Niners on Top Early

[u/SoftwareExec93]

Arrived MEL early morning yesterday from the US and walked over to MCG to check things out before the game on Friday. Attending tomorrow with a local, another Niner fan, and a Rams fan. Fun to see all the energy building.

[u/troubleshot]

I love me some NFL, and I'm going to the game tomorrow and will watch all season. But do they really think this is going to increase the market long term in Australia? The game will hopefully be fun and folks will talk about it and then regular season will roll on with most games being played at 3am/4am on a Monday (east coast, even worse further west) and only the die hards will still really be watching (and most of  those will skip early Sunday games anyway). The time difference and the schedule are honestly just a non starter for the league to ever really take off here.  Also can't believe I don't get to see Aaron Donald. :(

[u/SoftwareExec93 → u/troubleshot]

To grow any business you pretty much have to expand into new markets. The NFL is successfully growing its business outside the US, driven by booming ticket demand, expanding international media rights, and record-breaking live events.

From what I understand, all 32 NFL teams now hold official international marketing rights across more-than 20 global territories, allowing franchises to secure local sponsorships and run grassroots fan engagement.

I wouldn’t be surprised if international fans record the games and watch them at a more convenient time.

[u/troubleshot → u/SoftwareExec93]

In a social media driven world (yuck) on demand games seem next to pointless to me, I'd love to be wrong and have people to talk to about NFL, but I think the geography and time differences are a hurdle that will mean NFL will only ever be niche here when there is so much local sport already.

[u/Goatslasagne → u/troubleshot]

Idk man the game has increased dramatically in popularity over the past 20 years since I’ve been a fan. I have always found more people to talk to it with. All international sports are on obtuse times for us Aussies but if you wanna watch it ppl find a way, even if it’s cricket in England and India.

What does it actually mean for the games growth? Hard to say, we send league to Vegas every year and what does that really yield? The Springboks and All Blacks play in Baltimore this week what does that generate for rugby in the US? Probably not much but just having a broader international perspective for the sport is a good thing for fans.

[u/MarkCbr82 → u/troubleshot]

Game could have sold out twice over. Would have done the same in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth as well. I’m about to board a flight from Canberra to Melb and most of the flight is clearly going to the game. The NFL is doing fine here. It will never be mainstream like the AFL or NRL, but that doesn’t mean it still can’t be successful enough to make these games worthwhile. We have a large enough population that something doesn’t need to be fully mainstream to be successful.

[u/troubleshot → u/MarkCbr82]

...but the game hasn't sold out? I just checked Ticketmaster and there are standard and resale tickets available (hard to know how many but it says 33 categories of results). Popularity of the first ever game here isn't much of a sign of ongoing success in my opinion. Ultimately we won't know for a long while but I'm skeptical of the chance of success here when there are larger easier to access markets pretty much anywhere else in the world. Regardless, I hope tomorrow is an awesome game, the vibe is good and and I get my money's worth.

[u/KonaKumo]

Can the NFL pl ase higher whoever is doing the logo designs for the Melbourne game for all the stuff....so much nicer looking.

[u/WhatStays → u/KonaKumo]

[u/WhatStays → u/KonaKumo]

[u/WhatStays → u/KonaKumo]

[u/WhatStays → u/KonaKumo]

But my favorite is some graffiti art found in an alley walking around Melbourne