A student from Michigan University in the United States shares the basic steps in playing American football with middle school students in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province. (Photo/China Daily)
The head of the National Football League, or NFL, in China said he plans to create a system of formalized domestic leagues in the country after seeing a growing interest in the traditionally United States-dominated sport.
Despite China being more associated with its world-topping performances in badminton or table tennis, Richard Young, managing director of NFL China, said he remains excited about the rapid growth of the popularity of American football.
Though the best-run and most lucrative business in U.S. sport, NFL is still at its infant phase in China and not making profit like that in the North American continent yet, but Young still holds faith in the sport's popularity in China.
"But we are really excited about the recent rapid growth in its popularity," said Young.
"For now on, our key objective is growing the fan base, while we are also developing the business through sponsorship, media rights and consumer products. We have a long-term view on China," he said.
President Xi Jinping was gifted a football jersey bearing his name when he visited young players at Lincoln High School during his recent visit to the United States, which Young believes will further push interest in the sport in China while highlighting the president's connection and understanding of the younger generation.
"The next step will be the formalization of domestic leagues," he said. The strong development of digital media in China also provides an opportunity for the local leagues to be covered by the media, and in turn the exposure will make them attractive to sponsors, said Young.
The NFL already has strong cooperation and partnership agreements in place with seven Chinese digital media platforms so far, including Sina Sports, Tencent PPTV, LeTV, iQiyi and QQ Sports, which all air its games. It also has regional free-to-air television partners.
"In the six games aired live in just the first fortnight of this year, for instance, we increased our online viewership to more than 2.4 million unique viewers, and every year we expect to grow our online viewers and engage more deeply with partner platforms," he said.
"As the fan base grows, so do the benefits to our partners," he added. As part of its activities, the NFL has held several promotional activities in recent months, including Super Bowl parties, The NFL on Tour, and a Super Weekend which featured live American football competition and coaching appearances by former NFL players.
An event called The NFL Home Field was also highly successful, said Young, which gave fans at all levels a chance to come and actually play the game. "We register every attendee at these events on WeChat and can follow up by giving them news on their favorite teams, and letting them know when the games will be played.
"Social media connects our offline activities with our online media products." Young said it has been a challenge promoting such a non-Olympic sport, especially in a country with a small fan base.
"Many people want or expect the sport to become popular overnight and that's difficult without a local hero or national team," he said.
