Presenter Laura Woods believes that the NFL needs to look into playing games in other parts of the United Kingdom in the future.

This year marks a pretty significant milestone for the NFL when it comes to the United Kingdom, as after 16 years in the making, the Green Bay Packers will make their debut in London, meaning that by the time October is done, all 32 teams will have played a game in London.

The game has certainly grown since its inception during the 2007 season when the New York Giants took on the Miami Dolphins at Wembley. From that one game a year, we have seen the game grow to four games a year at one point, and span two of the biggest and best stadiums in the country in both Wembley and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. 

But the question remains, what comes next when it comes to the NFL and their footprint within the United Kingdom? What more can they do?

Keeping a constant presence

The NFL is doing a lot more than just the International games every year. For instance, there is the NFL Academy which is helping to get players from the UK college scholarships in the United States in the hopes of becoming the next Jack Crawford, James Ajayi or Efe Obada that can make a name for themselves in the NFL. 

The NFL also announced towards the end of 2021 the introduction of the ‘Home Marketing’ project that will allow more teams to establish a presence in certain countries, with the UK now being home to official partnerships with the Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers.

But there are still a few more opportunities waiting for them, and Laura Woods believes that one of them is right under their noses.

What did she say?

Speaking during a press event at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to announce the launch of The NFL Show on ITV this season, Woods, claimed that the next step for the NFL would be to take games to the north of England and around the rest of the UK rather than sticking in London: 

Matt Dawson, Osi Umenyiora, Laura Woods, Ledley King and Jason Bell at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Photo credit - NFL UK

“Anywhere up north, especially Manchester and the Midlands.“We see it a little bit with England games, with all the England games always being at Wembley, you cut off all the fans that are coming from up north. And in this country our problem with travel is huge, our train systems are a nightmare. “You spread these games out a little bit, like we see with the Lionesses are doing and like England have actually been doing a little bit more in spreading them out into different places, if you're going to like your Old Trafford's or if you're going to Villa Park and you're giving other people a bit more of an opportunity to see it, those guys that can't make the travel bound and accommodation down to London, that's another big part of why we should grow the game to different areas, give other people a chance to go see it.”

There are plenty of stadiums that could certainly house NFL games around the U.K, Old Trafford in Manchester, The Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Hampden Park in Glasgow and Murrayfield in Edinburgh to name but a few and it will be interesting to see if the NFL does decide to expand moving forward.

Although after years of success so far working just in London when it comes to the U.K, you could make the argument that it isn't broke, so why try to fix it?

Watch Laura Woods, Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora on ITV's The NFL Show every Friday evening, starting on September 9