Key Takeaways:
-International expansion is now the NFL's top growth strategy, with seven overseas games planned for 2025 and more to come
-Young fans are shifting from full-game viewing to short-form, lifestyle content, forcing leagues to rethink distribution
-To build lasting fan relationships, sports orgs must own the experience by delivering content across platforms and drawing audiences back to their own apps and sites
Back in 2010, when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league's goal is to reach $25 billion in annual revenue by 2027, it seemed ambitious at best and perhaps unrealistic. With good reason, too: at the time, the NFL's revenue amounted to $8 billion. Fast forward to today, and Goodell's goal is in sight; according to Sports Business Journal, total NFL revenue cleared $23 billion in the just-completed fiscal year.
Per SBJ’s report, CFO Christine Dorfler warned team owners that future growth will be more challenging. The NFL can opt out of its 11-year, $111 billion media rights deal in 2029, but until then, it needs to find other revenue engines. And judging by executives' statements and the 2025 schedule, the main engine is expected to be international expansion.
International Games, Streaming Deals, and the Battle for New Fans
In late March, the NFL confirmed it will play seven international games in 2025—up from five last season—with three cities (Madrid, Dublin, and Berlin) hosting for the first time. And there's more to come. The 2026 season will include the first regular season game in Australia; the league has conducted site surveys in Abu Dhabi, Paris, Barcelona, and Rome; and Goodell has said he’d like to see 16 international games per season “within five years.”
But playing games overseas is just one part of the equation. “A lot of our [international] events are sparks to get things going, but they’re not the end goal of a strategy,” said Tim Ellis, The NFL’s Chief Marketing Officer. “It’s not hard for us to sell tickets. There were 65,000 tickets [for our last game] in Munich and we had four million requests. But we want those people in the stadium to be fans. We want to be a top three sport in any market we operate.”
In other words, the challenge is turning first-time game-goers into regularly content-consuming fans—a critical goal overall, but especially with younger demographics, where a change in habits can have a lifelong lasting impact.
Of course, content strategies and innovative distribution will play a huge role in this, which is why the NFL is prioritizing streaming in its media rights strategy. In 2023, the league passed the distribution rights for NFL Game Pass to DAZN in a 10-year deal; Netflix started streaming Christmas Day games last year; and the league is considering selling a separate international games package to a global streamer.
How Young Fans Are Transforming Sports Consumption
While distributing content primarily via global streamers is the smart play for sports leagues focused on international growth, they also must be mindful of changing consumption habits. That's especially true when it comes to younger generations.
A recent report by research firm YouGov, based on a survey of over 19,000 sports fans in 18 markets worldwide, reveals that the way young fans consume sports is changing dramatically:
-Only 22% of 18-24-year-olds watch live sports content on video streaming services
-18-24-year-olds prefer consuming clips or highlights over watching live games in their entirety
-41% of 25-34 year-olds are interested in watching lifestyle-focused sports content, compared to 30% of 45-54 year-olds and 16% of those aged 55+
Given the trajectory of media behaviour, these trends are unlikely to change. “We can argue whether it’s the shortened attention spans of a younger audience, but the reality is their viewing patterns are different, and their interest level and what they’re interested in are different,” said Greg Maffei, the former CEO of Liberty Media, which owns Formula 1. “You have to find them where they are in ways that meet their needs.”
When Fan Engagement Happens Elsewhere
Most young sports fans are getting their needs met on platforms that leagues and teams don’t own. In other words, fan journeys are increasingly fragmented across environments where sports organizations have little control over the experience or access to valuable first-party data. Over time, this fragmentation will cost leagues both in engagement and in direct and indirect monetization opportunities.
To win the war for fans’ attention, sports organizations must deliver consistent, branded experiences wherever these fans engage with their content—from social media and search engines to over-the-top (OTT) services—and capitalize on each interaction. That means building pathways that will gradually guide fans back to their owned & operated platforms, like apps or websites, where leagues and teams can turn reach into results.
Other sectors of the industry already employ this strategy with great success. Digital soccer platform OneFootball, for instance, reports that capturing fans’ attention with short-form content has helped increase pay-per-view purchases of live matches. “In-game clips drive conversions to our OTT offering,” said Maurits Schön, OneFootball's Chief Operating Officer. “Between 40% and 50% of purchases are made during the match.”
Funneling fans to your O&O requires the right tool: AI-powered content creation and distribution technology that maximizes each moment's potential, automates the production of diverse content formats, and distributes them instantly across multiple channels. As leagues and clubs look to become a global brand, creating and distributing content at this speed and scale will become the only way to turn fleeting fan interactions into lasting relationships—and secure their next wave of growth.
