NFL looks at China as a ‘priority market’

As Super Bowl approaches in Atlanta, prospects brighten for a game in China

While the National Football League has played annual regular-season games in England and Mexico since 2007, Chinese fans still have yet to experience a clash of the American goliaths of the gridiron.

They may not have to wait much longer.

On Wednesday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, in Atlanta for Sunday's Super Bowl LIII (53) between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams, called China a "priority market".

During his annual "state of the league address", Goodell said he hoped that "some time in the next couple of months we are going to have some very exciting announcements".

The National Basketball Association has watched China become its largest overseas market, while the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball also have established a presence with preseason games there.

The NFL has made attempts to stage a game in China since 2007, but logistics, player concerns and uncertainty about how the game would be received shelved those plans.

If a game were played in China in the fall of 2019, it would coincide with the NFL's 100th anniversary.

"We believe that our game has a great deal of potential to expand, to grow and bring new fans into our game," Goodell said. "We have had double-digit growth this past year in China in our fan base and people engaging with our game. So we are excited by it."

The NFL is gathering more viewers in China as a result of streaming deals with Chinese internet giants. More than 4 million people watched the NFL's conference championship games (Patriots-Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC, New Orleans Saints and Rams in the NFC) on Jan 19.

That figure increased more than 150 percent from the previous year, according to Richard Young, NFL managing director in China. "More people are watching for longer," he said.

The league announced a digital partnership with Youku, Alibaba Group's video entertainment platform, in December. The NFL previously signed a streaming agreement with Tencent in 2017.

In 2013, the NFL opened an official merchandise store on Tmall, China's largest B2C marketplace.

The Patriots once were scheduled to play a game in China in 2007, but the preseason contest versus the Seattle Seahawks never materialized. (The Seahawks, incidentally, played a preseason game in Tokyo in 1990 during the American Bowl era, a series of NFL exhibition games held outside the US from 1986 to 2005.)

There also were discussions that the Rams would play the San Francisco 49ers last season in China, but that went awry.

The NFL has to balance the needs of its season ticket-holders, who lose a game when it's played internationally, against the league's desire to expand its global audience.

In June 2017, Tom Brady, 41, quarterback of the Patriots and winner of five Super Bowls, made a trip to the Great Wall.

"My dream is to play a game here in China someday," Brady said then, via espn.com. "We had an opportunity, I think, 10 years ago, and my team was going to play here, and unfortunately it didn't work out.

"But one day I hope that there are many games here, and over the course of a year, because it's such a great sport, and because I love it so much," he said.

Speaking of the Patriots, a credentialed reporter who identified himself as being from China, told Patriots Coach Bill Belichick that China has about 30 million NFL fans, 29 million of whom root for the Patriots.

The usually taciturn Belichick smiled while most of the hundreds of reporters at the Super Bowl news conference Tuesday in Atlanta chuckled.

"I certainly appreciate the support of our Patriots fans in China. That's awesome," Belichick said.

Contact the writer at williamhennelly@chinadailyusa.com