This Project is submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of BA with Honours in Sports Management at the

Manchester Metropolitan University Business School.

Examining the factors that would affect the National Football League's plans to expand in the UK market

Oliver Dawes 18th March 2013.

This Research Project is an original and authentic piece of work by me. I have fully acknowledged and referenced all secondary sources used. It has not been presented in whole or in part for assessment elsewhere. I have read the Examination Regulations, and am fully aware of the potential consequences of any breach of them.

. 18th March 2013.

Abstract
This paper investigates the various factors that would impact the intended global expansion strategy of the National Football League. It features consideration of globalisation and its impact on the sport industry, the nature of the National Football League's previous attempts of global marketing, how American Football fans in England and the UK would perceive an NFL team playing their home games in London, and how fans in America have reacted to team relocations in the past. The existing literature available will be assessed to understand each of these aspects. Questionnaire surveys were used as a primary research method in order to gain quantitative and qualitative information from a study group of American Football fans in the UK. The findings indicate that the interest in American Football in Britain is far greater than previous academics have documented, and many opinions surrounding the popularity of American Football in the UK were proven incorrect through the research. The research found that there are a number of factors that would affect the success of any expansion plan, but also offers some recommendations for the future of the sport in Britain.

Acknowledgements

There are a number of acknowledgements I would like to make. Firstly, thanks to Steve Mansfield, who has been a great lecturer and mentor during my time at the University. Secondly, to friend Holly Wrigley for proof-reading at short notice and offering great advice throughout. Finally to a great group of people who took part in the study all gave up their time to help complete the study and it wouldn't have been possible without their contributions.

Contents Page
Statement of Ownership Abstract Acknowledgements Key Abbreviations and Phrases Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Background 1.2 Key Research Objectives 1.3 Hypothesis Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Globalisation in sport and the growth of the NFL in Britain 2.3 Failure of NFL Europe 2.4 Relocation of NFL franchises 2.5 Conclusions Chapter 3 Research Method and Strategy 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Theoretical Approach 3.3 Justification of Research Methods 3.4 Handling the Data 3.5 Research Ethics Chapter 4 Findings 4.1 Fan Allegiances 4.2 Length of active participation of support 4.3 Physicality of the game and reasons fans watch 4.4 Prolonged interest in the International Series 4.5 Participation in England 4.6 Potential for British League Chapter 5 Conclusions and Recommendations 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Research Aim 1 5.3 Research Aim 2 5.4 Research Aim 3 5.5 Research Aim 4 5.6 Research Aim 5 5.7 Recommendations 5.8 Critical Reflection References Appendices 2 3 4 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 9 11 12 13 15 15 15 16 16 17 19 19 20 21 21 22 26 28 28 28 29 29 30 30 31 32 33 35

Key Abbreviations and Phrases

B.A.F.L NFL U.K. U.S. Commissioner Grass-roots British American Football League National Football League United Kingdom United States of America Highest executive position in the NFL, held by Roger Goodell Covering amateur participation

Chapter 1 Introduction
I think London has shown, with the way theyve handled the Olympics and every other major sporting event, that its time for you to have your own NFL franchise, based in London.
Robert Kraft, New England Patriots owner

1.1 Background The National Football League is a key part of the sporting scene in the United States of America, shown by a recent study that found that 34% of adults polled declared that American Football was their favourite sport, making it the most popular sport in America. (Advertising Age, 2013) However, before it became a brand as it is today, the National Football League had image problems. There was a belief that professional football players were bloodthirsty and bloodless, whilst the professional game lacked the pageantry and spectacle of college football. (Oriard, 2010) Eventually, through improvements in play, organisational change and more attention from national media outlets, the National Football League became a staple of American society and culture, and that popularity has transcended to Britain. With a number of British television channels buying the rights to show NFL games, the number of fans in the UK is rising each year, adding to an already relatively large fan base that was, in part, generated over the last thirty years. The NFL achieved considerable, albeit fleeting, success in penetrating the UK sports market during the 1980's (Maguire, 2005), but their plans for further targeting of the UK came to fruition in 1996, as NFL International was formed amidst plans to further promote the sport abroad (Ming et al, 2011). Rather than promote spinoff leagues, the NFL introduced the new NFL International Series, a program that exports real NFL games overseas (Lamb et al, 2011), and the first of those games took place in Mexico, but after one game there, the International Series made its way to Wembley Stadium in 2007, as the Miami Dolphins played the New York Giants in front of a sellout crowd. There has been a game at Wembley Stadium every year since, and recently the NFL announced that there will be two games played in London in 2013, posing questions about their long term plans for expansion in the British market. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell recently announced that the idea of hosting the Super Bowl in London had been discussed, as well as the eventual full time relocation of a team to England too. Upon these revelations, the notion of more involvement from the NFL in the UK became even more serious.

1.2 Key Research Objectives The aim of the research project is to investigate the various factors that might influence the NFL's plans to expand American Football in the United Kingdom. In particular, it will focus on globalisation in sport, and how a sport can become a worldwide interest, how the NFL's plans would affect participation in Britain and how people, both fans of American Football perceive the sports increasing involvement in the UK. The key objectives for this research project are listed below. 1. How do fans in the UK perceive the sport? 2. How do fans think further games or a franchise in the UK would succeed or fail? 3. Examine how NFL Europe failed and the measures the NFL can take to mitigate against the possibility of a repeat situation 4. How do fans in America react to a franchise being relocated? 5. How does globalisation occur in sport? The first two objectives will be achieved through a questionnaire that will be given to fans, which will feature a number of questions to generate answers, whilst the final three objectives will be achieved through using existing theory, literature and framework to provide an ultimate outcome. 1.3 Hypothesis The results of the research that has been conducted to investigate objectives one and two are expected to show that the amount of American Football fans in the UK is growing, and they want to see more influence from the NFL in the UK both in terms of the International Series at Wembley Stadium and from the perspective of grass-roots participation. The third objective will analyse how the plans for expansion could resemble those of NFL Europe from the 1990's, which failed due to a lack of support. To determine how successful any new plans would be, the research will turn focus towards why NFL Europe failed and how the NFL can learn from the mistakes they made with that project. The research is expected to show that the NFL assumed that the growth would be continuous and that they didn't market the product to the grass-roots level well enough. Another focus is to study how American fans have reacted to franchises relocating to different cities in America. The expected results are that Americans react with a high level of hostility, and would likely do similar if a team was relocated to London, which has been suggested. Finally, there will be consideration for globalisation in sport, which has occurred in recent years, and the it's anticipated to show that the advances in technology and television coverage have made it more viable to market a sport abroad. Through using a combination of primary and secondary research, the overall aim is to understand the key factors that would affect the NFL's plans to expand in the UK, and determine recommendations from the research.

Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.1 Introduction This chapter of the research project will provide an overview and analysis of the currently existing literature available covering a number of topics relating to this project. The topics reviewed are globalisation in sport, the failure of NFL Europe and the relocation of NFL franchises. The purpose of the literature review is to gain a theoretical understanding of the topic, identify relevant academic models to aid in the achieving of the aims of the project and to provide a basis for the whole project. The topic of globalisation in sport is particularly relevant to the study due to the expansion of American Football in a country outside of its usual boundaries.. Being able to develop a sport that transcends a number of countries is difficult, and there is already proof that the sporting preferences of UK and US markets are distinctly different. European football or soccer hasn't had the same success as it has had elsewhere in the world, which shows that not every business model is immediately transferable. If an organisation believes that the world is homogeneous and that their product will meet needs globally without adaptation, then setbacks should be expected, and as a result, other types of marketing will be explored, such as glocalisation and Americanisation. The failure of NFL Europe was highly publicised and one of the most recent mistakes made by the NFL. This was ultimately another example of a product or service being transported to another place, where there are changes needed, but weren't made. In order to gauge the factors that would influence the success of expanding the NFL into the British markets, there must be consideration for what went wrong when the idea of NFL Europe was conceived. The relocation of NFL franchises is something that the UK sports consumer base won't be too familiar with, other than with Wimbledon and Milton Keynes Dons, something which caused major backlash from fans involved, and even from other fans who strongly disagreed with the idea of moving a team to a different location. When relocating a team, it's key to consider the reaction of their local fan base, how such a move would be received and even if the local fans in the UK will respond to a team being stationed in London. 2.2 Globalisation in sport and the recent growth of the NFL in Britain A key to this research is to understand the concept of globalisation and its impact upon the sports industry. Globalisation can be defined as the process by which interaction between humans, and the effect of this interaction, occurs across global distances with increasing regularity, intensity and speed. (Jarvie, 2006) Like any other industry, globalisation also occurs in sport. The term global sport and the associated processes of globalisation are not uncommon within discussions of contemporary sport, culture and society. The popularity of sports regularly transcend their

regular native countries. This is seen in the wide range of countries that the English Premier League is now watched in, which has been developed over time, with the aid of television coverage. The plans to expand the NFL brand into the UK market is a prime example of globalisation in the sports industry, though there are a number of other forms that the expansion plans can take. Whilst globalisation suggests that a product or service is being mass marketed internationally, the term Americanisation may be more appropriate. Americanisation can be defined as the propagation of American ideas, customs, social patterns, language, industry and capital around the world. (Williams, cited in Campbell et al, 2004) The concept of American Football being highly publicised in the UK is a case of Americanisation, and there is a certain level of opposition to this idea, as people are generally concerned that the power of a foreign influence will eventually assume control over local tendencies. However, because the idea of American Football is still relatively new to the UK, there must be consideration for the local market and the nature of consumers in Britain. This would instead be a case of glocalisation, which is the practice of conducting business according to both local and global considerations. The United Kingdom isn't accustomed to seeing the sport, so tailoring the marketing to casual fans would be of importance to see any long term success. The sport is gaining more interest outside of America, though Maguire (1999) believes that its impact outside of America and Canada is limited. This may have been applicable up to ten years ago, but viewing figures have been rising year on year, and as a result the NFL have decided to take advantage of the popularity abroad by creating the International Series. One of the main reasons for the sudden rise in NFL fans in the UK is because of changes in relationships between sport and broadcasting have been important in accelerating the globalisation of the sports market, according to Collins and Trenberth. The coverage by channels such as Sky Sports, Channel 4 and BBC have offered fans more opportunities to watch the game and increase the fan base in the UK. Additionally, Jozsa (2004) believes that the popularity was driven by a modest contraction of professional soccer league teams fan bases in Britain because of hooliganism and rowdy behaviour by spectators who attended their games. As a result, those fans sought alternative sports to watch, and the NFL suddenly grew more popular and the league's games appeared throughout England on terrestrial channels. However, a sign of the perception of the NFL during that time was evident as during the early 1990's, the novelty of the sport had waned and as a result, Britain's passion for an interest in American Football and the NFL began to fade. The NFL have already begun to expand into markets other than the UK. Plunkett (2009) states that the NFL have six priority markets split into three tiers Mexico and Canada in the near term, England and Germany in the mid term, and China and Japan in the long term.

The likelihood is that the NFL are currently prioritising the UK because of the financial gains attached to proposed expansions. The NFL will have strongly considered the statistics, which show a 154% rise in viewing figures since 2006, a 4.3m combined TV and radio audience for last year's Super Bowl and a 32% increase in its "avid fanbase" of two million UK supporters (Guardian, 2012) 2.3 Failure of NFL Europe When the NFL realised that they have to explore new markets outside their North American home base in order to build their brand, they established the World League of American Football (later known as NFL Europe League, NFL Europe and NFL Europa). (Buhler & Nufer, 2012) Lussier and Kimball (2009) introduce the concept of NFL Europe - in 1991, to globalise American Football, the NFL developed the NFL Europe subsidiary. They state that the purpose of starting such a league was to assign players for development purposes to the six teams in the league. As a result, players who weren't signed by teams would be able to play in NFL Europe, gaining valuable match experience to further their careers. The league did produce players for the NFL, including Jon Kitna and Kurt Warner. However, NFL Europe ultimately failed, and was eventually disbanded in 2007. Markovitz and Rensmann (2010) say the closure of NFL Europe was inevitable, because by trying to impose an entire sports culture and language from above, without any foundation on which to build, it never succeeded in giving its product a real core. NFL Europe suffered from limited fan interest and nearly total ignorance of its existence by NFL fans in the United States (Nauright and Parrish, 2012). Because of the relative originality of the sport during it's inception in this country, people continued to watch the sports that they have become accustomed to. NFL Europe struggled to divert attention away from those sports, and subsequently suffered competitive pressures...due to the presence of popular team sports in Europe, such as basketball, cricket, ice hockey, rugby and soccer according to Jozsa and Maxymuk (2010). Rosner and Shropshire believe that past efforts of exporting the game have stuttered. The NFL has decided that there is no point offering second-rate fare. Mark Waller, who oversaw the NFL's overseas operations, backed up those claims by saying It's got to be the NFL it can't be the European league. It's evident from the available literature that the failure of NFL Europe can, in part, be attributed to a diluted product that didn't grab the attention of a foreign market. This helps us to understand what the NFL will be able to do differently when expanding in the UK, as they should be able to learn from their mistakes and produce what the crowds really want. Guttman supports this opinion by suggesting that it may be that the intrinsic characteristics of the game it's complexity or its extraordinary level of physical violence will limit the proposed expansion, but the NFL seems determined to continue playing the globalisation game. The notion that the physical nature of the sport will deter people in Britain from watching American Football seems misplaced, and the primary research conducted is expected to oppose Guttman's view. But the main area attributed to NFL Europe's demise was their failure to send their message out to levels beyond the mainstream. It's stated by Ming et al, that there was a

lack of focus on grass-roots development. Since NFL Europe disbanded, the NFL have taken extra measures to make sure they engage with amateur American football organisations. The same must be done to keep fans interested in the sport, as the buzz surrounding American Football in the 1990's in Britain slowly fizzled out. With the international series now returning for two more games in 2013, maintaining interest levels in foreign markets has to be a priority for the NFL and NFL International. 2.4 Relocation of NFL franchises Something that sets the NFL apart from the Premier League is that teams can actively relocate to other cities in America if their proposals are accepted. If a team is struggling to attract fans to watch their team, they could move their team to a more affluent city or state in the country in search of increased revenue. Ultimately, the ability to move a team opens up the possibility of a current team in the NFL moving to the UK, though it still seems unlikely the expansion plans would include such a venture. Jozsa and Guthrie (1999) claim Franchise relocation is a natural adjustment to market conditions and no person or institution is better equipped than an owner to make such decisions But often, the owners make decisions that benefit the team monetarily. Foster and Hyatt believe that the fans of the teams have five different ways to identify with a relocated team; identification, disidentification, schizoidentifcation, neutral identification and nonidentification. The first type of identification is the regular type of connection you form with a sporting team that you support. Disidentification is where a supporter would totally disengage their own identity from that of the team it is noted that these supporters can become dangerous or disruptive. This situation was realised when the Cleveland Browns relocated to Baltimore in 1996. Fans were visibly upset that their team was being removed from their local identity, and proceeded to tear seats out of the stadium and cause serious damage to the venue. Schizoidentification is where the supporter wouldn't be able to decide whether they identify or disidentify with the organisation. Foster and Hyatt (2007) believe that it may be that they only identify with some parts, values and ideas of the organisation. Neutral identification The supporter would have an intentionally impartial relationship attachment with the organisation's identity (Elsbach, 1999). The supporter would would have little perception on the team as they display neither positive nor negative feelings on the organisation, whilst people who show nonidentification simply wouldn't care about anything the organisation participated in. This shows a certain disgruntlement at the team's reason to relocate, and a deliberate attempt to disassociate themselves with the organisation without causing harm. The idea of fan identification during a potential relocation to London is something that must be considered. Moving a team to London is an idea that has been suggested for two teams based in Florida Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars and if this comes to fruition, their fans will show differing stages of identification. As well as the fans of the teams potentially moving to London, it's important to to consider the allegiances of NFL fans who already reside in Britain. Most of the NFL fans in the country already have teams that they support, especially with an estimated avid fanbase of 2 millions fans. If those fans show neutral identification because of existing support for

another team, then the expansion plans could produce the same problems that NFL Europe did, where they struggle to attract regular crowds. This issue will be tackled in the research study, and is expected to confirm that fans would not change their allegiances. When considering the loyalty of British fans to their existing teams and their support for a potential British franchise, the Hunt et al (1999) theory on fan devotion provides a good basis. Hunt believes that you can categorise fans as one of five types of fan by how strongly their affinity with the team is. These categories are: Temporary Local Devoted Fanatical Dysfunctional

This particular ideology is relevant to the potential UK franchise, because there is almost certainly going to be a wide range of fan loyalties to the team. Some fans will initially see the franchise as something of a fad, with no serious intention of becoming a regular follower, which would make them temporary. Local fans are likely to be fans of other NFL teams, but choose to attend matches because they live nearby and take an interest in the sport. Devoted fans are most likely to be fans that decide to support a UK team alongside another team that they support. They will attend matches because they're interested in the team's performance, even if they don't necessarily live in close proximity to the stadium. Fanatical fans would be those that choose to support the UK team over any other team, but also fans that maybe develop a greater understanding of the game through attending more matches to become fanatical fans. Finally, dysfunctional fans are unlikely to be generated early in the team's existence. Dysfunctional loyalty is built up over time, but if the plans for a team are continued over a number of years, then dysfunctional fans are likely to be created. As opposed to relocating a team to Britain, it seems more conceivable for the NFL to extend the International Series over a number of games, but with the aforementioned Florida teams considering the move, there are a lot of external factors that need to be considered, and the fan allegiance is crucial. Without the constant financial backing of fans, a team would struggle to survive particularly in the economic problems currently being faced. 2.5 Conclusions There are many conclusions to be drawn from the literature review that help form the basis of the empirical research. The literature available on globalisation suggests that the growth of the NFL in Britain is a fairly recent phenomenon, and one that isn't expected to last for a long time. Most of the literature insists that the sport doesn't have much appeal outside of America, but the empirical research is expected to oppose this view greatly. Fans in the UK are generally hoping for more involvement from the NFL and given that the organisation has recently expanded its plans for the International Series, it's apparent that they are also enthusiastic about the future of American Football in the UK.

The second topic studied from literature was the failure of NFL Europe and how the NFL can learn from the mistakes they made on that project to make sure their expansion plans for the UK achieve more success. The literature found that their project didn't reach the masses because there was a lack of attention given to grass-roots participation, but also that the novelty of American Football gradually wore off. To make sure this situation doesn't repeat itself, the research will find out the level of interest a group of American Football fans have in the NFL continuing their influence in the UK. Finally, the literature review looked at the historical reactions to NFL franchises relocating and the association fans have with a team once they have relocated. The findings were that fans can react angrily and show total disassociation with the team, as a form of protest against the relocation. To determine whether the moving of a team would be beneficial, there will be questions in the primary research, but the initial evidence suggest that it would have a negative effect on both the franchise and the league's integrity.

Chapter 3 Research Model and Strategy

3.1 Introduction The term research has different meanings to many academics, but Clifford Woody (as cited in Kumar, 2011) states that it comprises defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions, collecting, organising and evaluating data, making deductions and reaching conclusions, and at last carefully listing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis. This research will attempt to fill all of those criteria through a series of methods, and this chapter is intended to demonstrate how they have been achieved and justification for the methods used to collect and analyse data. 3.2 Theoretical Approach There are two main areas of theoretical approach for research in studies the inductive research approach and the deductive research approach. With an inductive stance, theory is the outcome of of research. In other words, the process of induction involves drawing generalisable inferences out of observations. Conversely, a deductive research approach involves a researcher, on the basis of what is known about a particular domain and of theoretical considerations in relation to that domain, deduces a hypothesis that must be subjected to empirical scrutiny. (Bryman and Bell, 2007) The deductive research process is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1; the deductive research process

Having analysed each available process, the decision was made that this research project

would feature a deductive research approach. The structure of the project matches that of a deductive process, where the theory is analysed and studied, before assumptions and predictions are made. To find out if the hypothesis was being backed up, the primary research will aim to prove what the theory stated initially. 3.3 Justification of Research Methods The chosen method of research is to utilise surveys. According to Mitchell and Jolley (2012), there are two main types of survey instrument: the first is questionnaire surveys, in which participants read the questions and then write their responses, and the second is interview surveys, which involves participants hearing questions and then speak their responses. For this particular survey, the research will take the form of the questionnaire surveys. They will be conducted through the internet and sent out to a number of people, rather than identifying potential subjects locally for interview surveys. This form of research generally provides fewer incomplete questionnaires, and have typically achieved higher completion rates than self-administered questionnaires have. (Babbie, 2012). Because of the efficient nature of this type of research, it presents a viable method of collecting research. Additionally, because the questionnaires will be conducted with people who have already been identified and through electronic communication, this eliminates the random, face-toface interviews that researchers may do for other topics. Hague (2004) states that when the interview is long or complicated, the street is not a place to carry out interviews that take more than 5 to 10 minutes. because the nature of the questions will be surrounding a topic that not everybody is interested in, the results may not aid the research. Also, Hague continues to argue that the interviewer avoidance factor is impossible to measure, but at times it is obvious from the space surrounding the interviewer that many people are crossing to the other side of the street. The research required a sample size of 40 subjects, and interviewing in the street could prove too difficult and ultimately time consuming. 3.4 Handling the data With the purpose of the research established and aspects of the structure detailed, it's now necessary to decide a way to analyse the data collected from the questionnaires. There are two main types of research method qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative features a researcher describing kinds of characteristics of people and events without comparing events in terms of measurements or amounts, whereas quantitative methods focus attention on measurements and amounts. (Murray Thomas, 2003) Both methods have advantages and disadvantages, which must be considered in this process, as they affect the style of questions used in the surveys. Qualitative questions are generally open ended, which can generate a number of different opinions and view, whereas quantitative questions tend to be closed-ended, looking for simple yes or no answers to draw numerical conclusions from the results. Qualitative research is popular in research projects because it enables researchers to ask new questions, answer different kinds of questions and readdress old questions. The aim

of quantitative research is to yield data that is richer in description and presumably, deeper in insight and understanding than closed-ended quantitative measures. (Monsen and van Horn, 2007) However, the results generated through quantitative research can often be unreliable. researcher is only working on one person, or even a small focus group, the results likely to only be valid for that particular person or focus group. Therefore, one could necessarily make a generalisation from the results in the way that one could with results of a quantitative research study. (Kim, 2006) If a are not the

Quantitative research, on the other hand, emphasises the production of precise and generalisable statistical findings. When we want to verify whether a cause produces an effect in general, we are likely to use quantitative methods. (Rubin and Babbie, 2012) Quantitative research helps to determine a set number of people that believe in one particular thing, whereas qualitative would be used to understand why they believe so. Having assessed both methods of data analysis, the research collected in this project will feature both methods. While quantitative research is often less resource demanding and time consuming, the qualitative approach provides a deeper understanding through a more detailed interpretation and evaluation (Harrington and Booth in Rosenhauer, 2009). Additionally, (Amedeo et al, 2009) says it is not necessarily a matter of qualitative versus quantitative; rather, it is a matter of choosing the most appropriate choosing the most appropriate methodology or mix of methodologies. In the case of this research, it's beneficial to use both methods of research because it will enable the opportunity of using questions determining how long fans have watched the NFL, which will help demonstrate the effectiveness of previous expansion campaigns, but also to seek a deeper understanding on how fans perceive the idea of expansion in the UK. 3.5 Research Ethics In relation to the surveys to generate qualitative data, there should be no ethical issues. The people who will be answering questions are aware about what they participating in. Their results will be used as a foundation for the research, but there will be little consideration for personal matters. There is no requirement for perceivably sensitive questions, which should put the subjects at ease when answering the questionnaire. Survey research almost always involves a request that people provide us with the information about themselves that is not readily available. Hence, maintaining the norm of confidentiality is particularly important in survey research. (Babbie, 2010) These considerations will be evident in the research design, and anonymity will be factored in, even though there will be no personal questions that would make the subjects feel uncomfortable. Andrew et al suggest that regardless of how questionnaires are completed, they require that the participants have at least minimal literacy proficiency in order to complete the survey. This is a valid concern for the creation of the questions, as Andrew et al go on to say that for this reason, researchers should consider the typical literacy level of the target population and make their questionnaires as clear and direct as possible. These factors will be taken into consideration when writing out the questionnaire, as the same set of questions will be sent out to the study group and with no prior knowledge of their literacy

skills, the questions need to be clear to all. In conclusion, the research design will factor in ethical considerations and be in line with usual research protocol, though the basis of the study isn't formed upon personal information.

Chapter 4 Research Findings

This chapter of the research project will be used to present and analyse the findings from the primary research conducted for this project. The questionnaires were carried out anonymously for confidentiality reasons, in line with the ethical stance stated above. 4.1 Fan Allegiances As part of the research, there was a planned investigation to determine whether fans in the UK would simply abandon their current allegiances to a team in favour of supporting a new franchise, who played their home games in London. If the NFL decide to house a team in the UK, then there will naturally be a heavy dependence on fan involvement. Fans may attend games as neutrals if they live locally, but the research is expected to show that fans are unlikely to switch their allegiances away from their current team in order to support a UK franchise, rather take an interest in them instead. The results matched the anticipation, even exceeding them. From a total of 47 respondents, 35 of them almost 75% of the study group - indicated that they would not simply switch teams, though they would take an active interest in the British team's results. The results below do show that just seven people responded by saying they would switch their allegiance, whilst five stated that they were unsure until they were made aware of circumstances such as ticket pricing.

Yes No Undecided

Illustration 1: Recently, Commissioner Goodell has suggested that one day, there may be an NFL franchise based in London. Would you be inclined to support the London team over your current NFL team?

This result was expected, as fans in England are more loyal than most in America assume, but there were other outcomes that enhanced the view that fans would be averse to a team being placed in England, as one respondent said the whole point of the NFL is that it's an American product, so transplanting it here defeats the object. This is a case of Americanisation, which was analysed in the literature review. The product is inherently American, and it may be that, in part, this quality which has attracted fans to the game, therefore they don't want too much of a British influence on the game. This opinion is mirrored by other people suggesting that they would not support an English franchise over the team they currently support, with a minority vociferously stating that they don't want an NFL team in England. 4.2 Length of active participation in support As the NFL have previously run expansion campaigns with NFL Europe and the International Series, it would be beneficial to establish whether fans started to watch games around the times of the expansion schemes. If the study finds that the current set of NFL fans in the UK began watching the sport around the time of the expansion schemes, it signals that the English market is responding positively to the marketing campaigns of the NFL. The figure below displays what the research produced. The results showed that almost 50% of fans surveyed became fans since the inception of the International Series in 2007, with 23 of the 47 indicating they had actively been watching the NFL since they had seen games played at Wembley Stadium. This is a clear indication that the level of support in England has risen since the NFL decided to host NFL games in London. Media exposure is increased when the game approaches, which widens the range of people they reach with the campaign.

25 20 15 10 5 0 2000-2006 Since the International Series 1990-1999 Pre-1990

Illustration 2: How long have you been watching the NFL? However, the research was expected to support the notion that during the 80's, support of

the NFL increased in the UK. The period from the 80's to late 90's contributes just 9 fans in this study. Whilst this may not be representative of the whole of Britain, the research was expected to show more fans generated from the 1980's, when the NFL first started to penetrate the UK market. Additionally, another question was posed to the study group, regarding whether there had been a noticeable rise in the amount of fans since the inception of the International Series. Fans were asked whether they had personally noticed an increase in support of American Football in the UK. The response was very one sided, as 40 of the 47 studied said that they have noticed an increase in the amount of American Football fans in the UK since the International Series begun. This once again supports the idea that the International Series and increased involvement of the NFL in Britain is having a positive effect. 4.3 Physicality of the game and reasons fans watch As mentioned in the literature review, Guttman stated that the extraordinary level of physical violence will limit the proposed expansion, which is something that the research was expected to oppose. Alongside the tactical aspect of American Football, many respondents cited the physical nature of the sport to be a reason for the interest. In fact, around half of the responses featured the hard hitting as part of the attraction to the sport. Guttman's theory was understandable given that non-contact sports such as cricket and tennis are popular in Britain, but it's apparent from the research that people are enticed by the physicality, amongst other things. Some of the other reasons stated for becoming interested in American Football were; Intrigue as to why it's so popular in America Friend recommendation Enhanced TV coverage in England Vacations to America, experienced popularity Similarity to Rugby

Ultimately, the research shows that people are inclined to watch American Football because it's another sport that they would like to explore and understand. The intrigue factor became a popular answer in the study, and particularly given friends or family allegiances towards the sport. 4.4 Prolonged interest in the International Series The introduction of the International Series has served as a great platform to build on in terms of expansion. As mentioned, the research indicates that the number of fans has inflated since the expansion started, and fans are regularly attending the games at Wembley to get a sight of a game. In relation to fan allegiance though, a number of American Football fans in Britain have yet

to attend one of the International Series games at Wembley. Using the same study group, the 47 respondents were asked whether they had been to an NFL game at Wembley yet.

14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Never One Two Three Four Five Six

Illustration 3: How many games have you attended the International Series games at Wembley? The results showed that 11 of the 47 respondents had never been to one of the International Series games, despite them being held in England. The recent rise in popularity is however shown by the fact that 12 people had attended their first game in 2012. Surprisingly, the results showed that none of the 47 had been to every International Series game, which again supports that the increase in support of American Football in England can be attributed to more recent times. This information is important to the study as there will be a myriad of factors as to why fans decide not to attend the International Series games. Factors such as disposable income, proximity to venue and the absence of their favourite team could lead to these fans deciding not to attend. As the International Series has, so far, been just one game per year, the statistic that there has only been a crowd below 80,000 once so far seems positive on the face of it, but there is a deeper rooted problem to plans for permanent games in England. One game a year can attract 80,000 spectators or more, but when the games become more regular, like over a whole season which spans four months and when games don't feature supported teams, then attendances are likely to dwindle, which was a problem with NFL Europe that inevitably contributed to its demise. 4.5 Participation in England As mentioned in the literature review, one of the main areas of concern that arose from NFL Europe was that there was a lack of focus on grass-roots development. Participation and growth of active involvement in the sport will be key in the long term stability of American Football in Britain.

As part of the study, the group were asked whether they have ever played American Football before, rather than simply watch it, and also whether the NFL need to do more at grass-roots level to ensure prolonged success of the sport in the UK.

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Yes No

Illustration 4: Have you ever been part of, or played for an American Football team?

The respondents were initially asked to answer simply yes or no, but a number of people in the study developed their answer by citing reasons for why they hadn't played, and seven of the 47 studied cited there was no opportunity in their local area to play American Football, despite their willingness to play. The nature of this discovery further backs up Ming's claims that the NFL haven't done enough to promote grass-roots participation in the UK, and this is something that should be at the forefront of their expansion strategy. As part of this section of the survey, the study group were asked whether the NFL should help promote grass-roots participation in England. The answers are part of the qualitative research, where answers help develop a more rounded understanding of the situation through in-depth responses. The responses are documented below, split between answers that indicated yes and answers indicating no. YES NO

If you get somebody playing a game early in Regardless of participation push, I can't see life, it becomes engrained. it overtaking traditional games like football. I'm a big fan of American Football but I didn't even know it was BAFL finals day, so more should be done to make fans aware of the BAFL. If people aren't interested or don't know who the NFL players are then I struggle to see how the NFL could really promote grassroots, other than financially.

It would certainly help. Not sure it would be The grass-roots game needs to be a requirement to help the sport grow developed to a much higher level before

though. I can see protective parents getting proper promotion will work. in the way of children playing such a physical contact sport here. It would be good to see, but I think the sport To an extent, but I don't believe it will ever can grow without it. catch on and be played by children. Adults will either latch on to it or not, and I feel the only way it well get entrenched is by fans passing it on, either to friends or potentially family. A little more, the sport is growing in No, I don't see any need for grass-roots universities but that may be despite of the promotion. NFL and not because of the NFL. If the NFL wanted to bring a team here, I think it would be necessary to have some kind of grass-roots level. It would certainly help popularity if there was a grass-roots level too. I honestly think we are a million miles away from our university players being NFL draft calibre. For that reason the league won't do it. People in England won't back a sub par product.

Yes, the sport is growing in stature, No. Not at the moment. Need to keep especially in universities. Rebrand it as getting media exposure to get more people gridiron football (rather than American watching the NFL first. Football) and will be fine. It would certainly help but I also think that Only if they intend to get more people promoting the NFL itself is likely just as playing, which I don't think they do. I don't important. believe it would encourage viewership on a worthwhile scale. I don't think it's a necessity but it would Not to help it grow. I think it was be a bonus speed up development of the sport if it though. became more a part of the children's sporting culture. It wouldn't hurt. But I think increasing the I'm not sure it's achievable. The game fan base and finding a British way to do would have to somehow be introduced into things might be better. schools, but if that were to happen then grass-roots promotion is a good idea. Would be a beneficial idea, but I'm not sure Maybe. Don't know much about the sport at it would work. grass roots level in this country. It's not a necessity, but it would be great if At this stage, they should let it grow on its they did. own. The people who want to play will play Yes there should be more grass-roots promotion, as we have seen a few British players playing at the college level in America but to help it grow further, need to do more - maybe put money in. Yes, and I also think more press coverage on the NFL would raise interest. More hard copy press rather than online. Absolutely. Whilst there are teams in the UK, it is something you have to search for. It Yes and no. No sport in the world has a better system of developing players. But if British players in the NFL is what will increase support then they probably do need to promote it a grass-roots level.

is not yet widely known or played. Yes, I believe that American Football could be one of our biggest sports if more work was put in on the grass-roots level. More grass-roots definitely happen. promotion should

Yes. The amateur leagues in Britain are growing rapidly but we see how ice hockey and basketball have benefitted from direct involvement by their governing bodies. Yes, but I doubt it's ever going to be huge here. Yes, there is barely any coverage of amateur American football over here. Absolutely - they should be funding coaching and equipment across the country. They shouldn't be obligated to do it, but it would help them expand their talent pool. Yes. A sport needs both a large amount of casual fans but also a sizable core of avid fans. Whilst the former have grown tenfold in recent years the latter hasn't experienced anywhere near the same growth. Getting more people to play the game from earlier on will help with that. I would love it if they did, I think it would help Rugby union and league teams if so too. Yes, The NFL admitted that they have done a poor job to educate other people in the NFL and only really focused on the American market for it, Eight more people indicated yes, but didn't One more person indicated no, but didn't give an in-depth reason as to why. give an in-depth reason as to why. The results were heavily in favour of the opinion that the NFL can take extra measures in order to promote participation of the game. There are two-way benefits to the prospect of increased promotion of grass-roots American Football in Britain. Firstly, the NFL will be able to increase the interest in the sport through active participation promotions. People that play the game are more likely to watch NFL games if they take part in the sport, which makes the idea of NFL expansion strategies more viable. Additionally, if they reach a high enough standard, then there is the opportunity for British players to try out for NFL teams. Fans have associated themselves with British NFL players in the past, such as Menelik Watson, Jack Crawford and Rhys Lloyd, and some fans indicated in the study that they chose the team they support because they had British players on the roster.

Meanwhile, the British Leagues would be able to raise the profile of American Football in the UK through heightened awareness, better equipment and powerful backing from the NFL, which would add credibility to the strategy. Ultimately, most fans feel that the British Leagues could become an interesting alternative to the NFL, but there needs to be some direct influence from the NFL if it is to become of great interest. 4.6 Potential for a British League Having collected the feelings and opinions on the grass-roots, the study group were then asked whether they would prefer an NFL team to be located in London or for further development of a British League. One of the overriding themes in the literature was that the relocation of a team is expensive and complicated, and can lead to fan opposition. This makes any expansion plans very dangerous for the NFL to undertake, as it may harm the integrity of the brand. Amidst these concerns, the proposition of developing the British Leagues could become a viable alternative. There would still have to be a large outlay financially from the NFL, but to gauge the interest of a British League as opposed to NFL games, it was necessary to ask the study group their opinions. The study group again contained the same 47 people, and their responses would indicate how a British League would be perceived in lieu of actual NFL games. The expected outcome was for a generally negative view of the idea, particularly as the literature used alongside the research suggested that the global interest in American Football is only feasible if the real NFL product is delivered.

26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 BAFA NFL

Illustration 5: Would you rather see an NFL team based in London, or develop our own leagues (BAFA)? The results showed that 23 people favoured the development of British Leagues, whilst 24

said that they would prefer NFL games or teams to be housed in England. This even spread of opinions creates a discord between what fans believe the best way to develop American Football in Britain is. The feedback suggested that fans believe the sport as a whole needs to become established in UK culture before there is mass promotion of the leagues. The NFL's exploration into the UK market is relatively new, and subsequently the reach of the campaign is yet to reach many people. As a result, the NFL need to maintain the marketing of the sport and all American Footballbased activities in the UK for a prolonged period of time, before they consider investing heavily in developing British Leagues to a high standard.

Chapter 5 Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1 Introduction The aims of this research project were to understand: How do fans in the UK perceive the sport? How do fans think further games or a franchise in the UK would succeed or fail? Examine how NFL Europe failed and the measures the NFL can take to eradicate the possibility of a repeat situation How do fans in America react to a franchise being relocated? Can globalisation be applied to the sports industry?

This chapter will aim to summarise the findings from the literature review and also from the research carried out through the surveys, before recommendations are offered for the development of the sport. 5.2 Research aim 1 Part of the research project was to determine how fans in Britain perceived American Football. The information collected from surveys would provide an in-depth response to this aim. A number of questions in the survey were designed to generate answers that would help in answering the topic. The questions being referred to here featured the length of time fans have been supporting for, to determine how recent the rise in interest in American Football is, what aspects of the sport attracted fans to watch, in order to realise what can be promoted more in the future to bring more fans towards the sport, and also whether the study group had interest in a highly-publicised British American Football League. All of these questions were asked in order to gauge the interest in the sport from NFL fans but specific angles attributed towards increasing the fan base and maximising the sport in Britain. The results concluded that there has been a noticeable rise in the number of American Football fans in England since the NFL introduced the International Series in London. This was expected when the objectives were set, as the mass marketing of a new product generally creates a demand for the product. Additionally, the survey produced a wide range of responses when the focus turned to what influenced fans to watch the sport. Many reasons were given by the study group, showing that there isn't one particular reason for watching American Football in the opinion of UK residents. The myriad of selling points that the NFL possesses makes it more conceivable that American Football will continue to grow in the UK, as different fans are attracted by different qualities. 5.3 Research aim 2

The aim to understand how fans feel about the potential of further NFL involvement in England was the focus of the second objective in the project. The questions in the survey on this subject were aimed towards generating more information on the subject, and contained topics relating to not only the NFL, but also the prospect of there being a heightened presence of American Football through a British League. These questions included asking how many times fans have been to the International Series games at Wembley, whether the sport needs more influence from the NFL at grassroots level in the UK, whether they have played in an American Football team before to determine whether viewership correlates with participation, and whether they would support a UK franchise over the NFL they currently support. The research was expected to show that fans were regularly attending International Series, which wasn't particularly shown in the results as the most popular answer was that people had been to just one of the International Series games so far. This supports the idea that the growth of the sport in the UK is very recent, as many respondents indicated that the 2012 International Series game between the St. Louis Rams and New England Patriots was their first and only occasion that they had been to an NFL game. The participation aspect of the research displayed that whilst the game is growing from the perspective of watching NFL games, the popularity isn't being matched in participation levels. The study showed that only 30% (14 people of the 47) in the study group had taken part in playing American Football. This result was lower than anticipated, as there is a thriving American Football community in the Universities in England which was expected to account for a large amount of responses, but this proved to be incorrect. Many respondents indicated that they had never been given the opportunity to play American Football, even though they wanted to. This resulted in further research being conducted to understand whether these fans wanted the NFL to have a greater influence on American Football at grass-roots level in England, so more people are given a chance to play. Whilst the majority of respondents said that they would be in favour of more promotion of grass-roots American Football, but that the UK needs to see more from the NFL before the focus is turned to trying to improve the standard of grass-roots level American Football. This is understandable, and is a conclusion matched with Rosner & Shropshire's view that the fans in England want to see the NFL, not a second-rate product instead. The conclusion drawn from this section of the project is that American Football fans in the UK are hoping that further influence arrives in the country, but there is a discrepancy over how to ensure that the sport continues to grow in Britain. It seems that for the imminent future, continuing the International Series and increasing the presence of the NFL is the best way to generate interest in the sport, which, over time, will lead to a focus on grassroots level activities. 5.4 Research aim 3 The third aim of the project was to understand what caused NFL Europe to fail, and how the NFL could use its demise to help them plan for further expansion plans. To do this, a range of available literature was used, providing a basis for the project in this phase.

The literature stated that NFL Europe was set up as something of a feeder league to produce and enhance players that would eventually play in the NFL, but also to try and expand the NFL brand overseas, as the sport gained popularity in Europe during the 1980's. However, the novelty of American Football wore off and interest declined, resulting in NFL Europe ending prematurely. The failure of NFL Europe served as something of a deterrent to future expansion plans, but the problems became apparent later on. The literature found stated that fans became uninterested in the product of NFL Europe because it wasn't the high standard of the NFL, the sport wasn't explained properly to foreign markets and that the project didn't reach grass-roots level. This stage of the research project was valuable in determining the factors that will ultimately affect the success of any expansion plan the NFL decides to put in place. The problems found in NFL Europe formed the basis of the surveys to try and create more information on subjects such as participation and reasons for watching American Football. Given that these issues can be rectified, the research shows that the NFL can and should be able to use that failure to develop a sustainable product in England. 5.5 Research aim 4 Having analysed the failure of NFL Europe and what the NFL can do to avoid similar problems, the next aim was to look at the alternatives, which included the prospect of relocating an existing NFL team to England in lieu of a specific British League. The specific angle of this section was to look at how NFL fans in America have reacted, or are likely to react, to their team being relocated from their regular home. The relocation of NFL franchises has happened in the past, but the literature indicated that the response to relocation can be hostile and can even lead to damage of property by fans, which was seen in 1996, when the Cleveland Browns fans reacted angrily to news that their team was going to be relocated to Baltimore, which meant the team was moving 375 miles away, and leaving Cleveland without a team at all. There was also literature supporting the idea that different fans react in different ways to a relocation. At opposite ends of the spectrum, some fans totally disassociate themselves from the team, whilst others choose to support the team regardless of their location. This particular section of literature was useful in understanding how American Football fans in the U.S. would react to the prospect of an existing NFL team relocating not only out of its regular city or state, but to a different country entirely, with the notion of a team moving to London to play all its home games at Wembley Stadium. Having found enough literature to understand the nature of fan reactions in America, the conclusion was made that American Football fans in the U.S. would react negatively to the prospect of an NFL team to England. As a result, the NFL need to be wary of such a backlash, and should consider this when making any decision over their future activities in the UK sports market. 5.6 Research aim 5 The available literature formed the main basis for the fifth research topic was to understand how globalisation can be applied to the sports industry, and how other sports have used global marketing techniques to maximise their brand.

Globalisation involves the process of marketing to a global audience, and this is something that the NFL have been utilising in recent years, in a bid to increase the fan base for the sport outside of the U.S. However, given the failure of NFL Europe, it's apparent that the brand of American Football is not simply transferable to other countries. As a result, forms of glocalisation the process of adapting a product to the local culture or standards could be something that the NFL would find more beneficial. Because the UK sports market isn't accustomed to seeing American Football yet, then simply bringing a team or a league into the country could encounter the same problems that NFL Europe did. The target audience didn't fully understand the rules of the game and struggled to become attached to the sport. This signals that the NFL need to understand what will attract British fans, rather than simply assuming they will be drawn to the same things as Americans. The issue of Americanisation was prominent in the research, and this suggested that people in the UK are almost afraid of aspects of American culture penetrating the UK markets. This is a valid concern in the process of developing American Football in the UK. Cultures and trends are different, which once again supports the idea that the product will need to be catered to a UK audience for it to have sustainable success. 5.7 Recommendations There are a number of recommendations that have been produced from the research. They centre around encouraging the NFL to continue expanding in the UK sports market, but offer some caution regarding the speed they seem to be growing at. 1. Continue the International Series This recommendation is already being put in place, as the NFL introduced a further International Series game in 2013 to supply the demand for more action. With more reasonably priced tickets, the amount of fans attending the International Series should increase, which would be a good indication for the NFL that the interest in American Football will be long-lasting, and not just a novelty, like it was during the 1980's. 2. Eventually exert influence on grass-roots American Football in Britain The research found that fans were in favour of more opportunities to participate in American Football in England, but it also found that fans were hoping the focus would remain on the NFL, so as to raise the profile of American Football as a product. The strategy should be to continue promoting the NFL for the next 5-10 years until the number of fans increases, and then start to encourage grass-roots participation. 3. Do not relocate a team to London The final recommendation is the most important the NFL must not relocate a team to London permanently. The research suggests that not only would the fans in America be opposed to a team relocation, but that fans in England would not be inclined to abandon their current NFL team in favour of supporting a team playing in

London. When both of these instances are combined, the relocation of a team to London seems nonsensical. 5.8 Critical Reflection This research project has provided an in-depth look at the various factors that would have a strong impact on any plans the NFL have to expand in the UK. Of course, whilst the study sample of 47 can't be totally representative of the whole of the UK, the size of the study did give a wide range of opinions and views, which were conducive to formulating a conclusion and recommendations. The method of research was restricted by the available resources, and more methods of research may have been used in different circumstances, but the results generated from the study did provide enough quality to make the study worthwhile. For a research study with more available resources, a larger number of participants would be required to make a more accurate assessment of the factors. Despite the relative drawbacks of the research, the final conclusion is that it provided enough information to be able to effectively answer the research topic, which was to examine the factors that would affect the NFL plans for expansion in the UK. The recommendations given serve as an analysis of the findings that contribute to answering the research topic.

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Appendices Appendix A
Survey sample 1. How long have you been watching the NFL for? 2. What first attracted you to the NFL? 3. Which NFL team do you support and why? 4. How often do you watch your teams games? 5. How many times have you attended the International Series at Wembley Stadium? 6. Have you noticed an increase in fanbase of the NFL in Britain over the last few years? If so, why do you think this is? 7. Do you think the NFL need to promote grassroots level American Football in Britain to help the sport grow? 8. Have you ever played for or been a part of an American Football team? 9. Recently, Commissioner Goodell has suggested that one day, there may be an NFL franchise based in London. Would you be inclined to support the London team over your current NFL team? 10. Would you rather see an NFL team based in London, or develop our own leagues (BAFA)?