Can American football become less American?

TO WITNESS THE power of American culture, step into a hip coffee shop in a big city outside the United States. The decor will typically have a Brooklyn aesthetic, with exposed brickwork and mismatched chairs; American pop music will play softly in the background; patrons will pore over their MacBooks while sipping overpriced caffè americano. Want to exit Pax Americana? Ask one of those patrons to predict the winner of the Super Bowl, which is taking place on February 11th, and witness their blank stare.

This year the final game of the National Football League (NFL) season pits the Kansas City Chiefs against the San Francisco 49ers. It will be a four-hour extravaganza, with a modicum of sport squeezed in between a concert from Usher, an R&B star, and adverts from America’s biggest corporations. Last year’s edition was watched by 200m Americans, 60% of the population. Within the country, the NFL dwarfs other sports, and even other national obsessions like Hollywood, in terms of interest and cultural heft . Last year 93 of the 100 most-watched TV broadcasts were NFL-related. Outside the country, though, NFL is not just dwarfed, it’s largely ignored.