NFL chief gives insight into Tottenham Hotspur brand

In 2019, Spurs opened their door to NFL games, and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has since become very popular regarding the increased popularity of American Football in the UK.

When the Chicago Bears face the Jacksonville Jaguars at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon, 14:30 BST, in the showdown between two number one pick quarterbacks, it will be the 10th NFL game to have been played at the stadium. The game will be live on Sky Sports NFL in the UK.

Just last week, the Minnesota Vikings beat the New York Jets in front of over 60,000 spectators at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which resulted in head coach Robert Saleh being relieved of his duties.

When discoursing the collaboration between Tottenham Hotspur and the NFL, Henry Hodgson, there NFL chief, explained how Spurs are looking to improve its brand and help make the American sport even more popular in the UK.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Hodgson said: "We’re looking to create that mini Super Bowl in London whenever we play here. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium helps us do that. The vision came together for this to be a multi-purpose stadium for Tottenham Hotspur primarily, but also for the NFL.

To have our field here, to have our locker rooms here, to have a base here, and because of that it means we do all these things like flag programmes and our games.

We have everything we need for it to be super successful and it's testament to the vision. It was really the understanding that, as we look to expand what we're doing in the UK from playing London Games maybe once a year, to thinking how we really put roots down into this.

One of the things we wanted to do is make sure we have a stadium that had everything we wanted and that was a great venue for us to play NFL games in, but this is just now a different level and the partnership we have had with Spurs has been incredible."

"Spurs have been on board since day one," said Hodgson. "It was a shared vision for Tottenham to create this incredible facility that could be shared by the NFL.

I think through the process there have been some learning experiences on both sides, but it's a true partnership and there are lots of pieces to it as we look to grow our brand and they equally look to grow the Tottenham brand."

Afia Law, NFL head of international flag football development added: "We had the Vikings and the Jets playing on this field yesterday. That was the warm-up game. Now we have girls from five countries in Europe playing flag football here at Tottenham. This is the main event,"

Law went onto say: "It does feel like home. We're here every year. We're not just playing NFL games here, we're doing things like international flag football tournaments. It's something that is so special.
It's not just about the NFL game anymore, we have programmes giving young people the opportunity to play our game and to play at Tottenham. It is a chance to see the young talent around the world and it's incredible."

Whilst this is good for the Tottenham Hotspur brand, it is important that the club do remember what the priority is. You can completely understand why fans say that the club do not care about on field success, as long as they are an off field success. Whilst it is important to be well ran, it needs to be with an end goal of success on the pitch.