An NFL franchise in London could be worth more than £100m a year to the UK economy, according to a new report.
Published by the accountant Deloitte and produced in cooperation with the NFL, the report claimed a London-hosted team could earn the UK £102m every season. It said the two NFL games at Wembley in 2013 had earned the capital an estimated £32m, while a four-game international series would increase that to £58m. The recent match between the Atlanta Falcons and the Detroit Lions was the 10th NFL game to be staged in London.
The report was launched by Sajid Javid, secretary of state for culture, media and sport, and followed the chancellor George Osborne’s pledge of government support for a Wembley-based franchise, after his meeting with the NFL’s Mike Waller.
The franchise would mean at least eight games a season played at Wembley. Of the £102m a franchise may be worth, Deloitte’s report said £68m would come from spectator spending, £24m from teams, £5m from NFL operations, £4m from sponsors and £1m from the media.
The report, though, questioned the economic sense of staging a Super Bowl at Wembley, highlighting “consideration of the UK market’s ability to maximise the commercial impact of the Super Bowl; logistical issues such as kick-off time and additional costs compared with a US-hosted Super Bowl; and the potential reaction from the core NFL market”.
Speaking after his meeting with Waller, Osborne said: “One of London’s massive strengths is its sporting prowess, its great football teams. This is primarily a decision for the owners of the clubs and the NFL organisation but I’ve said to the NFL that anything the government can do to make this happen we will do because I think it would be a huge boost to London.
“There are 32 teams in America – and one of them could be a London team. That’s a serious prospect. It’s not going to happen overnight but over the next few years. I just think it will cement London as a global sporting capital as well as a global financial and business and cultural capital.”
