From Halftime Shows to Headphones: How the NFL is Scoring Fans Down Under

From the star-studded spectacle of the Super Bowl halftime show to the viral fashion moments of players stepping off the team bus, and the immersive world of gaming through Madden NFL, the league is weaving itself into the fabric of youth culture — even in Australia.

With activations like the Gold Coast NFL Academy and plans for regular-season games in Melbourne in 2026, the NFL is not just exporting a sport, but a lifestyle.

However, as the league’s cultural cachet grows, experts warn that Australian sports must find authentic ways to adapt or risk losing their grip on the next generation of fans.

Cultural strategist and strategic futures director at SOON Future Studies, Tully Walter, says the NFL’s showpiece event, the Super Bowl, is a rare, singular event that transcends sport across a fragmented media landscape.

“There’s a sense of ceremony associated with the event,” Tully says.

“We don't see a lot of that anymore, anywhere.

“Even in Australia, major cultural events are becoming less and less influential, but the Super Bowl retains its gravitas.”

The spectacle around Super Bowl advertising reflects this, inviting brands to connect with viewers during one of the year’s biggest cultural moments by shaping or reflecting culture in flashy TV spots.

Luke Haynes, strategy director at M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment in Sydney, sees this difference in sporting culture as a key strength of overseas leagues entering the Australian and New Zealand markets.

“There's a celebrity sizzle factor with the NFL when it comes to the lives players are leading, and it's all very aspirational,” Luke says.

“They look great on their social feeds, for one, but the actual event proposition of an event like the Super Bowl is about so much more than the actual four quarters of the game.

“It's about the celebrities that are there watching. It's about the halftime show. It's about the brands that are showing up in and around the event, vying for audience attention. I think if you stripped all that away and it was just a sport with cameras pointed at it, it wouldn’t have anywhere near the same kind of relevance and interest that it does.

“If you look at the competitions and codes that are doing the best with young people in Australia, particularly young men, it’s the NFL, the NBA, and the EPL.”

They don’t compare to more mature sports in the local market, like AFL or NRL, yet these leagues are the fastest-growing.

While its US domestic audience is ageing, primarily comprising over-55s, the NFL is succeeding in attracting younger fans in global markets, including in Australia. However, Luke notes the NFL takeover of Australian audiences is far from complete.

“There is clearly cultural momentum that makes the NFL feel bigger than the numbers may suggest,” he says.

According to YouGov, about 1 in 7 Aussies are 'interested' in the NFL. But Luke says that is only part of the picture.

“'Avid fandom' or 'passion' scores look quite different,” he explains.

“According to our own proprietary passions research - Passion Pulse - less than 1% of 5,000 respondents over the last three years are passionate about NFL, but there is clearly cultural momentum there.”

In 2024, the Super Bowl had an average TV audience of around 800,000 in Australia, whereas the most recent NRL and AFL Grand Finals had an audience of 3.42m and 4.02m, respectively.

That being said, the NFL’s cultural cachet is making inroads. The league is banking on international markets to drive growth, aiming to recruit 50 million new fans from outside the US, with Australia emerging as a priority market, second only to the UK, where the NFL has been establishing a presence for many years now.

The NFL's Global Markets Program is its investment vehicle to deliver these results, with the Philadelphia Eagles and LA Rams being the franchises focused on Australia and New Zealand.

In September 2024, the world’s second NFL Academy, and the first outside of the UK, opened on the Gold Coast to mine Australian talent.

Last year, the Eagles hosted fan engagement activations in Australia, and the Rams struck a deal with Sydney Showgrounds in 2024 as an official international partner. Now, Melbourne looks set to host regular season fixtures in October 2026 in a multi-year deal.

Luke also points to the access points of leagues like the NFL in other aspects of culture, particularly video games.

“That’s the number one passion point in Australia, in our research [over the past few years].

“There are more Australians who have a passion for playing video games than there are for, for instance, the AFL or cricket.

“You can fire up your PlayStation, and you can play as your favourite player within FIFA or NBA 2k or Madden … you can’t really play as Pat Cummins on your PlayStation – it’s a connection point in a massive passion area that Australian sports just don't have.”

The NFL, on the other hand, has a deeper, richer story that plays out across connection points like fashion, music, and gaming.

“The fact that the broadcaster will bother covering what the players are wearing as they are getting off the team bus and walking into a stadium, and the type of headphones they wear … it’s going to influence what a bunch of other young people are likely to wear and listen to.

“We're finding that young people, in particular, are less inclined to be passionate about traditional, parochially-Australian sports like cricket, AFL and NRL.

“While they still have a massive base, we are seeing declines in passion for these sports, particularly amongst 18-24s.”

Luke is quick to point out that incumbent leagues like the AFL and NRL aren’t in danger of disappearing, or losing their dominance in Australia.

Instead, passionate fandoms are beginning to plateau as they reach full market saturation. Conversely, the NFL and other foreign leagues have begun to grow their fandoms in Australia at a rate higher than that of the traditional codes.

Young people are finding community in sports like the NBA and NFL that not only connect them to a different community to that of their parents or older siblings, but one that feels more global.

But cultural depth isn’t manufactured overnight, and Luke sees a full, “mindless” adoption of American-style sports broadcasting as a trap for Australian leagues.

“It would feel inauthentic if [leagues] were to suddenly start just mindlessly trying to copy the blueprint from the States or Europe.

“There are ways of doing it more authentically – there's a lot of sports people who are starting to show more of their personal life on their own social channels, and the NBL’s adoption of American-style flair is distinctly part of the identity of the sport.”

Luke points to NFL activations in London as an example of where Australian interest in the NFL could lead; with much larger fan activation zones, greater PR buzz, and regular season games.

“I would expect we'll see more once you actually have the teams out here playing,” he said.

“I don't think it's enough just to come out once a year and bring a couple of players and some cheerleaders for a meet and greet in the fan zone and call it done.”

As the NFL continues to grow into a bigger force in the Australian market, it will likely be the “endemic” sports brands which are the first adopters.

“Beers, chips, soft drinks, things like that will be the early movers,” Luke says. “Given it is a broadcast-only sport in Australia it’s great for a booze retailer, alcohol brands, and food.”