NFL

Opening America’s most popular sport to audiences around the world

How can America’s favorite sport to watch build on its growing popularity worldwide?

Industry
Sports Organisation

Location
Global

NFL workflow diagram
Click to enlarge

The National Football League (NFL), is one of the four North American “Big Leagues”. NFL games have the highest TV ratings, are the most attended and rank highest in terms of merchandise of domestic professional leagues in the world. The Super Bowl is the culmination of the NFL season and is the most watched program on TV in the US annually.

As the NFL expanded its international appeal in the early 2000s, NFL Films required a reliable partner to deliver multiple live and non-live NFL games and other content to the NFL’s broadcast partners around the world and selected what is today known as the SES Sports & Events team in 2006.

All the NFL distribution is provided from dedicated infrastructure built to support premium sports in both the US and EMEA, with live and non-live broadcasts monitored by our experts to guarantee the best quality experiences for viewers across the globe. Our solution covers the global live delivery of NFL pre-season, regular season, playoffs, Pro Bowl and Super Bowl games in HD to Europe and Asia. Up to eight simultaneous games are delivered live every week with live game and content delivery to hundreds of TV service platforms in multiple regions. The delivery of non-live NFL content includes magazine-style and highlights programming (e.g. NFL RedZone) into Europe.

Through a flawless delivery over the years, SES has assisted the NFL to grow their viewers and reach on hundreds of TV service platforms to audiences in the hundreds of millions with the number growing all the time.

“It is fantastic to see how this great American sport is appealing more and more to international viewers. Our long-term collaboration with SES Sports team has played a huge role in this, enabling us to deliver live and non-live NFL content for specific regions with the best possible viewer experience. Delivering NFL content to millions of people outside the US tuning in each year, including our tent-pole Super Bowl event, and it’s only expanding.”
Jeffrey Lombardi, Senior Director, International Production Operations, NFL