PR Week – UK embraces American Football like never before

Interest in American Football in the UK appears at an all-time high ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl 50, the final showdown of the NFL season pitching the Carolina Panthers against the Denver Broncos in Santa Clara, California.

According to data from social media metrics firm Brandwatch React, the UK is the country tweeting about #SB50 most after the US and its neighbour Canada.

The possibility of an NFL franchise coming to London has also been floated, with outgoing London mayor Boris Johnson saying in October that he hoped this could happen "in the next few years". In recent years, NFL has increasingly featured on the front page of the BBC website, including video packages and highlights, and in the sports pages of national newspapers.

Oliver Barr, a consultant at UK sports PR agency Calacus PR, said that the Wembley games and broadcast coverage had "undoubtedly spearheaded the growth in popularity of the NFL in the UK."

He added: "American culture is becoming ever stronger in the UK, with Halloween now taking US ‘trick or treat’ to epic proportions. And, in the same way, the razzamatazz of the Super Bowl has turned the entire affair into an excuse for a party."

To read the full article, please click HERE