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NFL Head of UK and Europe Brett Gosper has confirmed the NFL is exploring the possibility of expanding its European Tour as Spain and France might get a chance to host an NFL game in the near future. Last week, the first-ever NFL game in Germany took place.
After London and the United Kingdom, Germany became a second European nation to host an NFL game. In an interview with The Associated Press, Gosper named Spain and France as the next European countries that could be given a chance to host NFL games.
"We need to do our homework to make sure that there is the possibility of a place to land any games in those markets, gauge interest of the host stadia, gauge interest of the host city, even the government, as to their enthusiasm to help us bring a game," Gosper told The Associated Press.
The NFL not exploring just Europe for expansion
On Monday, the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers will play in Mexico City. "A team might choose to do that. That's a real possibility but again not imminent. Certainly, in next six months to 12 months we'll be really testing the viability of our options from a stadium point of view -- not just in Europe but elsewhere -- and then at the same time in parallel seeing what the appetite is for clubs to potentially exploit those markets with a game," Gosper explained.
American football is a fast growing sport in Germany so it was natural for the NFL to have an NFL game there. Now, Spain and France could be next in line to host an NFL game. "France is a little bit outside of that, and it's its own market and culture, but at the same time it's an incredibly strong sports media market where returns could be higher and faster than Spain.
They're two very healthy media markets, healthy sports markets, some strong indicators from our streaming platform as well as from our consumer sales. When you mine the data a little bit, they certainly are two markets with high potential," Gosper concluded.