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0:01The Jacksonville Jaguars' relatively
short time as an NFL team has been
0:05well unremarkable. The team was established in
the mid 1990s and initially had some success,
0:13but since then they've lost far
more games than they've won.
0:16To this day, they remain one of only four
NFL franchises that have never played in
0:21a Super Bowl. Off the field though, the
Jaguars are punching above their weight.
0:26Despite being ranked as the 24th most valuable
team out of 32 in the NFL, the growth of the
0:32team's brand outside the United States has
left the rest of the league in their dust.
0:36The NFL's international series for the
2025/26 season saw the Jags play their
0:4114th regular season game outside the US, more
than any other team by a considerable margin.
0:47So, how do they do it? The NFL's
international series began in its
0:52current form in 2007 with the first
London game at Wembley Stadium.
0:57'and in a few days time will be
the first venue outside the US to
1:00hold a proper league game of American football.'
1:03For the next 5 years, a single game was held
in London with many NFL owners still skeptical
1:08about sacrificing revenue from home games
in a market dominated by the Premier League.
1:14That changed in 2012 when new Jaguars owner Shahid
Khan signed a 4-year deal to play one home game a
1:20season in London. Since then, the deal has been
extended multiple times, and the Jaguars have
1:25become the city's unofficial home team - despite
Jacksonville being more than 4,000 miles away.
1:31London has now become the NFL's most profitable
road game. The league rewarded the Jaguars for
1:36Khan's Gamble with one of the most unique deals in
the NFL, giving the team complete revenue control
1:41over its international games. That means
they're responsible for selling tickets,
1:46merchandise, concessions, everything.
Jacksonville's commitment has paid off
1:50with estimates that the team generates up to
$50 million for each London game. For the NFL,
1:55the Jaguars have been the torchbearer
for international expansion. The deal
1:59illustrates the league's commitment
to a long-term global growth strategy.
2:04The NFL's international schedule has
expanded since 2007 from one game in
2:09London to a record seven regular
season games overseas in 2025-26,
2:14including for the first time games
in Germany, Spain, and Ireland.
2:19To understand the NFL's international
expansion better, I went to Dublin in
2:23the days leading up to the game between the
Minnesota Vikings and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
2:28I spent time with fans, spoke
to key stakeholders in Ireland,
2:31and met with the NFL team in charge of putting
the event together to find out how overseas
2:36games work financially and logistically for the
host city, the league, the teams, and the fans.
2:49'Just through the posts'
3:01Peter, this is the first game,
3:03first regular season NFL game in Ireland.
How long has this been in the planning?
3:08This has been a long time in the making. It
was kind of a glimmer in a lot of people's
3:12eye and now to be here and feel the
energy especially with the Steelers
3:16here and all of their long history in
Ireland this is a very special one.
3:20I think it's been that idea on the whiteboard
for many many years but over the last 3 or 4
3:27years as we've started to expand the number
of games that we've had the opportunity to
3:31play outside the US as we've really zeroed in and
2025 was the year we marked uh. And here we are.
3:37We are a sports mad City. And as
you can see here from Dublin Castle,
3:41what you see and the cross the streets of
Dublin at the moment, a city that's ready,
3:45a city that's alive, and a city
that's excited for the weekend.
3:51This is my first overseas NFL game. I've
never seen an international Vikings game,
3:54so I'm super excited for it.
3:57This is the famous Temple Bar in downtown
Dublin, and it's swarming with NFL fans,
4:03Vikings fans, Steelers fans. They they're
all here for a week's jolly and uh they're
4:10loving it and they love the fact that the NFL
is overseas for the first time here in Ireland.
4:16And how excited are you?
4:17I'm very excited. I'm looking forward to my
4:20kids getting here on Thursday. We're
all going to the game. It'll be fun.
4:23Hi guys. You here for the NFL on Sunday?
4:26Who? Vikings or Steelers?
4:29So, you going to go and head over
to the Steelers pub in a minute?
4:32Oh, there's a Steelers pub.
4:34Are you here for the NFL?
4:37Okay. No, not here for the NFL. So, not
everyone here is going to watch the NFL game.
4:44Excuse me, sir. How long
you been a Steelers fan for?
4:48So, you're a Viking. You're not ..
4:49No, I'm not a Viking. I'm a Steeler fan.
4:51Okay. I just wanted to check.
4:57The NFL is a juggernaut. When you compare its
financial power to other leagues across the world,
5:03it blows it out of the water. So when the
NFL comes to your town, you know about it.
5:10The National Football League made an extensive
investment in promoting the Dublin game. In
5:16addition to installing an NFL themed fountain
in the River Liffey, the league's takeover of
5:20the city was visible everywhere with flags
and team banners flying throughout Dublin.
5:26Along with the fan experience at Dublin
Castle, there were nine other free fan
5:30events and locations across the city. The Steelers
and Vikings each had their own pub. And at Dublin
5:36City Hall, the NFL hosted a Super Bowl gallery
featuring all 59 Super Bowl rings and the Vince
5:42Lombardi Trophy, the iconic Sterling Silver Award
presented annually to the Super Bowl champions.
5:48Dublin is no um stranger to events like
this. We had a big US college football
5:54here in in August. That weekend and that week
the excitement was palpable and I expect the
6:00same over the next three or four days here
in town. Like you can see I was crossing
6:03uh the Liffey last night heading to an
event in my own district and you could
6:07see the numbers of American tourists
here, the number of sports fans here.
6:11Uh and like you can see Dubliners now
getting involved and getting into it.
6:14There has been some criticism about the
fact that a lot of the fans that will
6:20be coming to the game on Sunday are
coming from the US or they're expats,
6:24American expats living in in London or or or in
Dublin. Um, how do you balance those financial
6:30incentives for the local community with actually
growing the sport, growing American football?
6:36Yeah, it's interesting. The the vast majority
of our international games have been attended
6:41by local you know our game earlier this
year in Brazil, 98% Brazilians they may
6:48not have been from Sao Paulo but they may
have traveled from throughout Brazil. A
6:52London or Germany game the vast majority under
10% US. This game is actually a little unique
6:59where you've got a third of the fans coming
over because of the the magic of Dublin,
7:03the Steelers relationship but we see it as a great
balance. I think great for this local community,
7:08the economic impact of people traveling in not
only from the US and Europe, but you'll have a
7:13lot of Irish fans in that stadium uh on Sunday who
may have who likely have never experienced an NFL
7:19game live and can fall in love with the sport
and the entertainment and a team on the field.
7:28A big part of the NFL is the merchandise that
they sell. And to do that, they've set up this
7:32pop-up shop in the heart of Dublin. and they've
got Steelers fans and Vikings fans all piling
7:38in to buy their team's jerseys, but also
the other 30 teams are represented. So,
7:42not only are they making lots of money,
but they're also growing the brand.
7:46While the NFL doesn't disclose financials,
market research firm Grand View estimated
7:51that North America's football merch market
generated $3.3 billion in revenue in 2024,
7:58and it's projected to hit $4.6 billion by 2030.
8:03So, we are in what we call our center city
NFL shop in Dublin. This is something that
8:09gets brought together. We try to do this around
um all of our international games. Um we know
8:14that our fans are very hungry for merchandise.
Really giving them the full physical experience
8:19to come in and shop is something that we love to
do around our games. One of our top sellers and
8:23I'd say this collection in general is is what does
the best it is our game day collection. So what we
8:28do is once we have a city announced um and then
we get the matchup known we really start thinking
8:33about okay how do we bring that to life from a
merchandise perspective. So you can see here from
8:38like a matchup hoodie we've taken like the Irish
colors and infuse them. So this is a very specific
8:44Vikings Steelers with their theme incorporated for
the game and then we apply that across a variety
8:50of products. We know that people want something
to really commemorate the moment of being here.
8:54Merchandise in general is a key part of all of
our games. So, of course, what we have at stadium,
8:59um, and then how we actually, you as
I'm sure as you've gone around the city,
9:02you've seen that the NFL does a full city
takeover and the merchandise has to be a
9:06part of that because we know that fans
want to be able to show their colors,
9:09show who they support, show their love for the
NFL, and giving them that access and then that
9:13true experience to walk through a full-on
NFL shop um, is is really important to us.
9:18Why do you think NFL merch sells so well?
9:21I like to believe the NFL fans are by
far the most passionate and they want
9:25to show their fandom um in unique ways. I
think the NFL in general um whether it's
9:29through our global partners or local
collaborations that we're doing does
9:32a really great job of having product that
caters to both the fans and from a fashion
9:37perspective. So product that you would wear
on game day to support your team and then
9:41also we have a great collection of product
that you would just wear in everyday life.
9:44So, there's a huge financial reason
for creating a pop-up shop like this,
9:49but also how much of that is
also about brand awareness?
9:52Absolutely. Everything that we do from
a product and merchandise and licensing
9:55standpoint is equally to drive revenue as it is
9:58to build fandom for our avid fans that
want to be able to support their team.
10:03Along with the NFL fan shop, the league's
marketing push even extended to two teams
10:07that weren't playing. The Kansas City
Chiefs and Green Bay Packers each took
10:12over bars in the city center as both
hold marketing rights in Ireland.
10:17It's all part of the NFL's Global Markets Program,
10:20the strategic engine behind the
league's international expansion.
10:24The Global Markets Program is an opportunity
for every NFL club to gain marketing rights
10:30in a certain country around the world. Right
now we have all 32 NFL clubs that have rights
10:36in at least one country around the world
and that spans 21 different countries and
10:42it basically allows in addition to the league
who is active in these markets a club to come
10:46in market to fans engage with partners and
fandom is about having a favorite team and
10:54this allows that connection to become that
much deeper. The Steelers in Ireland are a
10:58great example of that. The league can have
do their efforts, the Steelers can come in
11:02in very authentic ways and connect with
fans and create events and opportunities.
11:06And does that also tie in with where these
teams will be playing their games overseas?
11:11Typically, we would look to align a
club that has rights in a market and
11:16have them play there. The complexity of NFL
schedule making doesn't always allow that,
11:20but in this case, the Steelers are here and you
know, the Vikings are off to play again next
11:25week in London. They have rights in London.
So, that's an example of back-to-back weeks
11:28where you have clubs with rights playing
in a market uh that that works for them.
11:34The Global Markets program launched in
January 2022 with 18 teams participating
11:40in line with their long-term commitment to
playing games in London. The Jacksonville
11:43Jaguars' first assigned market was the United
Kingdom. Teams with geographical, cultural,
11:49or historical ties to a country were often
granted rights in those territories. For example,
11:54the Arizona Cardinals have proximity to Mexico.
And Miami has a large Hispanic community,
12:00so the Dolphins hold rights in Spain. The
New Orleans Saints, a city with historical
12:05connections to France, were the first club
to select and be awarded the French market.
12:10In 2023, marketing rights for
the Republic of Ireland were
12:13awarded to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the
Jacksonville Jaguars. For the Steelers,
12:18who already held rights in Mexico,
Ireland was an obvious choice.
12:22The Rooney family, the team's majority
owners, traced their roots to Ireland,
12:26where their ancestors immigrated from in the 1840s
before eventually settling in Pittsburgh. Art
12:33Rooney founded the team in 1933. And those ties
to Ireland have remained strong through charity,
12:39culture, and even politics with Dan Rooney, Art's
son, serving as US ambassador to Ireland in 2009.
12:48The Irish government sees the country's connection
to the Rooney family and the Pittsburgh Steelers
12:52as an opportunity it wants to capitalize on.
As part of the agreement to host the game,
12:57officials committed €10 million in public
funding. Half as a license fee paid to the
13:03NFL and the other half for transportation,
security, and venue arrangements.
13:08For Patrick O'Donovan, Ireland's Minister
for Culture, Communications, and Sport,
13:12the upside of hosting the game
and securing a long-term place
13:15on the NFL's expanding international
schedule was too strong to pass up.
13:20One of the first things I did after becoming
Minister for Culture, Communications,
13:24and Sport was to agree the government's
involvement with bringing NFL to Dublin for
13:28the first time. So, it's a collaboration
between NFL and the Pittsburgh Steelers,
13:33the Gaelic Athletic Association,
and the government of Ireland.
13:36And for it to be the Pittsburgh Steelers,
13:38the home team on Sunday, how special
is that do you think for Irish fans?
13:43The Rooneys and the Pittsburgh Steelers are
coming home literally and that's a lovely thing.
13:48Ambassador Rooney was the US ambassador
here to Ireland and had a great legacy,
13:53made an awful lot of friends. So for his
family and for the next generations that
13:57have come after him, this is something that
they can take a huge amount of pride in.
14:01You're on the one hand trying
to grow the game for, you know,
14:03new American football fans, but also
there's the financial incentives that
14:09mass tourism for the event uh has. How
do you balance the two of those things?
14:14Well, there's a third element as well, which is
participation because flag football comes with
14:18it. Um, and the NFL have been very keen
to work with our primary school network
14:21all over Ireland to make sure that kids
get an opportunity to get through their
14:24teachers assets into every school that'll
introduce the school to flag football.
14:28We know that you you don't get anything for
nothing and there has been some criticism that
14:33you have invested quite a lot of money to host
this game to the tune of 10 million euros. What do
14:39you say to people that say are Irish taxpayers
getting a good return on on that investment?
14:44Well, to the people who said that more
people went in to buy tickets for this
14:48event than any other event that Croke Park
has hosted. And there's always naysayers,
14:53but I think the people who are positively enthused
about the reputation of the island of Ireland, our
14:58relationship with the United States of America,
growing sport, the television audience, which will
15:02be in the tens of millions that will see this,
not to mention the potential that's going to
15:07come out of it. The diplomacy that comes out of
it, this is going to be a really bumper weekend
15:11for Dublin and for Ireland, and it'll leave a very
long legacy and the monies that we're putting in
15:16from the government will be very small in compared
to the return that Ireland Inc. makes from this.
15:22Failte Island, the country's tourism development
authority, projects that the event will generate
15:27an estimated 64 million euros in additional
economic activity for Ireland. For the NFL,
15:34the International Series is about
more than just making money.
15:37It's really less about the the financials
around the game itself. Obviously,
15:42these games are profitable, but the games, we
see them as a pebble drop. You drop a pebble,
15:48it ripples out well beyond the game itself.
And it's if we are only coming in and playing a
15:54game or are the circus coming to town, that's not
going to be effective. This is around coming the,
16:00coming to a market playing a game and
then creating year-round commitment,
16:04opening offices, creating flag football in
schools, building media partnerships. So,
16:10it's about the long game and being patient
and introducing fans and being relevant
16:15and frankly humble knowing that we've
got a lot to learn and a lot to do.
16:20This year is going to be a record year for
the number of NFL games overseas. What are
16:24your thoughts on that? Is that a good a good
thing? Would you like to see more games?
16:28I absolutely love it. The NFL, it needs to
grow globally because obviously I I mean I
16:33travel all around the world. I've been to
six different continents. Nobody likes the
16:36NFL. Nobody when you say football, people are
thinking about soccer. Nobody likes the NFL
16:41around the world. We got to grow this game. It's
a beautiful game. Uh not to steal from soccer.
16:46It's not It is not the beautiful game, but it
is a beautiful game, and I'm loving to see the
16:50expansion all around the world so everybody else
can enjoy it just as much as we do in America.
16:53Is there any concern amongst NFL fans that your
games are being played outside of your hometown?
16:59I don't think so. I think it's mainly seen
as a win-win, right? Like it's cool for the
17:03fans to be able to go over and see it, but
also our football um is pretty isolated and
17:08in the big fan outreach and I think a lot of
opportunity for growth for the league there.
17:13It's good for the sport, you know,
um expanding it overseas. Like I
17:18know I was here last year and football
here is known for a different sport,
17:23but for this football to come overseas
to come to Spain, to Germany, to London,
17:30to Ireland, now it it's really good for
for the sport and the fan base as a whole.
17:37Toward the north of the city sits the venue for
the game, Croke Park. The stadium could hold
17:41around 82,000 people, but that figure included
standing only areas. For the NFL matchup,
17:47capacity was reduced to 75,000
to allow for additional seating.
17:52The NFL also looked at Dublin's other major venue,
Aviva Stadium, which has previously hosted US
17:58College Games. The league assessed everything from
the size of the two pitches to whether the locker
18:04room capacity could be adapted to accommodate each
team's roster of roughly 50 players plus staff.
18:11So the Steelers players will be in their
locker room underneath the stadium for the
18:16game and then pour out of this tunnel.
They've just put the lining on for the
18:20Pittsburgh Steelers for their tunnel and uh it's
all happening out here. Practicing the audio,
18:25thankfully not at the moment. When you come
out here, you see the scale of an operation
18:28like this and to host a game like the
NFL takes weeks to put it together.
18:35For an NFL game, what are the unique
challenges of putting on an event like that?
18:39I think whenever you take a game like
ours and you put it into a stadium
18:42that isn't built for an NFL game, there
are challenges. We start with the game
18:46itself. We you got to get the core right.
You got to get the the football right. So,
18:50it starts with the field. Is the pitch long
enough? Is it wide enough? If it's not,
18:54we're going to have to put a new pitch in. Locker
rooms. If you think about the size of an NFL team
18:58and you think about the size of the players of
an NFL team, I don't think there's a stadium
19:02in Europe that's got a locker room that's going
to be big enough for for that size of team. So,
19:06we've got to come in and we got to break walls
and we got to install new showers and toilets and
19:10everything that you need to build an NFL locker
room and try to figure it out in a stadium that
19:14isn't purpose-built for football. So, every
stadium is different. Every stadium's unique.
19:18Every stadium gives you different opportunities
and it's just trying to figure out how to do it.
19:22So, look at all this ribbon
board up here. It's all new.
19:25So, we worked with with Croke Park
and put an all new ribbon board. So,
19:29Wow. That operation to do that must have taken
19:32It is. And but it it's to the benefit of Croke.
19:36Oh, what? So, that'll stay in place.
19:38They'll stay in place permanent.
19:39So, you've done it for
19:40Yeah. We work with the Croke team and we
work together installing that. We put in
19:44all new fiber into the stadium. So,
it's upgraded all the fiber in here.
19:49It's upgraded all the Wi-Fi in here as
well. So when other events come to Croke,
19:52they'll be able to tap into it
19:54right? So it now makes Croke this
destination that other people can think,
19:57"Oh, we should let's go to Croke." Hey, they do
a great job bringing a lot of people here, but
20:00but that's a long-lasting investment.
20:02That's a long-lasting investment. Yeah.
20:03The International Series started
in 2007. It's nearly 20 years
20:08uh since it began. How has the development
of these events changed over that time?
20:13From 2007 when we started in London,
the sport is more popular and the world
20:17is smaller and people have more access to
to sport now. So the demand for the game,
20:22the demand for the sport is growing. What we
want to do is when we bring one of these games,
20:26we know that we're bringing it to a fan base
that may never come to the United States and
20:30see a game in an NFL stadium. We know that they
may never come and see Super Bowl. So what we're
20:35going to do is give them that experience,
allow them to feel what it's like to be at
20:39an American football game. But the other unique
thing that we really think about is how does the
20:43culture of the community weave into that and
how do we do it in a really authentic way.
20:49Everybody can choose to watch something at home,
right? But nobody talks about the moments when
20:54they're sitting at home and what our job
is to create those moments and just have
20:58people enjoy those three hours, right? We talk
about suspending reality. I don't want you to
21:01think about any of this. I don't want you to
think about what this all took. I just want
21:04you to come have a good time and leave and and
talk about it. That's what we really want so.
21:09The Dublin game was a major success in terms of
television viewership. It ranked as the second
21:14most watched NFL Network international game on
record, drawing 7.9 million viewers in the US,
21:21a 68% increase from the average
for the 2024 International Games.
21:26The commercial success in both TV viewership and
the revenue generated during the week in Dublin
21:31has only reinforced the NFL's desire
to expand its international schedule.
21:36There are rumors that the regular
season could be extended to 18,
21:41potentially even 19 games to allow
for more overseas games so that
21:45you'd have one every week. Is that
something the NFL's looking to do?
21:49We'll continue to evaluate that the uh the
possibility of an 18 game schedule that
21:55requires more work, that requires alignment and
negotiation with the the players union. But that
22:01opportunity to bring more regular season football
and in turn the opportunity to play beyond
22:08this current number of international games is
something that we're we're certainly considering.
22:13From our seat, the opportunity to bring
again our best product live to more fans
22:19in more places is a good thing as we look
to become a true global sport property.
22:23In your lifetime, do you think that you'll see
an NFL team based overseas outside of the US?
22:30I think it could happen. Yeah,
I think it could happen. Again,
22:33it's not imminent. It's not the thing that we're
focused on right now. We're focused on expanding
22:38those games and in these priority markets,
but you feel the the passion of the fan base.
22:44You see great stadia that have been built custom
made for the NFL like Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
22:50So you see those elements come together.
There's complexity around that. Competitively,
22:55travel, how do those things work, but in the
span of hopefully what's a long lifetime,
23:01that could be a possibility. Um
because those those ingredients
23:05are there. It just has to be the right
time and and uh and the right location.
23:10As the NFL's international ambitions grow, so
do those of other major sports leagues around
23:15the world. The NBA has played multiple
regular season games outside the United
23:19States and several competitive soccer matches
were held outside their local markets in 2025.
23:25If the financial returns remain strong,
more are likely to follow. International
23:31games will continue to be a priority in the
2026/27 NFL season with Melbourne scheduled
23:37to host the first ever regular
season NFL game in Australia.
23:40As for the Jaguars, they may not
have played in a Super Bowl yet,
23:44but they have built something unique in
London. A long-term affinity with the city,
23:48but the team is not about to move to London. It
is spending $1.4 billion to renovate its home,
23:54Everbank Stadium, a project it hopes to
complete by the start of the 2028 season.
24:00And like the Jacksonville Jaguars, who played
the long game and are now reaping the benefits,
24:04the game in Ireland is not a one-off
event. The NFL will be back. It's a
24:09long-term investment in these markets aimed
at becoming a truly global sports property.
