The Super Bowl Phenomenon
The biggest regional league final in the world
By Florian Papenfuhs
02/10/2022, 7:31 p.m
The Super Bowl is upon us, and it’s electrifying people around the planet. It’s the final of the biggest league in the world. But the sport itself is more American than any other. The NFL feeds itself almost exclusively from local talent factories. And yet it is perceived as a role model.
Visitors to the dmexco trade fair can expect news and information on the subject of digital marketing. The event is rarely in the public eye outside of its bubble. 2012 was an exception to the rule. Uli Hoeneß, at that time still the big doer of FC Bayern Munich, was invited to a panel discussion, literally. The “Attack Department” of the Bundesliga delivered. “Borussia Dortmund is a relatively regional thing.” Boom. Soccer Germany was upside down. As a reminder: In 2012, BVB became German champions for the second time in a row. Unimaginable today. It is the last titleholder who is not called Bayern Munich.
Other sports leagues are more exciting. Much more exciting. In the NFL, the best football league and the largest sports league in the world, there have been eight different teams that have won the Super Bowl since 2012. The Super Bowl is the largest single sporting event on this planet. The league has also enjoyed growing popularity in Germany since around this time. Early Sunday morning German time it’s that time again: The Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams meet in Los Angeles for the Super Bowl (from 0.30 a.m. / Sat1. and in the live ticker on ntv.de). And millions of Germans will spend many hours celebrating the game in front of the television. Rams or Bengals fans are likely to be in the minority. Very few even play football.
More Wrestlemania than Champions League
As always, when Germany suddenly discovers a new sport besides soccer, the first reaction is to compare it with soccer. American football joins the list of sports that football can learn from. To be more precise, the US NFL, there is no other relevant league. Draft system, playoffs, salary cap, umpires, trades. Best of all, football takes over everything. However, the enthusiasm for first downs and field goals also shows that many sports fans want to see an exciting sporting competition above all. The NFL definitely offers that and the Bundesliga definitely no longer offers that.
The rampant commercialization of football, which has been persistently and passionately criticized by local ultra groups, seems to bother far fewer people. At least the NFL, in which every statistic is presented by a different global corporation, cannot be a benchmark for this. The Super Bowl in particular is so much more of an event than a sport that it is more comparable to Wrestlemania, the premium product of show sport wrestling, than the final of the Champions League. A final in which the halftime show and commercials have the same (or even greater?) social relevance than the final result would be unthinkable in any other competition.
Brady is not a global sports hero
No one has won the Super Bowl as often as Tom Brady. He is considered the figurehead of the NFL, now he is leaving. The resignation is by no means unexpected at the age of 44. But for now, at least, the GOAT’s withdrawal puts even the Super Bowl in the shade. Sebastian Vollmer, German football pro and Brady’s teammate between 2009 and 2016, puts the iconic quarterback in a row with Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali. But does someone like Brady belong there?
In terms of popularity, Brady is likely to lag far behind the two mentioned outside of the US. Michael Jordan got a whole generation of young people excited about basketball in the 1990s. The Chicago Bulls are still one of the most famous sports teams in the world. At his peak, Jordan was one of the most popular people ever. Muhammad Ali is considered by many to be the greatest athlete of all time. The boxer became world-renowned for both his talent in the ring and his commitment outside of it. In 1999 he was named “Sportsman of the Century” by the International Olympic Committee.
In contrast to Ali and Jordan, Tom Brady was never at the Olympics, but neither was Messi, Phelps, Bolt or Venus Williams. Even if Brady’s achievements across all sports can hardly be compared to those of Jordan or Ali, it remains to be said: Brady could never compete with the world, only with the USA. After all, American Football is a fringe sport and a mass phenomenon at the same time. A sport that is only practiced in one part of the world, but very excessively there. It’s America’s Game, but ONLY America’s Game. Typically, the country’s colleges are the only source of new players.
League needs new markets
This exclusivity is not found in the other major sports leagues in the USA. Although the NBA is not nearly as popular within the country as American football, it is receiving enormous support from other continents. With Luka Doncic, Nikola Jovic and Giannis Antetokounmpo, three of the best players come from Europe. The situation is similar in ice hockey. There are a number of Canadians and Americans in the NHL, but the German superstar Leon Draisaitl became the league’s MVP in 2021, and in Washington the Russian Alexander Ovechkin obsessively overtakes one goalscoring legend after the other. Even baseball, which is steadily losing popularity, enjoys a large following and players outside of the USA in Central America and Japan.
American football is most similar to its sister sport, rugby. Like basketball and ice hockey, it also has relevant international tournaments and a permanent place in the Olympic catalogue. The NFL, meanwhile, seems left to its own devices. How long the league can use the hype in Europe for itself remains to be seen. In the next few years, in addition to the now traditional London Game, games will also be held in Germany.
Even before the pandemic, the average viewership in the US went down three years in a row. There is also the discussion about (head) injuries and social scandals such as the case of football coach Brian Flores, who complains about racism in the league. New audience is therefore important for the league. As are new superstars, especially after Brady’s departure. Incidentally, Tom Brady announced the end of his career on Instagram. He has a good 11 million followers on the platform, about as many as Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus. That fits. After all, both faces are a “relatively regional thing”.