “values” to play in heavy markets where human rights are an issue.
Across the globe, European soccer teams are considering playing regular season games in the United States.
European teams regularly playing preseason games in the U.S. makes regular season fixtures abroad more likely.
This follows suit of the success of the NFL model. The English Premier League has incorporated many successful business decisions from the NFL, including putting more emphasis on television. This helped make them the most-watched league in the world.
The Premier League is the most watched sports league in the world and is increasingly growing in the United States. The league garnered an average of 820,000 viewers on its opening weekend in 2024, a league record.
Despite the global growth, discretion for the home fans is needed when considering playing overseas. Sports are a community and are often used as outlets from the stress of life; the globalization of sports teams takes away community and prioritizes the team as a financial asset.
