As we trundle through January, American football fans in the UK will be busy watching the NFL Playoffs and have a keen eye on Super Bowl LX. The sport has made huge inroads with UK sports fans, considered something of a 51st state in terms of the NFL’s influence. Super Bowl audiences in the UK are now measured in their millions, which is a testament to the growth of the game over here.
Super Bowl LX will take place on Sunday, 8th February at Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, California, so there is an 8-hour time difference. Thankfully, the game is not going out too late, as it is scheduled to start at 3.30 pm local time, meaning the action should get underway about 11.30 in the UK. It can be a long ‘show,’ of course, perhaps over hours, so you can expect a lot of fans to be planning to book the Monday off work.
UK broadcasting has broken viewership records
Specific UK viewing figures for the event can be hard to find due to the fact that several broadcasters, notably Channel 5 and Sky Sports, will be showing the game live, and you also have the NFL Game Pass broadcasting via platforms like DAZN. Not all publish precise figures for viewers, but we do know that ITV boasted about consistently breaking viewership records in previous years. As mentioned, the total UK audience is measured in millions, with some putting the figure at 3.4 million, which is quite remarkable for an event that goes out in the middle of the night.
Will we see the continued rise in viewership this year? It probably depends on a lot of factors. We still don’t know who will be in the game yet, and the odds to win the Super Bowl online point to a wide-open field. Yet, while you could probably argue that some teams are a bigger draw for UK fans than others, the identity of the teams is not just as important as, say, an FA Cup Final or Champions League Final for pulling in fans.
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Bad Bunny takes the reins for the Halftime Show
Of course, you also have the fabled Halftime Show. If you’re a certain age, you’ve probably never heard of Bad Bunny, but the Puerto Rican rapper is considered one of the biggest stars in the world. There’s always pressure on the star of the Halftime Show to deliver something special, so Bad Bunny will want to follow in the footsteps of legends like Prince and Beyoncé, and his UK fans, of which there is a considerable number, will surely tune in.
The NFL has had huge success in penetrating the UK market. We don’t think it will take (association) football’s crown anytime soon, but it has become more than a niche sport. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, fans might have caught the odd highlights show late in the night on Channel 4, but now it has full-blown round-the-clock coverage on Sky. The fact that NFL teams also play in London every year now has also helped. Over in the US, the Super Bowl is a massive cultural event, almost like an annual holiday. You can argue that it is getting like that over here, too, with watch parties becoming more frequent. Pubs and clubs, too, will often show the game on big screens, drawing in fans with American-themed food and drink. Just like the US, the game has become big business in the UK. Super Bowl LX should be no different.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
