Not to be confused with the former South African league of the same name, the National Football League is the leading gridiron football competition in the world. While it is a predominantly American affair, it has expanded around the world in recent years, building up a large following in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, South Korea, Germany, and even Saudi Arabia.

With the Super Bowl almost here, talk about the NFL is beginning to reach its annual crescendo where nearly all of the USA and large proportions of the populations in the countries listed above begin to talk about “the big game”.

In the US, this period is prime time for sites like OddsChecker that help bettors find the best free bet promotions and compare the odds offered by sportsbooks. It’s forecast that over 31 million Americans will likely use platforms like this to place wagers on the outcome of the Super Bowl.

The NFL in South Africa

However, here in South Africa, you could easily miss this big event. According to recent estimates by Start.io, only 370,250 South Africans follow the NFL. That accounts for just 0.6% of the entire population.

Of these, almost all of the fanbase is made up of people under 35. 31.4% of NFL fans in ZA are aged 18-24 with 61.7% aged between 25 and 34. Fans are also twice as likely to be male than female, a slightly higher probability than in the USA.

The biggest contrast of all here is that almost no one aged 35 or above is interested in the sport in South Africa. In the USA, however, 68% of the NFL’s fans fall into this age group.

Room to Grow

What these stats show us is that, when the NFL has had a presence for several generations, it maintains its relationships with fans.

Therefore, as the current young fans in South Africa grow older, they’ll begin to even out the age distribution. And provided the NFL can continue to entice more younger South Africans to follow them, the sport will begin to increase its presence.

Initiatives

It’s certainly trying to reach more of these younger fans too. In 2022, the league organised its first event on the African continent. While not an official game, like we’ve seen in London and Mexico, it was an opportunity for the NFL to have a presence.

It started with events in South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana that sought to find talented players. They were then invited to an NFL camp in Ghana where college football scouts were present to look for new signing opportunities.