We Americans have a rich tradition trying to impose our cultural will on the rest of the world. We sell everyone else on American music, American movies, American fashion and American food. In years past, everyone else just bought right into this crap, because it looked sexier than anything they had.
We’ve been trying to do this with American football for the last two decades, too. First, it was the World League of American Football, which devolved into NFL Europa and finally closed its doors after 16 less-than-memorable seasons. Then there was last Sunday’s big London experiment. Look! A regular season NFL game in England! This one counts!
This beat-you-over-the-head-with-our-culture approach, however, isn’t going to serve the NFL very well, because every other country plays some form of football that’s different from America’s game. There’s no guarantee that these people will accept our armor-plated battle chess as readily as they accepted Jerry Lewis and Baywatch. We can storm into town with our football, and they’ll just say, “But… but… isn’t this football?” And they’ll have a point.
You know who has a much better approach to international expansion? The Australians.
Both American football and Australian football are games that evolved from other codes and became national obsessions in their home countries. Both countries are somewhat isolated from the rest of the world, and both the AFL and NFL are looking to take their brands of football worldwide.
That’s where they split. Where the NFL drops a full league in Europe and demands your love for what they’ve done for you, the AFL is attempting to grow its game organically. There are now amateur and semipro footy leagues in 13 different countries, including the U.S. The NFL International site seems to be more about getting other countries to watch NFL games, rather than encouraging people to play American football.
What’s more, the AFL is cultivating footy talent in places far away from Australia. Ireland’s contributions to the Australian game continue to grow, while AFL clubs are mining for talent in Minnesota, China and South Africa.
Does anyone out there think the NFL would have a prayer in South Africa, where rugby union is a national obsession and the 2010 FIFA World Cup is on the calendar? Yet the AFL has found a way to make their football game work there — and not only that, but South Africa has a national footy team, and the St. Kilda Saints picked a South African native, Luke van Rheenen, in the 2007 rookie draft.
Sure, the AFL is making a splash with preseason games in other countries, but they’re doing much more than that. They’re introducing people in other countries to their brand of football at the amateur level and showing them that footy is just a fun game to play. It’s a simple message, but it’s got a lot more power behind it than any bombastic marketing strategies Roger Goodell can cook up.
Perhaps the NFL commissioner should rethink his plans for world domination. If the game at Wembley is any indication of the future, the rest of the world is going to get really, really sick of being force-fed NFL games. Why would other countries waste time watching a football code they can’t understand and can’t play?
