On Sunday evening, the 56th edition of the Super Bowl, the largest single sporting event in the world, will take place in Los Angeles: the American football final between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals is likely to be watched by around 150 million fans worldwide. Live on site are Philipp Westermeyer and OMR podcast regular Sven Schmidt, who met the new Germany head of the NFL, Alexander Steinforth, in the media center for an interview and spoke to him about the Super Bowl phenomenon and the NFL’s plans for Germany.
Alexander Steinforth has only been officially Germany boss of the American Football League NFL for a few days. But it’s getting exciting: Steinforth is in Los Angeles to watch the 56th edition of the Super Bowl. And at the same time he used the trip to announce together with NFL boss Roger Goodell, that from now on there will be an NFL game in Germany every season.
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“Germany as a market is in 1st or 2nd place behind the USA in all relevant key figures for the NFL,” said Steinforth in the OMR podcast, which Philipp Westermeyer and OMR regular guest Sven Schmidt shared with him two days before the Super Bowl in the NFL media center in recorded Los Angeles. An evaluation by the Video Research Working Group recently showed that American football is already the second most popular sport in Germany in the advertising-important target group of 14 to 49 year olds after football. Alexander Steinforth should now ensure that viewer numbers, merchandising sales and fans on the digital platforms in this country continue to grow – because the NFL and the Super Bowl alone are a billion-dollar business.
Why the NFL is so successful
In the podcast, Philipp Westermeyer and Sven Schmidt calculate that the game for the NFL crown alone should bring in sales of one billion US dollars for the league and its partners. The cheapest ticket costs over US$1,000. Advertising partners pay up to seven million US dollars for a 30-second spot during the game. 150 million fans are likely to watch at the top worldwide. “The close connection between sport and entertainment is what is special about American football,” says Alexander Steinforth. A halftime show with music stars like Eminem and Snoop Dogg offers a low-threshold entry into the sport.
It is true that viewers in the USA are currently getting older on average. In terms of ratings, the NFL is still by far the most successful sports league in the country. “One unique selling point is that you only have 17 games. Every game counts,” says Steinforth, referring to the 82 games played in the NBA season, for example. This shortage makes the NFL the most successful sports league in the world with sales of 15 billion US dollars in just 17 game days and subsequent playoffs.
Germany, an American football fairy tale
Around 20 years ago, attempts to build a European version of the NFL with clubs like Frankfurt Galaxy or Düsseldorf Rhein Fire failed. Now the NFL is trying to increase the popularity of the sport with a live game by the “original” teams. Once a year, the clubs in Munich or Frankfurt should compete for a game.
The premiere of NFL in Germany is already attracting huge interest. “Within the first two days there were 250,000 ticket requests for the game in Munich,” said Alexander Steinfort in the OMR Podcast. Since every fan tries to get three tickets on average, around 750,000 tickets for the game have already been requested. The game should always be lucrative. In the OMR podcast, Philipp Westermeyer and Sven Schmidt calculate that sales of around 50 million US dollars could be achieved with just one game.
Alexander Steinforth says the league isn’t about short-term gains. Instead, the NFL wants to invest in fan growth. Among other things, incentives should be created so that more people in Germany play American football. “Flag football plays a big role there,” says the Germany boss. Flag football is a non-contact variant of the game. However, the players still learn the tactics. Alexander Steinforth says: “My hypotheses on how American football can become even more popular in Germany: bring more people to play and more German faces in the league.”
The NFL is hoping for the Dirk Nowitzki of football
The sport is basically on the right track. This development in Germany is mainly driven by young fans. They ensure strong TV ratings with market shares of up to 80 percent on Super Bowl Sunday. “The way our media partners pack the game and built a community out of a new target group is really great,” says Alexander Steinforth. TV faces like Patrick „Coach“ Esume and Christoph “Icke” Dommisch on ProSieben are extremely popular with football fans. “It shows how important the right people are. If you don’t manage to approach the fans and make it easier for them to get started, it will be very difficult,” says Alexander Steinforth.
From the point of view of the new Germany boss of the NFL, only more German faces are missing on the field. “The big dream would now be a German quarterback. With Dirk Nowitzki, we saw how a star can push a sport,” says Steinforth, referring to the former basketball superstar from Würzburg.
How Alexander Steinforth from the consultancy ended up with the NFL via Rocket Internet, Manchester United and Fortuna Düsseldorf, why he doesn’t see himself as the gravedigger of handball, basketball and ice hockey in Germany and why the German Football League works so closely with the NFL, you can hear in the current OMR podcast.
The topics of the OMR podcast with Alexander Steinfort at a glance:
- On the career of NFL Germany boss Alexander Steinforth (02:35)
- Can the NFL and its affiliates make $1 billion in revenue from the Super Bowl? (13:20)
- How he intends to continue driving the development of American football in Germany (19:59)
- The NFL’s Marketing Strategies (40:30)
- What will business in Germany look like in the future? (54:17)
