Sunday, January 6, 2013

How the UK views the NFL

The NFL is not just an American thing anymore.

There is an audience elsewhere in the world as well.

Every so often, while watching Sky Sports News on Fox Soccer Channel, it's kind of interesting to see that United Kingdom equivalent of ESPNews reporting on the NFL.

There is room for improvement - an NFL highlight sounds a bit like they're reporting on rugby, and even as recently as a couple years ago the Super Bowl was treated in an "oh, by the way" style on their ticker - but it is getting better.

Sky Sports actually shows games live (they're five hours ahead of us, so a 1 p.m. kickoff here would be 6 p.m. in, say, London), including this weekend's wild-card games on Sky Sports 1.

And of course, there's also the regular appearances for the NFL in London at Wembley Stadium.

It's not to say there's a London expansion franchise on the horizon or anything, but there is an audience.

In December, Sky aired this pretty funny video of Buccaneers cheerleaders trying to teach a rugby team the rules of American football. The look on their faces is priceless.

But at least they're willing to listen, and that's a start.

- Chris Lillstrung | @CLillstrungNH

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