Next Stop Rio or Lisbon or Barcelona.
National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell has a goal for his business. “We want to grow to become a real global sport,” he recently said. Goodell said that “a new market” would “definitely” stage a game next year and that his office is “looking primarily at Spain and Brazil” as the host country. That “new” market could be Rio de Janeiro, Brazil or one of the major cities in Spain which could mean Barcelona or Madrid. The NFL has been trying to establish a football print in Europe and has been playing regular games in London since 2007. The NFL just completed its second season of regular season games in Germany and has two years to go on its deal with German promoters to stage games in the country.
“Germany has just got so many incredible and passionate NFL fans, it’s really amazing. Football’s been around here for several decades, it’s continued to grow, the support last year for the game in Munich was, I think, legendary. We are looking and analyzing where we go next year,” Goodell told Sky Sports. “We will certainly go to a new market next year for sure. We’re debating on that. I think that’ll be exciting for us.” Spain has some rich people. Brazil has some well-heeled people, the kind of customers that could buy a ticket for a one-day spectacular event, but most of the people who live in Brazil are poor. Brazil has a higher average salary than other Latin American countries but still comparatively lower than developed countries like America and other European countries that have hosted games, England and Germany. But there is merchandise to be sold and getting that money of any currency type into NFL owners’ pockets is the goal. That is the reason the NFL is going into new markets.
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