*Note: These photos are of Kendrick Lamar during this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show. Kendrick is not Britain’s ambassador to the US.

American football is by far the most popular sport within American borders. But did you know that we export football? Mexico loves American football, and there’s an explosion of interest in Central America and South America. There’s a lot of curiosity about American football in Europe, especially because Americans don’t share Europe’s fervent interest in what is considered “football” in the rest of the world (soccer, I’m talking about soccer). I remember John Oliver used to do a bit where he talked about how insane it is to watch American football games as an Englishman, especially the Super Bowl. Like, I think people around the world are in awe of the Super Bowl and the Halftime show in particular. Well, there’s one British guy in America who is making it his life’s mission to bring the Super Bowl to the UK. That man? Britain’s ambassador to the United States.

Britain’s man in Washington said the United Kingdom should host the first Super Bowl outside the United States. Peter Mandelson said he’d made a big lobbying effort for the NFL’s flagship fixture to take place across the Atlantic since taking up his ambassadorial role in February.

“I’ve made a big pitch for the first Super Bowl outside the U.S. to take place in Britain,” the U.K. ambassador to the U.S. told the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Thursday, asking whether there were any NFL workers in the audience.

“I want that Super Bowl in Britain. I don’t care when it takes place but I want it announced while I’m ambassador,” Mandelson added, to audience laughter. “We love it, we love it.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan last year called for the Super Bowl to take place in the city to solidify its status as the “sporting capital of the world.”

“The Super Bowl is really important for us,” Khan said at the time. “We have a number of American football games and I want it to come here because we want American sports fans in Europe to come to London to watch them, not just go to America.”

London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will host two NFL games in October but next year’s Super Bowl will take place in Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on Feb. 8. The Super Bowl has never taken place outside the U.S. since its creation in 1967.

[From Politico Europe]

Part of the NFL’s efforts to grow the game and turn football into a global phenomenon is that they are sending some games to London every year, as Politico notes. Major League Baseball does this too, although to be fair, I think baseball already has a huge international profile, especially in Latin America and Asia. The NBA has also taken games internationally. So there’s already a move to expand the football’s viewership and grow the sport globally. But no, I don’t think the actual Super Bowl will go to the UK any time soon. If they took the SB anywhere other than the US, I think they would first keep it within North America, don’t you think? Canada or Mexico would get a SB first, then maybe the UK. In any case, American sports podbros are already super-salty about this suggestion.

PS… this reminded me of all of the times Prince William invoked “the Super Bowl” to describe his own activities. According to Kensington Palace’s PR, Earthshot is like the Super Bowl. William has been saying that for years. Ever since Prince Harry went to the actual Super Bowl in LA in 2022.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.