Goodell’s latest fumble: 60% of Brits bored with NFL football

The NFL suffered another kick in the shins on Wednesday, to add to all the bruises it took on this season with diminishing TV ratings and empty seats at home games.

Commissioner Roger Goodell has been pushing for international expansion of American football as a way to placate owners who fear revenue shortfalls in the next TV contract talks.Goodell was flagged by a new English poll by YouGov showing that American football is the second most boring sport to watch in the British isles right behind golf.

A full 60% of respondents rated US football as being “very or quite boring,” while just 18% think it’s exciting.

All this British disdain despite the NFL commissioner’s office sending teams across the pond since 2007 to play live in front of London crowds. This season  London hosted four games.

However the NFL is doubling down on its English expansion with next season the games will move from Wembley Stadium to a new conventionally designed 61,000+ US football arena in north London.

The NFL UK executives know they faces “challenges” in the birthplace of soccer, telling Bloomberg that NFL U.K.had a British TV audience of more than 24 million during 2016-17 and 600,000 people attended a fan festival in 2017.

 

 

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