Why the NFL Failed in Europe ❌
Plus Lebron in new collab with Liverpool, Fabrizio Romano fools the internet and Messi blocked by Instagram.
Welcome to Athletic Interest.
What is the biggest sport in the world?
Many would argue that it’s football. While that might be an undisputable truth in many countries, there is one notable exception.
In the U.S. it’s American Football that rules supreme.
In 2022, NFL games accounted for 82 of the 100 most-watched TV broadcasts in the U.S.
Considering the dominance of the NFL in the U.S. it’s no surprise that the league has decided to branch out to other countries in an attempt to spread the gospel of American Football.
This has included the very successful staging of several NFL games in the key European cities of London and Munich.
The NFL has a dream of conquering Europe, and this isn’t the first time.
Between 1991 and 2007, the NFL ran an international league that included several teams in Europe.
The goal was to convert millions of European fans to the NFL by building local teams filled with local talent.
Going by the fact that most of you have probably never heard of this league, it will be no surprise that it ultimately failed.
With the NFL considering European-based franchises once again, it might be wise to understand how and why they previously failed.
Luckily, we have created a video that details the downfall of the NFL in Europe, a series of events that involves Donald Trump and an Elephant.
🍎 Sports Business Bites
🏈 If you need another illustration of the incredible size of the NFL just consider these three incredible stats about the upcoming Super Bowl:
$1.1 billion worth of bets are set to be placed at this year’s event.
It will cost two people nearly $20k to attend.
A 30-second TV ad costs around $7 million.
The billion dollars worth of bets is set to become the most ever recorded for a Super Bowl, although most of this upswing is probably just Drake betting on the losing side.
And that’s just the legal bets. Some reports claim that the previous Super Bowl saw a whopping $7.6 billion bet across legal and illegal bets. (Some context for the Europeans: Sports betting remains illegal in several U.S. states but is still widely conducted online and via underground venues.)
Gamblers aren’t the only ones spending big for the Super Bowl.
Two tickets to see the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs, plus airfare, a hotel, two hot dogs, and some beers, will come to an average price of nearly $18,100.
For context, that is pretty much the same amount as it cost one person to travel to Qatar for two entire weeks to watch their country in the World Cup (including the final.)
📸 Talking of the World Cup. Did you know that Lionel Messi’s Instagram account was actually blocked after he led his side to victory against France?
So, why would Instagram block one of the biggest accounts on the platform?
Well, it turns out that, in the days after lifting the trophy, Messi received more than one million messages from fans looking to congratulate him.
Instagram was unable to handle this huge influx of messages and placed the account on a temporary block which resolved itself within a few days.
Messi also revealed that he doesn’t employ anyone to manage his social media. Every post, caption, and comment is straight from the man himself.
This is a rare thing, especially among footballers. Many agents employ social media teams for their stars, which is why you may have noticed players posting pretty much the same exact thing as their teammates after a match.
Or in some cases, the same thing as their rivals…🫢
For what it’s worth, Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly has a social media team.
⚽️ How many of you have played Football Manager or FIFA and thought, ‘This is easy, I could be a manager.’
Well, one Football Manager enthusiast had that exact thought a few years ago, and now he is the coach of a Ligue 1 side that just held Messi’s PSG to a 1-1 draw.
Will Still, an British and Belgian joint citizen, decided to get into coaching at the age of 17 after playing Football Manager.
Last year, Still landed the assistant manager role at French top-tier side Reims alongside manager Óscar García.
When García was sacked late last year, Still remained as the interim manager, before being promoted to the full-time job after a string of impressive results.
The 30-year-old has now gone on a 13-match unbeaten streak, which includes last week’s draw with PSG.
What makes this entire story even more surprising is the fact that Reims has to pay a $27k fine every time he sits in the dugout. The chaos surrounding his promotion to manager didn’t leave Still enough time to obtain his UEFA Pro License, the minimum requirement for coaches in Ligue 1.
👕 Liverpool has just given Lebron his own custom jersey!
Lebron was spotted in this custom shirt, which includes the logos of Liverpool and his own brand, before a recent Lakers game. He also sported a pair of special LiverpoolxNike sneakers which have not been released yet.
During the actual game, he changed into his normal Lakers jersey but added a different pair of red special edition Nike sneakers which are also a tribute to Liverpool.
All of the exclusive merch that Lebron teased during the game will form part of a new collaboration between Nike, Lebron, and Liverpool.
This was always the plan when Lebron purchased part of Liverpool in 2011. He knew that a combination of his star power, Nike’s worldwide marketing and distribution, and Liverpool’s legendary brand would make for the ultimate collaboration. One that should see huge benefits for each of the parties
Anyone looking to buy some of the LebronXLiverpool shoes will need to hand over around $210 per pair.
🎥 The January transfer market is usually quite boring. The big deals are put off until the summer and most of the transfers are just loan moves or free agents.
But not this year. While Chelsea’s big spending created most of the entertainment, we decided to round up some of our favourite social media moments from the last month’s transfer business.
First off, we have this absolutely brilliant Shrek-inspired video that Burnley released to announce the signing of Lyle Foster.
To think that some clubs just post a link to a press release and some photos.
😬 Talking of announcement videos, Adidas has to win the award for the most elaborate video of January.
Part way through deadline day, Adidas team members accidentally went live on Instagram and were heard discussing a big deal set to be announced in a few hours.
The people in the audio were even shocked that Fabrizio Romano had not tweeted a ‘Here We Go’ already.
The leak started to spread online, with people speculating on the transfer and questioning Fabrizio Romano over whether he was missing something big.
A few hours later, Fabrizio Romano responded by tweeting an exclusive ‘Here We Go’ for the new Adidas Predator boots. He even included #missnothing in his post indicating that the entire thing has been a hoax from Adidas to generate hype around the launch of the new boots.
The tactic seems to have worked, with Romano’s post receiving around 3.5 million views.
Not that everyone was impressed with the deception: