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Speaker 1: dot up work dot com. Welcome to NFL Explaining. I'm like, yeam,
Speaker 1: she's a D Kikawalla. Hi. Everyone who is going international
Speaker 1: with us today? A D D All right, we are
Speaker 1: We're definitely hitting our group here. It's episode number six.
Speaker 1: Fans all over the world, and I'm not saying that
Speaker 1: just to say, hey, we've got fans listening all over
Speaker 1: the world. There's actually metrics that tracked this stuff, and
Speaker 1: apparently we're big in London. I think my next time
Speaker 1: going to the airport, I'm going to say international and
Speaker 1: book that trip out there. So seriously, thank you so
Speaker 1: much to everyone who's been listening. And A d D.
Speaker 1: I actually got a message from Page in Australia who
Speaker 1: loves the show. Hit me up also a Mets fan
Speaker 1: in Australia. That's what I said, and she gave me
Speaker 1: the great story to why that is, which I won't
Speaker 1: board people with. But a shout out to our international
Speaker 1: fans because today we are breaking down the history of
Speaker 1: NFL's international matchups and most fans probably a little familiar
Speaker 1: with the London series. A d D. I know you
Speaker 1: are for a lot of reasons, especially because you've been
Speaker 1: to some of those games. But we've got jetson Falcons
Speaker 1: coming up this week, we got Dolphins Jags in a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, both of those games Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Speaker 1: I think about those matchups Jets and Falcons, by the way,
Speaker 1: playing in their third international matchups, the Dolphins playing in
Speaker 1: their six international game, and the Jags playing in their
Speaker 1: eighth international game. A dit you've covered these matchups. The
Speaker 1: first initial memory that comes with a trip overseas is
Speaker 1: what just how incredibly amazing the fans are. So I
Speaker 1: was at Wembley in two thousand thirteen, I believe, for
Speaker 1: Viking Steelers, and I was at Twickenham Stadium in two
Speaker 1: thousand seventeen for Vikings Browns, and it's like being at
Speaker 1: I don't know if I should call it real football.
Speaker 1: We have international listeners. I should probably call it real football.
Speaker 1: But it's like being at a real football game, meaning
Speaker 1: a soccer game and not an American football game, because
Speaker 1: the noise is just through the roof the entire game.
Speaker 1: It's consistent. Remember the first game at Wembley there was
Speaker 1: the wave. I thought that was amazing, the tailgating, which
Speaker 1: is unusual for sporting events overseas. I could just keep going,
Speaker 1: but we don't want forty five minutes of me reminiscing
Speaker 1: about going to London. A d D painting the picture
Speaker 1: for us Demani Leach, who's the CEO of NFL International.
Speaker 1: He's going to be with us a little bit later,
Speaker 1: but super excited Chargers running back Austin Neckler is also
Speaker 1: going to be with us on the show. All right,
Speaker 1: So break this down for me, because there's a lot
Speaker 1: of information on these international games, and I think instead
Speaker 1: of us just sort of teaching a school class lesson,
Speaker 1: we try to have a little bit of fun with us.
Speaker 1: Works for me, alright. So NFL regular season or exhibition games,
Speaker 1: we were thinking about this since nineteen fifty and the
Speaker 1: amount of teams and really more specifically the countries the
Speaker 1: games are played in. And indeed you made references some
Speaker 1: of the matchups that you have seen two of them overseas.
Speaker 1: But can you name a couple of the countries and
Speaker 1: how many countries do you think the NFL has played
Speaker 1: overseas since nineteen fifty. I know Canada. I know Japan
Speaker 1: because we just told the t D story. I know
Speaker 1: England because I've been there. Uh. I know Ireland because
Speaker 1: of the late Steelers owner Dan Rooney having played there. Um.
Speaker 1: I know Australia because Neil Gilman in our goal Post
Speaker 1: episode told us that he had to send goal post
Speaker 1: to Australia. M M, I know Mexico because those games
Speaker 1: at Estata Stecca are just absurdly ridiculously. I'm counting on
Speaker 1: my fingers right now, I'm doing the same. I'm up
Speaker 1: to six. Who am I missing? Because I feel like
Speaker 1: it's more than six, But I'm not really sure. You've
Speaker 1: done a remarkable job. So nine is the total? So
Speaker 1: you only missed out on three? Who did I miss? Sweden?
Speaker 1: Which I think is sort of a hard one to get,
Speaker 1: so I'm not surprised, like that might be the more
Speaker 1: difficult one. Germany is one that you did not. I
Speaker 1: should have had Germany? Did I not have Germany? And
Speaker 1: how about Spain? I'd love to cover a game in Spain. Yeah, alright, alright,
Speaker 1: I got I have one for you. Then you said
Speaker 1: the first international game was in nineteen fifty. That, of course,
Speaker 1: was the Giants playing the Ottawa rough Riders in Canada,
Speaker 1: and the NFL did go to Canada quite a bit
Speaker 1: in that era, from nineteen fifty to nineteen sixty nine.
Speaker 1: I think there were ten NFL games played in Canada.
Speaker 1: But how many total international exhibition games has the NFL
Speaker 1: played overseas since that first Giants Rough Riders game in
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty. Wow. So the exhibition aspect of the question
Speaker 1: makes it more difficult for me, although I don't really
Speaker 1: even know the answer even if it's regular season or exhibition,
Speaker 1: but I would just imagine that there was more, especially
Speaker 1: early on because nowadays and you just you talked about
Speaker 1: your personal experiences, Like I think about how regular it
Speaker 1: is to see regular hedging, your hedging, your hedging, which
Speaker 1: is not necessarily a great answer because it's not specific.
Speaker 1: That's a great way to guess, Like this is the
Speaker 1: game that I play with my six year old Mike
Speaker 1: when I'm guessing a number and you have to say
Speaker 1: higher or lower. So if your guest is fifty, higher, Mike. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's like the prices right when you were sick as
Speaker 1: a school kid, and you whatever the game. You bet
Speaker 1: a dollar, you wager a dollar, and that's your guest.
Speaker 1: If it's higher, I'll go sixty, then lower, Um, all right, fifty,
Speaker 1: I'll go one day. Yes, thinking there have been fifty
Speaker 1: nine international exhibition games played since nineteen fifty. You know
Speaker 1: the first time that the NFL played in Mexico City
Speaker 1: probably before I was born, which was it was indeed
Speaker 1: before you were born in nineteen seventy eight. Okay, so
Speaker 1: I just missed out. I mean surely you can recall
Speaker 1: in your head, especially those Cowboys games fairly recently at
Speaker 1: a stadio a Stecca. Yeah, the drama, just how cool
Speaker 1: the environment is, and to be fair, a lot of
Speaker 1: these international games they bring the flare. You mentioned some
Speaker 1: of your personal experience with the wave and the routs
Speaker 1: and just the chanting and how about this, because you've
Speaker 1: experienced the London deal, so I feel like you might
Speaker 1: actually know the answer to it. The first NFL exhibition
Speaker 1: game played in London? Do you know what year that was?
Speaker 1: Do you think the Vikings played in the first exhibition games?
Speaker 1: They did? Well done? I feel like that might have
Speaker 1: been It's just a shot in the dark. I was like,
Speaker 1: come on, now, maybe there's got to be something there. Okay,
Speaker 1: so I know one of the teams, the Vikings. Now
Speaker 1: I need to know the other team, and I need
Speaker 1: to know the year after you were born or before
Speaker 1: you were born. Shortly after three well done, well done.
Speaker 1: I remember that game very well. Just trying to figure
Speaker 1: out how to work the I was gonna say TV remote,
Speaker 1: but at eighty three. We didn't actually had to stand up.
Speaker 1: I was barely making my way waddling to the television.
Speaker 1: Do you wattle it too? I don't know how that works,
Speaker 1: but anyway, Uh, the Vikings Cardinals the St. Louis Cardinals,
Speaker 1: the matchup nineteen eighty three. Also, goalposts had to be
Speaker 1: shipped to London. Look, if you missed the goal post episode,
Speaker 1: go back check it out. Very very informative and a
Speaker 1: ton of fun for us to do. That show. So
Speaker 1: not bad nineteen eighty three, that so well done. Add
Speaker 1: you know, I do recall this though. The reason that
Speaker 1: London pushed to have a game was because early in
Speaker 1: the eighties, and it may have been nineteen eighty two,
Speaker 1: we can check really quickly. I think it was indeed
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two, four and a half million citizens of
Speaker 1: Great Britain had stayed up into the wee hours of
Speaker 1: the morning watching the Super Bowl, and because that Super
Speaker 1: Bowl had drawn such insane fervor and ratings and fandom,
Speaker 1: London promoters were like, hey, hey, bring us a game,
Speaker 1: because we think there's an appetite for this, and they
Speaker 1: were right about that. Look, I think a lot of
Speaker 1: it goes back to nineteen eighty six, not only were
Speaker 1: the Mets World Series champs, shout out to Page once again,
Speaker 1: It's been a while since we could celebrate like that,
Speaker 1: but eighty six the Bears took on the Cowboys, and
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways, this is like a critical
Speaker 1: moment for the NFL because the Bears would Dick company.
Speaker 1: They were the reigning Super Bowl champ. So you have
Speaker 1: guys like Walter Peyton, Tony Dorsett, Jim McMahon, ed to
Speaker 1: Tall Jones, and of course this is just awesome. To
Speaker 1: see some of the video surrounding this game was really cool.
Speaker 1: But to also just see William the Refrigerator Perry in
Speaker 1: this football game was just spectacular. All the teams together,
Speaker 1: they didn't get as much publicity as William Perry did
Speaker 1: himself this past week in London. Dick put two plays
Speaker 1: in for him earlier this week. Let's see what they
Speaker 1: were on Perry Mike. Honestly, I don't know why we
Speaker 1: don't do that more, especially when we see teams in
Speaker 1: this fourth and one situation, bring in your biggest guy
Speaker 1: in haven't be your ball carrier. The refrigerator ain't small.
Speaker 1: I can tell you that just I mean, you could
Speaker 1: just hear it all right. So then it was after
Speaker 1: that game if that was kind of the turning point
Speaker 1: where you had the superstars and there was clearly a
Speaker 1: lot of excitement. It was after that I know that
Speaker 1: the NFL went to Mexico, went to Japan, went to
Speaker 1: the country I forgot earlier, Germany, Ireland, and as I mentioned,
Speaker 1: I keep coming back to this just because it's so
Speaker 1: exciting to see this many people. A stadio a Stecca
Speaker 1: has hosted the two largest crowds to watch an NFL
Speaker 1: game ever anywhere, and in it was the Cowboys Oilers
Speaker 1: more than one hundred and twelve thousand people. In it
Speaker 1: was the Cowboys Patriots, and that was more than a
Speaker 1: hundred and six thousand people. But we've been talking about
Speaker 1: exhibition games, so let's move on to the games that
Speaker 1: actually counted, the games that matter that the NFL has
Speaker 1: played overseas. One guess how many regular season games do
Speaker 1: you think that the NFL has played outside America since
Speaker 1: two thousand five. I would imagine it's a fairly significant
Speaker 1: total just for the amount of games over the last
Speaker 1: few years that we have seen internationally, especially in London.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna say hovering probably around that thirty marks
Speaker 1: and so oh five, very very good, Mike, thirty eight,
Speaker 1: and very good of you to bring up London, because
Speaker 1: there have actually been twenty eight of those thirty eight
Speaker 1: regular season games outside the United States played in London,
Speaker 1: and you know the stadium where most of those games
Speaker 1: in London have been played, to lay up Wembley, I'm
Speaker 1: by far. I just and you even said it like
Speaker 1: you've already you've covered two of those matchups. I feel
Speaker 1: like that is de facto NFL London, just based off
Speaker 1: of the sheer numbers. Yes and no, no demerits to Twickenham,
Speaker 1: which was a great host to me in two thousand seventeen,
Speaker 1: but covering a game at Wembley, I mean the hallowed grounds,
Speaker 1: just the whole atmosphere, the energy, everything about it really, really,
Speaker 1: really truly one of my favorite NFL experiences ever. So
Speaker 1: let's hit the appetite for games in London starting in
Speaker 1: two thousand seven, so we said, since two thousand and five,
Speaker 1: there have been obviously thirty eight games that have counted
Speaker 1: thirty eight regular season games played overseas since two thousand
Speaker 1: and seven, twenty eight of those games have been played
Speaker 1: in London, and the first was the Giants beating the
Speaker 1: Dolphins at Wembley and the Giants had a star pass
Speaker 1: rusher who is a friend of mine now that I
Speaker 1: once covered O C. Human Eura who was actually born
Speaker 1: in London playing in that game, and that game, Mike
Speaker 1: sold out in less than ninety minutes. That's how hungry
Speaker 1: people in London were to see an NFL game that
Speaker 1: counted in person, and selling tickets in London has not
Speaker 1: been an issue since. Again, the appetite for games overseas
Speaker 1: is tremendous, so we should probably explain like why the
Speaker 1: Packers haven't played a regular season game in London ever,
Speaker 1: they're the only team that hasn't played there, they're the
Speaker 1: only publicly owned team, but some of the criteria, once again,
Speaker 1: they just haven't met. And the fact that their stadium
Speaker 1: is sold out through the next couple of season's next
Speaker 1: three seasons is the reason why well in green Bay
Speaker 1: is also the NFL smallest city, the smallest market, and
Speaker 1: taking one home game away from green Bay could cost
Speaker 1: that city cost that market about fifteen million dollars, so
Speaker 1: that is pretty significant. It is, and the NFL does
Speaker 1: compensate teams that do go and play overseas, But it
Speaker 1: would be a huge hit to the Green Bay Packers,
Speaker 1: who will eventually though they will be overseas relatively soon
Speaker 1: in the next few years, to get an opportunity to
Speaker 1: showcase some of the best talent and a storied franchise
Speaker 1: to some fans that don't get to watch here in
Speaker 1: the States. I do want to circle back though notable
Speaker 1: Hall of famers to play in exhibition games. Just the
Speaker 1: list is pretty spectacular. I'll just highlight a couple of
Speaker 1: those names, but Joe Montana, Damn Marino, John l Way,
Speaker 1: Jerry Rice a good buddy mine, and Ronnie a lot
Speaker 1: I mean, once again, Michael Irvin, one of our colleagues
Speaker 1: at NFL Network. So it is a who's who that
Speaker 1: have decided to showcase themselves in front of a new
Speaker 1: audience and just get fans engaged overseas and over time
Speaker 1: deity that has sort of changed the complexion and the
Speaker 1: knowledge base of fans that are watching overseas. Okay, I've
Speaker 1: got a tribute question for you. Though you just listed
Speaker 1: this fancy group of NFL players, do you know which
Speaker 1: quarterback actually leads all quarterbacks with wins in international games,
Speaker 1: So I think it's not a Hall of Famer. Did
Speaker 1: I give that away in the way I asked them? No?
Speaker 1: Well sort of. But I'm just thinking strategically, right because
Speaker 1: there's certain teams that just play more international games, and
Speaker 1: I know the Jags, just from just doing some of
Speaker 1: the research, have played the most games. So I think
Speaker 1: it's someone in that organization just purely guessing on more opportunities.
Speaker 1: That is actually very true. The Jaguars have played seven
Speaker 1: games in London, that of course leads all NFL teams,
Speaker 1: and their quarterback for five of those seven games was
Speaker 1: play portals and he won three. That was very good
Speaker 1: logic right now. I appreciate that right there. If you
Speaker 1: paid me a million bucks now to get play portals, damn,
Speaker 1: that wasn't gonna happen. But what did the players tell
Speaker 1: you about their time overseason some of these games? You
Speaker 1: know what's so interesting because there's been an arc. In
Speaker 1: the beginning, it felt for some as if this was,
Speaker 1: you know, a trip. It was a really cool trip
Speaker 1: for a week and you got to sightsee a little
Speaker 1: bit and enjoy where you were. And then for some
Speaker 1: it was very much a business trip. I'm referring to
Speaker 1: that first game. The Vikings flew out essentially for the
Speaker 1: entire week before the game, whereas the Steelers came out
Speaker 1: on Friday morning before the Sunday kickoff. I know now
Speaker 1: that's been standardized a little bit and teams are indeed
Speaker 1: treating it more like a business trip. It was probably
Speaker 1: different during exhibition season. There used to be a time
Speaker 1: when NFL teams would go overseas to play exhibition games,
Speaker 1: pre season games, games that didn't necessarily count in the standings.
Speaker 1: And you know, one of our colleagues, have you ever
Speaker 1: heard the story, Mike of T D playing an exhibition
Speaker 1: game in Tokyo? Arrell Davis, I've heard bits and pieces
Speaker 1: of it. Okay, So of course you know t D
Speaker 1: one of the nicest, nicest, nicest humans that we work with.
Speaker 1: He is now a Hall of Famer in the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame running back for the Broncos forever well, he
Speaker 1: was a sixth round pick. He wasn't necessarily a guy
Speaker 1: than anybody expected a lot out of. He was having
Speaker 1: a lot of trouble getting reps, getting Mike Shanahan to
Speaker 1: notice him, and in the Broncos went overseas to Tokyo,
Speaker 1: Japan to play an exhibition game, and t D actually
Speaker 1: tried to quit the team the week before the game.
Speaker 1: He was in Japan and he called the concierge to
Speaker 1: try to get him a flight back to America, but
Speaker 1: because he can speak Japanese, the flight never got booked
Speaker 1: and he ended up playing in the game, making the
Speaker 1: amazing special teams tackle. He was so dominating that he
Speaker 1: made the Bronco's final roster and now he's a Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer. Can you imagine almost stepping away and all
Speaker 1: it takes. It just this one play and the play,
Speaker 1: you know, coming on special teams, and all of a
Speaker 1: sudden you get some reps, you know, to grab the
Speaker 1: attention of a couple of coaches and be ready to
Speaker 1: rock and roll. Can and nowadays because someone will say, well,
Speaker 1: why are you calling the concierge, Like there wasn't I
Speaker 1: guess there was the Internet at that point in but
Speaker 1: it wasn't what it is. First of all, it was
Speaker 1: like dial up modems, yeah, punching up Expedia, like let
Speaker 1: me get Travelocity right here, or that it probably shouldn't
Speaker 1: say any sort of travel site because we don't have
Speaker 1: a deal with any of them just yet. But hey,
Speaker 1: if anybody wants to sponsor us, to get on board,
Speaker 1: NFL explained, But there wasn't like you know, your your iPhone,
Speaker 1: you take it out and you can literally book travel
Speaker 1: like that just didn't exist. You her like the crackling
Speaker 1: noise of the dial up modem and a concier that
Speaker 1: didn't speak English and the rest is history. T D
Speaker 1: with an opportunity to to make his mark. It really
Speaker 1: is amazing. Well indeed, coming up any more international football conversation. Plus,
Speaker 1: we'll talk to a man who's in charge of charting
Speaker 1: the future of the NFL international presence and I am
Speaker 1: just so jacked up for this. Charges running back Bust
Speaker 1: Neckler will tell us what his international game experiences were
Speaker 1: like in London and Mexico. That's still become on. NFL explains,
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Speaker 1: five G Ultra wide band available in select areas. Most
Speaker 1: reliable based on rankings from the Root Metrics US ROOTS
Speaker 1: Score report dated first half excluding c ban and not
Speaker 1: specific to five G networks. Your results may vary. Not
Speaker 1: an endorsement speed comparison to media and varizing four G
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Speaker 1: Learn more at www dot up work dot Com. Rivers
Speaker 1: in the shotgun at jus right, they show blitz and
Speaker 1: now Rivers settles in with eleven on the play plot
Speaker 1: and they bring the extra man out. Eckler right sideline.
Speaker 1: He's got a thirst. Five thirty puts in side twenty.
Speaker 1: Still want to speak, really a love it well, the
Speaker 1: London experience sounding very cool, Frost and Eckler, who joints
Speaker 1: us here on the NFL Explain podcast, Austin can't thank
Speaker 1: you enough for your time. We'll get to be the
Speaker 1: Mexico City game in just a minute. But your Chargers
Speaker 1: beat the Titans in London. Tell me what stands out
Speaker 1: from that game you played back. Yeah, well, first of all,
Speaker 1: I'd like to say thanks for having me on. Appreciate
Speaker 1: the opportunity. That was my first international game. I was
Speaker 1: playing Wembley Stadium, and I remember just the time change.
Speaker 1: The time change, man, that was the big hurl that
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to prepare for going into the week.
Speaker 1: And uh yeah, just getting the opportunity to go somewhere
Speaker 1: out That was my first time outside of the country too,
Speaker 1: And so there's all they just leading on factors as
Speaker 1: far as hey, this is how the schedule is gonna be.
Speaker 1: Here's how it's gonna work. You guys gotta get new
Speaker 1: outlet plug ins because they have a different type of
Speaker 1: outlet there. So all these things that are just like
Speaker 1: adding up, like okay, like I'm getting, you know, getting silent.
Speaker 1: Let's go finally get out to the stadium, and then
Speaker 1: just the unconditional love there of the actually like it
Speaker 1: was sold out stadium. We were sold out for an
Speaker 1: NFL game. I felt like we were back in the US.
Speaker 1: As far as the energy, um, it was definitely different
Speaker 1: because it's just like positive energy the whole time. Usually
Speaker 1: it's like a home in a way, but it was
Speaker 1: just cheered basically the whole time. So that was pretty special.
Speaker 1: Definitely a memory that I'll have for the rest of
Speaker 1: my life. That's awesome. I I gotta ask you about Wembley,
Speaker 1: but you just mentioned the time difference, which has me
Speaker 1: thinking that the preparation for a game like this is
Speaker 1: so different physically. And I know you just followed you
Speaker 1: on Instagram and social media. You don't really miss too
Speaker 1: many workouts and you schedule things appropriately. How different was
Speaker 1: the setup physically for you because of the longer flight
Speaker 1: and the conditions that you made reference to. It was
Speaker 1: definitely tough. Definitely tough just going out there. I think
Speaker 1: we went out there and maybe two days earlier, so
Speaker 1: we got there. I remember we were supposed to sleep
Speaker 1: on the plane ride over and then run as soon
Speaker 1: as we got there. It was the start of the day,
Speaker 1: right well, hard to sleep and get a full good
Speaker 1: rest on the on a plane ride then wake up.
Speaker 1: We have to practice how to remembers Dragon like, man,
Speaker 1: this is hitting me like a truck, and just trying
Speaker 1: to just continue to push through. And we knew it
Speaker 1: was a short window of time, so that's why I
Speaker 1: was just saying, okay, e mentually, I can get through this.
Speaker 1: I can get through this. It's just a couple of days.
Speaker 1: But it's really just one of those things where you know,
Speaker 1: we know both teams are tired, we're all professionals here,
Speaker 1: and so you know we still have a job to do.
Speaker 1: You also just sort of dropped in. You're used to
Speaker 1: the home in a way crowd Wembley, a packed stadium,
Speaker 1: a lot of eyeballs and fans that are cheering. Is
Speaker 1: there anything that it does compared to that you've experienced.
Speaker 1: One particular thing that actually stands out before we go
Speaker 1: into that. It's kind of funny, but like every time
Speaker 1: we kicked the ball, it was like the loudest year.
Speaker 1: That's great. Just obviously you know, real football, but real football,
Speaker 1: you know he's played. It is a more common sport
Speaker 1: there than actually like American football, we call it over here,
Speaker 1: we call it soccer, right, whatever you wanna call it.
Speaker 1: So I thought that was kind of funny, just the
Speaker 1: reference to just kicking the ball, just from an interaction
Speaker 1: standpoint with some of the locals. Did you get to
Speaker 1: interact it you? Is it just strictly a business trip
Speaker 1: and you don't really get to do sight seeing and
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. How does that play out? I
Speaker 1: was educated. I went out to a restaurant and I
Speaker 1: was gonna I was gonna tip my waitress, and there's
Speaker 1: there's no tips, like you don't take tips. And then
Speaker 1: wherever I was at, I was like, all right, I
Speaker 1: guess they didn't take tips at this restaurant. So that
Speaker 1: was something that was kind of just as far as
Speaker 1: my adventure out that was a little different. But as
Speaker 1: far as like sightseeing that we really didn't really have
Speaker 1: enough time to really go sight see or a transportation
Speaker 1: and then also I guess the driving on the opposite
Speaker 1: side of the road. Then what I'm used to right
Speaker 1: kind of trip me out. I brought up Wembley. I'm
Speaker 1: just curious because the Mexico situation at the time, difference
Speaker 1: isn't obviously as trashic. How did those two matchups compare? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so when we were playing in Mexico City, the elevation
Speaker 1: was the factor there. It was like seven thousand whatever
Speaker 1: feet and I play at sea level, you know, so
Speaker 1: that's the main thing I remember about that was definitely
Speaker 1: when we were playing on the field, I was getting
Speaker 1: immediately tired after a play and just it was short
Speaker 1: of breath. Um. So there's definitely some outside factors when
Speaker 1: it comes to you know, these international games. Um, just
Speaker 1: the factor of you know, where it is in the world,
Speaker 1: or the elevation and like all these play apart. Like
Speaker 1: my conditioning, it wasn't bad. It just wasn't my lung capacity,
Speaker 1: my red blood cell count. I know this because I
Speaker 1: used to go to college at seven thousand feet. Uh
Speaker 1: back at Western State was a little it's in the mountains,
Speaker 1: and then I went down to sea level in Colorado,
Speaker 1: or in California, So I know, like my red blood
Speaker 1: cell account isn't as high, you know, is it is?
Speaker 1: It should be to actually like sustain and play at
Speaker 1: this level or this elevation. So it's a lot of
Speaker 1: science that probably you know, I don't bore you with,
Speaker 1: but yeah, definitely was a different atmosphere. But you know,
Speaker 1: we we highlighted this a little bit on the podcast
Speaker 1: as well, and I was talking to a d D.
Speaker 1: I used to cover see you and would occasionally make
Speaker 1: a trip to Boulder, and I remember those first few
Speaker 1: times doing those runs. You feel fine for like the
Speaker 1: first I don't know, two hundred meters or so, and
Speaker 1: then after you're trying to get a mile running, I
Speaker 1: was gasping for hair. Did did some of your team?
Speaker 1: Is like when you brought that up, I would imagine
Speaker 1: the teams, the coaches in the staff run and said, hey,
Speaker 1: like guys, it is higher elevation. Did did some people
Speaker 1: are like kind of like poop poo at, Oh, It's
Speaker 1: like not going to be that big of a deal.
Speaker 1: We actually traveled and stayed the week in Colorado to
Speaker 1: try to acclimate a little bit more, but it did
Speaker 1: not help. It did not help. So I think from
Speaker 1: that standpoint, the entire organization was taking it seriously. But
Speaker 1: I don't think we have enough training you know that
Speaker 1: could have helped us for that. It's just like, look,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be short of breath. You gotta deal with it.
Speaker 1: It is what it is, um. I know. We talked
Speaker 1: about the fans at Wembley and the cheering that was
Speaker 1: happening there in Mexico City. Same different, moretty similar. It
Speaker 1: was just like positive energy. We're playing the Chiefs who
Speaker 1: just recently played actually and yeah, it was just you know,
Speaker 1: it was just energy, right. I think it's just because
Speaker 1: it doesn't happen as much. There's not a game that
Speaker 1: every single week, so it's not necessarily oh for this team,
Speaker 1: for this team, there's kind of like, oh, this, let's
Speaker 1: go experience, you know, American NFL football game before we
Speaker 1: let you get going here. What's the best part about
Speaker 1: playing in an international game? Definitely the travel and the
Speaker 1: experience of just being outside of your country, and not
Speaker 1: only that you get to play a football game, the
Speaker 1: game that you've been working too and that you love
Speaker 1: outside of your country. I think that just creates memories.
Speaker 1: Like me in Mexico City and then at Wembley as well.
Speaker 1: That it's like, yeah, I played football in the NFL
Speaker 1: in other countries and that's something that I'll tell you
Speaker 1: know my family in the future. Austin can't thank you
Speaker 1: enough for the time, man, Really really appreciate a continued success.
Speaker 1: It is a joy watching you on the football field,
Speaker 1: and it's awesome to get an opportunity to catch up
Speaker 1: with you. Awesome thanks for having me on my a
Speaker 1: pound for pound. Austin Ekeler might be the strongest player
Speaker 1: in the NFL, but certainly guy that's got a wealth
Speaker 1: of experience with international games, and appreciate him given us
Speaker 1: some time here on the podcast. But the history now
Speaker 1: officially in the rear view mirror. We will look to
Speaker 1: the future of international football. The CEO of NFL International,
Speaker 1: Demandi Leach, maybe break some news with us. Coming up
Speaker 1: next on the NFL Explained podcast. This podcast is sponsored
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Speaker 1: the CEO of NFL International, Demani Leach, joints us here
Speaker 1: on the NFL Explained podcast. Demanti take us high level
Speaker 1: on some of the decisions and the goals really for
Speaker 1: some of these international games. I understand engaging a fan
Speaker 1: base is really important, but if I said to you,
Speaker 1: what's on the checklist? Why play international? What's the response? Overall,
Speaker 1: what we're trying to do is grow the number of
Speaker 1: fans we have around the world and deepen our connection
Speaker 1: with them, and games is one really important strategic lever
Speaker 1: for us to do that. So you know, we think
Speaker 1: about it as we've got over two million fans and
Speaker 1: our key markets around the world, and with our games
Speaker 1: we're able to do two things. One is deep in
Speaker 1: our relationship with those existing NFL fans. That's giving them
Speaker 1: a tangible connection to the league that the otherwise wouldn't
Speaker 1: be able to get. And then the second is to
Speaker 1: generate new fans. We raise broad awareness in those markets.
Speaker 1: The NFL gets talked about more on television, gets talked
Speaker 1: about more in newspapers, on social media, so broad awareness
Speaker 1: increases significantly and that brings new people into the NFL
Speaker 1: tent of fandom, so to speak. It's so true. I've
Speaker 1: been I myself have been to two games in London Demandi,
Speaker 1: and I know the Times of London will put the
Speaker 1: game leading up to the game on the front page
Speaker 1: of the paper and sometimes we push, you know, the
Speaker 1: Royals out of the way. But having said that, how
Speaker 1: do you pick where when you talk about markets? Obviously
Speaker 1: I'm mentioned in London, you played in Mexico, in Australia, Ireland.
Speaker 1: How do you know where to go? I think now
Speaker 1: when you talk about some of those markets, that was
Speaker 1: sort of early days of NFL exploration globally where we
Speaker 1: were playing preseason games and a lot of different markets.
Speaker 1: I think because they were preseason games at the time,
Speaker 1: some of those stakes were lower. Now the NFL fan
Speaker 1: globally is much more mature. When a team is in town.
Speaker 1: When the Seahawks are in town, they want to see
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson play. They don't want to see Demani Leech
Speaker 1: as the you know, the fourth string quarterback out there
Speaker 1: playing in a game. They want to see Russell Wilson.
Speaker 1: So the regular season game, the authentic NFL experience, is
Speaker 1: really important. And there's really sort of three things we
Speaker 1: look at in deciding where we're going to play those games.
Speaker 1: The that's fans, operations, and economics. The fan one is
Speaker 1: is this a market that's important to us? Is it
Speaker 1: a focus market, meaning it's somewhere we're already investing growth
Speaker 1: in fan development in that market. We don't want this
Speaker 1: to be just the circus coming to town. Instead, we
Speaker 1: want this to be a way that we can get
Speaker 1: step change growth in that market and continue to see
Speaker 1: growth over time. The second operations, and that you know,
Speaker 1: as you all know, we just have a limited inventory
Speaker 1: of games to play. This is not like basketball or baseball.
Speaker 1: Every game matters and we take that to heart when
Speaker 1: we think about playing a game in London or in
Speaker 1: Mexico City. Uh, these games are super important. So everything
Speaker 1: from travel distance to the stadium we're playing at, the
Speaker 1: field we're playing on, all those things are incredibly important.
Speaker 1: So those things have to make sense wherever we're gonna play.
Speaker 1: And then the third finally is economics, and we've got
Speaker 1: to pay for these games, and we're taking games out
Speaker 1: of markets here in the US that has a revenue
Speaker 1: impact and we've got to make sure that works for
Speaker 1: the league. I'd say those last two broadcast all so
Speaker 1: factors into both of those, both operationally like when are
Speaker 1: we actually kicking off and does that make sense? But
Speaker 1: also the economics, right, our our media partners have paid
Speaker 1: for these games to be shown in the US and
Speaker 1: it needs to work for them as well. Is it
Speaker 1: hard to get teams to want to do this just
Speaker 1: knowing the financial effect on communities locally? I think it
Speaker 1: depends on the team. I think historically the way that
Speaker 1: teams have played international games has really been three buckets.
Speaker 1: The first is you're a team playing in a temporary stadium,
Speaker 1: right Raiders, Chargers. That compels a team to be selected
Speaker 1: to play at least one international game a year. The
Speaker 1: second has been your your community has been awarded a
Speaker 1: super Bowl. So if you get a super Bowl, one
Speaker 1: of the conditions of being granted that super Bowl is
Speaker 1: you could be compelled to play one international game. And
Speaker 1: then the third is just what we'll say as a
Speaker 1: volunteer team like Jacksonville who says, we believe that this
Speaker 1: is important for us, we want to grow our brand,
Speaker 1: we volunteer to play a game internationally. So those are
Speaker 1: sort of been the three ways that's happened historically. Moving
Speaker 1: forward now that we're into seventeen game season. One of
Speaker 1: the things that owners committed to as part of that was, Hey,
Speaker 1: we've got this additional inventory. Let's set aside some of
Speaker 1: that for international games. So starting next year, every team
Speaker 1: is going to play one international game over an eight
Speaker 1: year period. Are there certain teams that do well in
Speaker 1: certain markets? Would you like to match up I'll use
Speaker 1: the Steelers again. Would you like to match up the
Speaker 1: Steelers to Mexico? Would you like to match up certain
Speaker 1: teams to Canada or Germany? The short answer is yes,
Speaker 1: and we we do this and we also we share
Speaker 1: it with our teams. So we research fans on a
Speaker 1: monthly basis. We do monthly fans surveys in each market,
Speaker 1: asking them a number of questions, probably too many questions
Speaker 1: if you ask them, but we get that sort of
Speaker 1: information and so we know. We also have the data
Speaker 1: on which teams they watch on television, who they follow
Speaker 1: on social media, whose T shirts and hats they buy
Speaker 1: on NFL shop. But tell us some of the picture
Speaker 1: of those of those most popular teams. It's the teams
Speaker 1: that you would think in those markets. Um, we love
Speaker 1: all thirty two clubs and I'm trying to get something
Speaker 1: juicy here. Yeah, so we definitely do want to do that.
Speaker 1: And I guess what that relates to is we've shared
Speaker 1: that with clubs starting really in January, so clubs will
Speaker 1: this year have the ability to really take advantage of that.
Speaker 1: And so if you are the Steelers and you see
Speaker 1: that you've got some fandom in Mexico, previously, you've been
Speaker 1: limited to what you can do in terms of engaging
Speaker 1: with those fans. So we'll now starting at about two weeks,
Speaker 1: clubs will be able to submit proposals to say, we
Speaker 1: want to engage with fans in Mexico. This is our
Speaker 1: five year proposal for marketing and fan development in that market,
Speaker 1: and we're committed to growing fans in that market. What
Speaker 1: we will do then is with those international games, just
Speaker 1: try to marry those two things together and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: you've committed to that market. You already know that you've
Speaker 1: got to play one international of the game. We're gonna
Speaker 1: do our best to try and connect those two things.
Speaker 1: All right, give me some of the juicy stuff, because
Speaker 1: you've given me the business, you've given me the overarching
Speaker 1: view of of goals and initiatives it's game day and
Speaker 1: look at d D said, you show up to uh
Speaker 1: she went to Wembley. She's saying, yeah, I see. You know,
Speaker 1: all these different jerseys in the stands. Like I would
Speaker 1: imagine that there's such a huge fan base for what
Speaker 1: I will call soccer. I know they'll cringe at least
Speaker 1: in Europe at that defining it that way. It's it's
Speaker 1: so awesome to see some of the customs that they
Speaker 1: have have they brought some of the soccer customs to
Speaker 1: NFL games and kind of like sprinkle in that local field. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know what's interesting is we constantly the feedback we
Speaker 1: get from fans is they want the authentic NFL. They
Speaker 1: can get soccer any day of the week. So we
Speaker 1: invest a ton in creating that tailgate atmosphere that you
Speaker 1: don't get um for soccer games, and infusing our games
Speaker 1: with music and having halftime performances and fireworks and cheerleaders
Speaker 1: and all of those things that and they think of
Speaker 1: the NFL and what makes it different from their local sport.
Speaker 1: That's what we work hard to deliver. It ends up
Speaker 1: being sort of a convention or reunion of just if
Speaker 1: you are a NFL fan come to the game, doesn't
Speaker 1: matter who's playing, put on whatever jersey you have, uh,
Speaker 1: and where that to the game. I think one thing
Speaker 1: that we've seen evolve over time is there's less and
Speaker 1: less of that because teams are becoming real hardcore fans
Speaker 1: of those teams, and it's you see it in the jerseys.
Speaker 1: I think the last time we played in Mexico, I
Speaker 1: was telling our tour Olive, who manages the NFL Mexico office,
Speaker 1: like you hear it. That's that really deep passionate fandom
Speaker 1: that we're starting to grow. Well, what about the flip side.
Speaker 1: You know, we're talking about research, and obviously you do
Speaker 1: conduct a ton of research with the fans and the
Speaker 1: experience for them. What about the players. I've covered teams
Speaker 1: that have shown up on Friday before game day, and
Speaker 1: I've covered teams that show up on Monday and enjoy
Speaker 1: the week. What have players said about their experience? And
Speaker 1: what's one way that you've tweaked the whole thing. One
Speaker 1: thing that we've done is start to bring some standardization
Speaker 1: to that time frame that teams travel. It used to
Speaker 1: be very much because it was new ground and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of uncertainty about what this is going to
Speaker 1: do from performance standpoint. A lot of strength coaches and
Speaker 1: head coaches wanted to dictate when their teams travel. I
Speaker 1: think now that everybody has been through it, um except
Speaker 1: the packers, everybody has been through it. Um. They're all
Speaker 1: pretty comfortable with it and can get to a point
Speaker 1: where they're starting to arrive within that same cadence of
Speaker 1: just a couple of days before those games, um and
Speaker 1: feel good about it. I think, you know, we've done
Speaker 1: things like buy equipment and just have it on site
Speaker 1: rather than having to ship certain things. That just makes
Speaker 1: it a lot more turn key for them. But definitely
Speaker 1: the players just love the experience, the culture. I think
Speaker 1: for a lot of them they are seeing really sort
Speaker 1: of thinking it's really be here, Like hey, the NFL's global.
Speaker 1: It's another thing to see it right and to be
Speaker 1: there and be like, wow, look at there's seventy thousand fans.
Speaker 1: Them are not from America that love us, not just
Speaker 1: love the game, but love us. They love our team.
Speaker 1: We obviously have some international players the we have Australians,
Speaker 1: we have Germans, we had a Scottish player, the Scottish
Speaker 1: Hammer Jamie Gilliam. How much do these games do you
Speaker 1: think matter in terms of developing a feeding ground or
Speaker 1: those two totally separate things. They raise broad awareness, and
Speaker 1: I think you hear people talk about, you know, just
Speaker 1: like they do here in America, right, Like I saw
Speaker 1: someone on TV. Right, if I see it, I can
Speaker 1: be it, right, And so if you see that, you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: I want to go do that. I want to try that,
Speaker 1: And so you definitely hear those stories. I think what
Speaker 1: we have done as a league in international has just
Speaker 1: has really separately just invested more so. We have this
Speaker 1: international Player Pathway program um and we spend time in
Speaker 1: resources looking for football players but also rugby players like
Speaker 1: Jordan my Latta. Right, He's a great example of that.
Speaker 1: Someone we found in Australia four years ago playing rugby,
Speaker 1: really too too big to be out on the rugby
Speaker 1: pitch um telling us hey, I'm I'm I'm tired of
Speaker 1: starving myself trying to keep my weight down, and we said, hey,
Speaker 1: have you ever tried football? He'd never been in a
Speaker 1: three point stands, he'd never had a helmet on, and
Speaker 1: four years later he's a starting left tackle for the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles, just getting getting paid and it has one
Speaker 1: of the best smiles in football. Let's say that if
Speaker 1: you haven't heard Jordan's saying, his voice is amazing. That's
Speaker 1: a little side note, Maye. We'll do an episode down
Speaker 1: the road on you know, extracurricular activities of some of
Speaker 1: these NFL players and to Yeah, it's one of those
Speaker 1: you know those training camp things are they try and
Speaker 1: hase guys and so some guy gets up there and
Speaker 1: blows everybody away. I was like, wait a minute, I
Speaker 1: can really say, and they put the helmet out in
Speaker 1: front of them and people are expected to go and
Speaker 1: tip at that point. Um, look, I'd love to also
Speaker 1: get your take on and did he sort of made
Speaker 1: reference to it with the scheduling and when some of
Speaker 1: the teams arrive internationally. I know it's different because it's
Speaker 1: still a business trip, but anything stand out to you,
Speaker 1: Demani in terms of experiencing the culture and taking advantage
Speaker 1: of at some point in your season, you're not going
Speaker 1: through your normal routine and maybe this is something that
Speaker 1: we should embrace. Yeah, I think it's a business trip, right,
Speaker 1: it's a regular season game, so it's not Hey, We're
Speaker 1: gonna go to London and spend a week they're traveling
Speaker 1: around and hey there's big been. Um you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's a regular season game that matters. We're in the
Speaker 1: middle of the season in October and November for these
Speaker 1: international games, so there's not a ton of opportunity to
Speaker 1: do that, and so we try to sort of build
Speaker 1: that into the team's experience, everything from their arrival and
Speaker 1: things like that. And so you know in Mexico, right,
Speaker 1: you get off the bus and you go into your hotel.
Speaker 1: Let's have you know, Mariachi Bay and there, let's have
Speaker 1: fans there, um, you know, of your specific team cheering
Speaker 1: you on as you go into the hotel. My favorite
Speaker 1: was a couple of years ago in Mexico when the
Speaker 1: Chargers arrived. Philip Rivers on the team and there was
Speaker 1: this huge sign with a picture of Philip Rivers wearing
Speaker 1: a sombrero and it said Phelipe Rios translated that's amazing,
Speaker 1: that's amazing. He loved it was, Oh, that's tremendous. I
Speaker 1: hope he signed it or took a picture with it
Speaker 1: or something. Yeah, last one for us to money. You've
Speaker 1: given us so much time here, but what would it
Speaker 1: take for something very significant? A playoff game, a Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: or an actual expansion team to happen overseas. I think
Speaker 1: a lot, but I think I think all of those
Speaker 1: are I think all of those are different, right, And
Speaker 1: we think about those in international we think about those
Speaker 1: all the time, but I think we think about them differently, right,
Speaker 1: And so I think a team, Look, we are really
Speaker 1: excited about where we are, particularly in these markets, you know, UK,
Speaker 1: Mexico here pretty soon Germany. A lot of fandom, a
Speaker 1: lot of viewership that backs up that fandom. We see it.
Speaker 1: We have commercial success in those markets, and so what
Speaker 1: we can do as league staff is just really sort
Speaker 1: of put those markets in a position to where, if
Speaker 1: and when there is an owner who ultimately is gonna
Speaker 1: drive that who wants to put a team in one
Speaker 1: of those markets, that the market is ready and capable
Speaker 1: of hosting them. But that's really sort of beyond our control.
Speaker 1: We do think about things though, like draft and Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl and these sort of one off events, and you know,
Speaker 1: Peter O'Reilly and events will kick me, but those are
Speaker 1: the kinds of things that we bring to him and say, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, what about NFL Draft in Toronto? What about
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl in Australia, and so those are the kinds
Speaker 1: of things that we think about and work on all
Speaker 1: the time. When they'll happen, I don't know. We've got
Speaker 1: to solve for those same things, just like games, right,
Speaker 1: like fans, operations in economics, all those things have to
Speaker 1: make sense. But it's definitely the kind of stuff we
Speaker 1: like working on. A nice way to side step the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl conversation. I was waiting for me to tell
Speaker 1: me what you're in. The super Bowl is going to
Speaker 1: be played and picked the country, Yes, exactly, it will
Speaker 1: be in Yeah, well it's fine. I'm sitting here thinking
Speaker 1: about the Pro Bowl. I've been angling for the Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl to go back to Hawaii so I can make
Speaker 1: that trip. Now you're telling me I can actually lobby
Speaker 1: for a trip to Australia. Come on, come on, yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll join us, join us. We're working on it. Demani
Speaker 1: a wealth of knowledge. I think my biggest takeaway here
Speaker 1: is the fact that you brought tailgating um overseas two
Speaker 1: venues that don't do tailgating for soccer matches, which is
Speaker 1: wild to me. I didn't even realize that that was
Speaker 1: the thing. So if there's one thing the NFL is
Speaker 1: doing in a positive way internationally. It's bring the dogs
Speaker 1: and the burghers to the parking lot. This is not
Speaker 1: amateur Demani can't thank you enough for the time and
Speaker 1: really painting the picture on some of these international contests. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: this was fun, you know. Like the one thing that
Speaker 1: didn't get to ask the money about is the International Combine.
Speaker 1: We heard him talk about the international players and the
Speaker 1: growth of the game as young kids have gotten to
Speaker 1: witness these games in person. But now this year, for
Speaker 1: the first time, they will actually be a combine in
Speaker 1: London at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium October twelfth. I think that
Speaker 1: is awesome and genius at the same time, because these
Speaker 1: are the next stars. I mean, this will select a
Speaker 1: few of athletes that are going to be chosen to
Speaker 1: participate in this NFL International Combine. I know the league
Speaker 1: is going to be picking some of the more high
Speaker 1: profile talent fifty top fifty players, correct, and you get
Speaker 1: to go and say, hey, I saw them in their
Speaker 1: combined experience and now maybe attached to them wherever they
Speaker 1: end up in the NFL draft. So I absolutely love it,
Speaker 1: and I'll tell you this just as a reporter. I
Speaker 1: love being around people from all different places. And you know,
Speaker 1: like when you hear Jordan Malata's acts in or you
Speaker 1: it just it adds a different verve in the locker room.
Speaker 1: So the more international players playing in the NFL, the
Speaker 1: better for all of us. Okay, keep the reporter cap
Speaker 1: on for me. If I sit to you, you get
Speaker 1: to go and cover an NFL game. Pick the international location.
Speaker 1: Where would it be? Okay, So if it's a place
Speaker 1: that the NFL has already been to, Spain I would
Speaker 1: love to do because I haven't been there yet. Or
Speaker 1: Australia because I have a cousin in Australia. If I
Speaker 1: could stomach the flight, then yes, Australia a place that
Speaker 1: the NFL has not been to. Well, look after the
Speaker 1: last year and a half that we've had, everybody needs
Speaker 1: a vacation. So I'm picking like Jamaica, and I bet
Speaker 1: Mike there would be lots of hands raised to go
Speaker 1: to Jamaica to play a game. I bet if you
Speaker 1: ask those Green Bay Packers players in the middle of
Speaker 1: the winter picked that international location, you you got a
Speaker 1: quick yes on that front. I'm with you. I think
Speaker 1: those are all good locations and all spots that I've
Speaker 1: never been to, so I would be all about it,
Speaker 1: but I'd be remist if I didn't make reference to
Speaker 1: the growth of the game in places where they need
Speaker 1: to experience NFL football, and our friends in NFL China
Speaker 1: their offices in Shanghai. I've had some opportunities to talk
Speaker 1: to some folks over there. It would be awesome because
Speaker 1: we're seeing sort of this growth. That was my guy,
Speaker 1: Tailor Rap who played with Dogs. Now obviously with the Rams,
Speaker 1: I think it would be really cool for a fan
Speaker 1: base there to experience a game. But I would love
Speaker 1: to hear from some of our listeners. I know we're
Speaker 1: big in London already based off of some of the metrics,
Speaker 1: but from an international audience perspective, where would you guys
Speaker 1: like to see an NFL game? You can tweet at
Speaker 1: us and make sure that you use that hashtag NFL explained.
Speaker 1: We will go through some of those in a future show.
Speaker 1: Of course. Always appreciate everyone who's been checking in following
Speaker 1: our show, giving us a rating and a review. It
Speaker 1: has been a remarkable experience for both the d D
Speaker 1: and I to get an opportunity to interact with a
Speaker 1: lot of our listeners who appreciate everyone who's been checking in,
Speaker 1: and we look forward to our next edition and that
Speaker 1: is the international series explained. This one's been tremendous. Linth
Speaker 1: I need to go and check my passport, make sure
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