As the NFL continues its expansion into international markets, Dan Patrick predicts the league will one day play the Super Bowl in London.
Dan Patrick Talks London Super Bowl
The NFL continues to expand into more countries in hopes of becoming a global sport.
This year, the NFL will play seven international games in five countries — Brazil, Ireland, England, Spain, and Germany.
The NFL’s relationship with England is the strongest of the five countries. At least one NFL regular-season game has been played in London since 2007.
With the league’s emphasis on international expansion, the thought of a Super Bowl being played outside of the United States could be on the table. London is the obvious candidate for a Super Bowl due to its rich history with the league.
Patrick believes it’s a matter of when, not if, the Super Bowl heads to a city like London.
“I think it’s inevitable,” said Patrick on The Dan Patrick Show. “I don’t know if there’s are any of us who will turn it off or who will not tune in because it’s not in the United States. Now, you might have that anti-American sentiment. ‘What are we doing? That’s our sport.’ Well, we shipped out baseball Opening Day. I don’t know if anybody was enraged by that except for me. The NBA is expanding, maybe there is a European portion of this. But every sport is looking for growth.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell teased playing the league’s biggest game of the season overseas, especially if a franchise is based outside of the U.S.
“I do think there’s potential someday we’re going to have an international franchise,” Goodell said via Yahoo. “And if we do, I think it would not surprise me at all if a Super Bowl follows and is played there.”
The Biggest Hurdle For An International Super Bowl
MMQB senior NFL reporter Albert Breer agreed with Patrick’s assessment that the league will play an international Super Bowl.
However, the time difference is a huge logistical problem the league must solve before playing the Big Game in London.
“I think the biggest hurdle now, the television rating is such a big deal,” Breer told Patrick. “The NFL really does care about 70 million versus 80 million versus 100 million versus 120 million [viewers]. If you really care about that, your kickoff time does matter.”
The Super Bowl normally starts at around 6:30 p.m. ET. If the Super Bowl were to be played at 8 p.m. in London, the game would kick off at 3 p.m. ET.
If there’s any corporation that loves to find answers to billion-dollar questions, it’s the NFL.
