B&T is on the ground in Melbourne as the NFL makes its Australian debut, but according to the NFL’s local boss, this is looking to be far from a one-off spectacle.
In fact, the NFL has said Australia could become a regular stop on its international calendar, with the league describing its first regular-season game at the MCG as a “calculated, planned investment” and signalling hopes to return with a game every year.
Speaking at an Adobe-hosted panel in Melbourne ahead of Friday’s clash between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams, NFL Australia and New Zealand general manager Charlotte Offord said the league’s current agreement guarantees three games at the MCG over four years — but stressed ambitions go well beyond that initial commitment.
“This is not a circus comes to town moment,” Offord said. “This is not us saying, ‘Oh, let’s just put a game in the MCG and see what happens.’ This is a calculated, planned investment. It’s a commitment to the market for the long term.”
Asked directly by B&T whether the league ultimately wants to bring a game to Australia every year, Offord was unequivocal.
“For me, I hope we play games every year,” she said. “That’s my selfish point of view because ultimately, I’m growing a business, and I want to see us continuing to show up like this every year.”
While the NFL has not yet decided where or whether it will play in Australia next year, Offord highlighted the league’s international strategy as evidence of where the market could be heading.
The NFL began with one game a year in London before expanding to three, while Germany has become a consistent destination. This year, the league is also taking games to Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Madrid and Paris.
“We’re really trying to think about how do we globalise our game and become a global sports property?” Offord said. “And that means consistently showing up and investing in markets all over the world.”
“I hope that in the next 10 years you see us in literally every major country in the world.”
Offord said the Australian NFL fanbase has grown 54 per cent in three seasons, from 5.7 million to 8.8 million people — growth she described as the turning point in the league’s decision to bring a regular-season game to Melbourne.
And the league is not simply looking at Australians who already consider themselves ‘diehard NFL fans’.
What do the numbers say?
The Adobe research presented ahead of the panel found more than a third of Australians already follow the NFL, while one in four Australians who do not currently follow the sport expect to watch the Melbourne game.
That presents a significant opportunity for the NFL to turn a growing audience into a deeper commercial proposition.
Adobe’s research also found NFL fans tend to skew younger than AFL and NRL audiences, are more digitally engaged and are more likely to be active AI users and increase their entertainment spending.
Almost four in five Australians expect to make purchases around finals season, with around one in five expecting to spend more than $500.
The NFL is already seeing the impact online, with traffic to its website up 300 per cent year-on-year ahead of the Melbourne game, according to Adobe Digital Insights.
For the NFL, however, the opportunity is bigger than selling tickets to one game.
Offord said the league is looking at fashion, culture, lifestyle, gaming, technology and food as ways to make the NFL relevant to Australians throughout the year — particularly given the challenge of a sport whose live games largely take place at inconvenient times for Australian audiences.
“There is so much content out there for people to consume that they probably don’t even know about,” she said.
The league is also using flag football to build a grassroots pathway, with the non-contact version of the sport now being played in more than 500 Australian schools. The NFL has been rolling out free kits and development programs as it looks to establish participation alongside fandom.
The strategy is increasingly about creating Australian NFL fans rather than simply bringing an American sporting product into the country.
Southern Cross Media’s director of sport – TV, audio and streaming, Chris Jones, said the NFL needs to meet audiences across the platforms and environments where they already consume sport.
Jones said SCA is taking a seven-day-a-week approach to NFL content, using television, radio, 7plus, YouTube and social platforms rather than treating the sport as something audiences only engage with around the live broadcast.
“We’re doing things to try and lift it from what has been a tier-two sport to the tier-one sport, and the market has now caught up to us on that,” Jones said.
He also highlighted the crossover between sport, entertainment and lifestyle as an increasingly important part of the opportunity for broadcasters and brands. For advertisers, that means the value of the NFL property is not necessarily confined to the few hours around kickoff.
Jones urged brands to think about the audiences watching on linear television, streaming and social as one connected audience.
“Make sure that when you’re buying into a property, you own that piece of content no matter where it lives and on whatever platform,” he said.
Value of the Melbourne game extending well beyond advertising
Almost half of ticket buyers are coming from interstate or overseas, according to Offord, with international and interstate fans travelling to Melbourne, staying for several days and spending across the city’s hospitality, tourism and retail sectors.
Visit Victoria has said fans from more than 35 countries have bought tickets, with almost 50 per cent of spectators expected to come from interstate or overseas.
Hotel demand in Melbourne has also surged around game night.
The NFL itself said the travelling audience is “already demonstrating the kind of economic impact that could strengthen the case for repeat games”.
Offord said around 48 per cent of ticket buyers were coming from interstate or overseas, with some international visitors staying for seven to 10 days.
And Offord believes the appetite could extend well beyond Friday’s game.
Asked by B&T whether the league risks fans immediately asking when the next game is coming, she said that was exactly what she hoped would happen.
“I hope that people walk away from this week excited, wanting to know more,” she said.
“And I think we have enough tangible things outside of this that people can consistently get themselves through another 12 months until we hopefully come back.”
