As everyone mentioned here, there are a lot of good ideas to help spread football to China that would help build international connections, increase revenue for the league and improve the quality of the sport. While these reader suggestions are sound and in the long term may have a slight impact on viewers and participation in China, I don’t feel that football will ever become a world renowned sport on the scale of soccer and to a lesser extent, basketball. This may be disconcerting to the NFL, GMs, advertisers, apparel brands, etc. as they cannot access the large consumer base in China, yet I feel that this inability to push the sport across different nations is ultimately a positive thing.
I understand the NFL’s desire to increase popularity in China, however from a cultural standpoint I disagree with their motives. Football is an American institute starting from pee-wee football, through high school and college ranks. Most American cities in the South are fixated on football from Friday-Sunday night watching football throughout each season. This has been the case for decades and thus football has become embedded into the fabric of society. It would be a steep task to develop a similar interest based solely on professional football without the connection to football that Americans have. A similar failure is evident in the European Football League (EFL) where money and viewers are low. And, these leagues are made up of mostly American players instead of the nationals that fans may prefer to see.
I think it is wholly acceptable that in today’s world of globalization that countries have their own sports, customs, traditions that are localized and don’t need to be spread thinly around the world. It’s fine that most people are not interested in football in other countries; it has been the most popular sport in America for the past 30 years and that should be what the NFL wants to maintain and grow. Football in America is so much more than the NFL; it is a connection with friends, teachers, coaches, family that has been in our minds and on our TVs since we were young. The interest for the sport isn’t evident in other countries. The NFL should accept that and try to continually improve the sport and experience for people throughout the country.