NFL
NFL
NFL RETURNS TO LONDON WITH EYES ON EXPANSION TO NEW EUROPEAN CITIES NFL Head of Europe and UK Brett Gosper discusses the return of NFL to London, expansion beyond the UK and the challenges of international growth. Brett Gosper, who previously served as Chief Executive of World Rugby since 2012, last year joined the National Football League (NFL) as Head of Europe and UK to drive the next stage of the league’s growth in Europe.
As CEO of World Rugby for nine years, Gosper – a former Australia under-21 international who spent a decade playing club rugby in France – oversaw recordbreaking Rugby World Cups in England in 2015 and Japan in 2019. Now Gosper has a new challenge, after the NFL came knocking with an exciting new opportunity. Gosper has always been interested in NFL, having lived in North America for nearly five years and followed the league in addition to Major League
Baseball (MLB) and National Basketball Association (NBA) with curiosity as someone previously in the advertising business. Having always had admiration of the NFL as an organisation, brand and business Gosper now has overarching responsibility for the successful execution of the NFL's business strategy across the UK and Europe, including fan growth, live games, and commercial success. It is a challenge the Australian relishes, with his experience at World Rugby teaching him many things that are of use also in the context of the NFL as there are many similarities in the sports and in the challenges the league faces outside of the US. It’s fresh, new and exciting for Gosper, as is the NFL’s desired strategic expansion into Europe moving forward.
14 | OTFF ISSUE 17 ★ OCTOBER 2021
What are the biggest challenges facing the NFL in international growth? It’s a massive leader, brand, and business in the United States, but here [Europe] it’s a very competitive sports market. Obviously, football is universal and dominant in the European markets, but then there are a lot of other challenger sports also, let’s say, more home grown: Rugby, Cricket and then Handball in Germany and France. NFL has to fight for its place in the sun, and even against other sports out of America like the NBA (National Basketball Association) and to a certain extent Major League Baseball (MLB). But those challenges are being met by the NFL. The NFL is growing fast in the UK and in Germany both in terms of its fanbase and its television audiences, its consumer products ➡
