Goodell positive on NFL progress

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By Theo Leggett Business reporter, BBC News Mr Goodell does not want costs to outgrow NFL revenues

The star-spangled NFL caravan has left town for another year, after the cheers of a sell-out crowd rang out over Wembley at the weekend for the American sporting import.

New England Patriots inflicted a 35-7 drubbing on Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third championship-level match to be held in London by the National Football League.

The NFL - one of the globe's largest sporting businesses, estimated to be worth more than $6.5bn (£4bn) - has been trying to widen its appeal to new audiences.

'New markets'

But why does the league continue to leave its own shores to play a top match in the UK?

The answer's simple. It's all about money.

In the US, the NFL is a roaring success, earning huge sums from television deals, sponsorship and merchandising.

How do we continue to grow our game in a way that allows everyone to benefit, in this case the owners and the players Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner

And the league's commissioner Roger Goodell says that the London venture is a move to "grow our audience, to be able to take our game to new markets that will that will allow us to bring more football to more fans".

He adds: "Our audience continues to grow [in the US], our ratings are up 14% in the US, so we are continuing to find new audiences.

"It [going global] encourages demand for the game beyond its current borders, and we continue to grow our audience, because there are a lot of people when they get to experience NFL-style football, they want to experience more."

'Great respect'

But the NFL faces a challenge in the UK. One of the New England Patriots' players, linebacker Jerod Mayo, has noted the grip that the round-ball football, or soccer, has on the British public.

"When people start to watch American Football, they really love it, but it's going to be hard to overtake soccer," the player says.

New England won 35-7 at Wembley on Sunday

But Mr Goodell insists that the NFL has not been making its annual visit to the UK to compete with soccer or even rugby, pointing out that his sport's origins come from rugby.

"So, we have great respect for the other sports," he adds.

But he feels that such is the love of sport in other countries outside the US, particularly in the UK, that fans there should be given the chance to experience the NFL live.

'Grow our game'

However, the power of soccer is not the only challenge that his sport currently faces, with a potential player strike looming in 2011 if a new collective bargaining agreement isn't reached between club owners and players.

"This is a chance for us to make an agreement that works for the players, works for the owners, and allows us to continue to grow our game," says an upbeat Mr Goodell.

"That is what we are looking at - how do we continue to grow our game in a way that allows everyone to benefit, in this case the owners and the players?"

A capacity crowd packed into Wembley for the latest London NFL game

Meanwhile, the player salary cap for each club per season has crept up by $4m to $127m for 2009.

"That is one of the issues that the owners want to address in the collective bargaining process - the dramatic increase in salaries and the salary cap itself, while revenues are not growing as rapidly," says Mr Goodell.

"When your costs grow faster than your revenues, ultimately that becomes a difficult problem.

"When you work out a business model your want to make sure that it encourages investment in that business, it will grow that business, and that everyone will benefit."

'Not immune'

Meanwhile, the NFL is trying to edge its way through a recession that has hit the global economy, including a number of sports.

"We are not immune to what is going on in the general economy," the NFL commissioner says.

But he says that the quality of the NFL product means people are still prepared to spend their cash "and emotions" on the sport, despite the downturn.

"We have been challenged in several of our businesses, we think it is all hopefully short term and that we'll recover, and hopefully recover quickly from it.

"But we understand what our fans and business partners are going through."