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American football – Globally Growing
American football is rising to become one of the most popular sports in the world, not just in the United States of America. This is a game that was created back in the 1800s, and the minds behind the game never could have imagined the success it has reached. The NFL alone is a massive event estimated to be a $9 billion industry, while college football is thought to be worth around $6 billion. This is a lot of money, which means there are tons of people who love it. It’s widely watched, enjoyed, played, and draws bettors worldwide.
You can bet on the NFL no matter where you live, just as you can enjoy it from anywhere when you go on Fanduel/ https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/teams/nfl/green-bay-packers/odds. However, its slow spread around the world means that soon enough we may see it overtake other popular sports around the world such as Tennis, and Soccer.
The origins of this sport
Professional American Football was born from two parent sports; soccer and rugby. This sport really took off after it was introduced at the collegiate level, with Rutgers and Princeton Universities adapting an early version in 1869. Eventually, the rules were changed, and the game is now played as what we now know as being modern football.
US to UK – The start of the spread
This sport started to spread with the globalization of certain media sources. You cannot turn on your television or go on social media during football season without being inundated with it, and you can be sure you will never miss the coverage. People go absolutely crazy for football, and they are consuming any material available dedicated to this sport all the time. Thanks to the internet, we are closer than ever to the stars, and this helps to keep the popularity increasing.
It is this coverage that we talk about that has increased the popularity and incited the spread of the sport across other nations. Making people from other countries also become fans of the sport. Games are even played in the United Kingdom now, as so many British fans were calling out for a bit of juicy NFL action on their turf. The games that are now held in London, and they have proven to be a success. And all this explosion of Football has simply been a result of the extensive coverage of the NFL.
Governance and migration to Europe
One of the less glamorous reasons why the NFL has started to spread outside the US and into Europe is because the infrastructure is in place in several European countries to look after the sport and ensure that it can be played by people, either expats or locals, in a given foreign nation. Germany is an example of this, and it is believed that there are actually 8- nations around the world which have the governing body for American football on their side.
In Europe this then had a number of effects, It meant that the NFL has become a more legitimate sport in the eyes of many outside the US, and it is now properly regulated and ruled in these other countries. It has also increased the understanding of the game’s rules, which then makes it easier for people to either watch, play, or bet on it in other countries.
Another reason why NFL fans are on the rise in Europe is due to population shifts. It is not unknown that there is a migration corridor between the US and Europe, and that this corridor has always been busy. Although many would think of it as being Europe to the US, it is also the other way around and almost 9,000,000 Americans live abroad, with over 1.5 million of these in Europe.
As a result of the migration of Americans, the cultural pursuits and pastimes of Americans are also now spreading around the world. Many Americans come to work in major European cities such as London, Paris, Frankfurt and more. With all this, the rise in the popularity of American football can only be expected. In a particularly pleasant aspect of international bonding between different nationalities, it is now not uncommon for work buddies, flatmates, or otherwise to head out to a bar together to watch a game of American Football, in America, Europe, or otherwise.
Diffusing in different countries
We cannot ignore the fact that Asia has also taken an interest in this sport. China is one of the countries where American football has taken shape, and it is rising to become one of the most celebrated sports in this country that is home to 1.3 billion.
The game was introduced to China by Zach Brown, who is a former Division one player. He worked in the international business world, and when he got to Shanghai, he decided he wanted to continue playing football. He and a former college player fashioned the American Football League of China. This league started as a joke, and now has 16 teams with around 5,000 players. However, experts now project that this number will continue to grow, and it will spread across other parts of Asia, and the world as a whole. Which will, in turn, kill off the idea that American Football was a sport just made for America.
We cannot forget that American Football International, which is a site designed to promote the sport, gives timely results to fans and other information to NFL teams, which records more than 200,000 visitors every month. This means that the NFL’s dream of internationalizing this sport is slowly coming to pass, and sooner or later this incredible sport will probably be gaining a top spot in the world’s most popular sports. Not that it isn’t there already, considering that it is often in the top 10 sports that get the most betting action in the world. It is sure to end up being number one.
