We Love College Football!
by GEORGE SOMERVILLE
American Football has never been more popular in the UK, Ireland and Western Europe. We know this because of the seemingly infinite ticket demand for NFL games in London, Munich, Frankfurt and now Dublin and Madrid. We see football shirts of NFL and College teams worn in all walks of life. A college football game played annually in Ireland is a sellout. And your sister, brother, son or daughter can tell you all about a tight end from Kansas City who has managed to bridge the gap between sports and popular culture. American football is beyond popular.
The college game
This is all fantastic for the European football fan who has never had better and more access to the Gridiron game. But it’s not all about the NFL. Interest in the College game is booming too. A sport that perhaps only three of four years ago many considered to be niche with something of a cult following is fast becoming mainstream. Which for those of us who have followed the college game for many years is fantastic news. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than watching the game I love blossom here in the UK.
While fans in the US might not be aware, interest in the college game is soaring outside of the the 50 States. The evidence of this remains anecdotal until such time as the Media partners share viewing figures but we know at the very least that there is huge and growing demand for an annual college football game in Dublin. And with this there is a steady stream of Schools happy to play overseas and not just in Ireland. Much like the NFL we also see jerseys from all manner of teams across the conferences being worn proudly in pubs, at sporting events or even just as fashion items.
Across the pond
So where has this growing interest in the college game come from? In researching this piece it became clear that there is not just one contributing factor to the growing interest. The fans, the schools and their overseas alumni bases, media partners and other partners who help to promote the game such as the College Football Classic in Ireland have all had a huge part to play in developing the game across the Atlantic.
So, let’s start with the most important piece of the college football jigsaw puzzle and what makes the game so special, the fans.
Fan-tastic!
It seems logical that the fandom of the College game in the UK & Ireland is directly linked to our fascination for and love of the NFL. And certainly to an extent this is true. The NFL has had a solid and growing fanbase this side of the pond since its first exhibition game in London in the 1980’s before commencing the International Series in 2007. However when I took time to delve deeper and speak to fans of the college game I was amazed by the variety of paths travelled to them falling in love with the college game.
As a nation we love to travel to the US and there is evidence aplenty on the UK high street that US culture is well and truly ingrained into European society. It’s almost impossible to walk down any high street without coming across a Starbucks or a Yankees hat. So too is the ease with which we consume American sports resulting in large fan bases across football, hockey, basketball and baseball.
But when it comes to college football the European mind doesn’t easily comprehend 101,000 Vols fans packed inside Neyland Stadium on a Saturday in September. Or the 93,000 baying Tiger fans in Death Valley, Baton Rouge on a Saturday night. In the UK, college sports is largely participation and generally isn’t a spectator sport. Which means the spectacle of a full to capacity Bryant Denny or The Horseshoe takes a bit of getting used to.But when it does make sense, it transforms the way we look at the game.
So often the question asked of fans of the college game over here is “Why?’. Which this is where it gets interesting. How does the fan from East Kilbride, Stoke or Cork become a Michigan, Ole Miss or even as I found out a Western Michigan fan? Here are some stories from fans.
Roll Tide from Norwich
Daniel Lorne from Norwich has been a die hard Alabama fan since 2009. “Like all good stories it begins in a bar” Dan tells me, settling in to his “how he became a college football fan” story.
Dan was on vacation in the US in 2009 to watch and listen to live music across the Southern states. Dan continues his tale
“It was a Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon) show in this bar in Huntsville, Alabama”
Meeting some likeminded music fans ahead of the show, one of them asked “do you watch College football in England?”. Dan’s answer was a resounding “No”.
This chance conversation in a bar in Alabama on his first visit to the US kickstarted a love for the Crimson Tide which is still very much alive today.
Dan made it out to games in 2015 – one of which, vs Ole Miss in Tuscaloosa coincidentally I was also at – but these days he watches the Crimson Tide just as passionately from afar.
Wait! Huntsville, Alabama again!
Andrew Ramsay is from Somerset and was (& still is) a long term Buffalo Bills fan before his introduction to the college game. What surprised me from my conversation with Andrew was that his introduction also came from a trip to Huntsville, Alabama! Which seemed quite the coincidence. In Andrew’s case he wasn’t visiting for pleasure but rather through work. While on his work trip to Huntsville Andrew was taken to an Auburn game by workmates.
“I was completely blown away by what happens on a Saturday afternoon with 80,000 people in the stadium” Andrew told me.
Since that initial visit to Jordan Hare stadium, Andrew has been to a number of games involving different teams over the years but is still hooked by the atmosphere inside college stadiums.
“The game is more engaging, more competitive” Andrew continues. “There’s something very genuine, very sincere about college football”.
Go Hilltoppers!
Having written about college football for over ten years now, little surprises me. But I was taken aback when I was contacted by a Western Kentucky Hilltoppers fan keen to tell me his story. Matthew Wright is from Southampton and was an existing NFL fan when he was offered a scholarship to continue his studies at Western Kentucky University.
When he arrived on campus Matthew thought he could fit in quickly being an NFL fan, allowing him – he thought – a seamless integration into the culture of watching college athletics. This theory proved ineffectual for Matthew.
“It was a huge culture shock” Matthew told me. “How big college sports is compared with the professional game took me by surprise “.
Matthew was invited to go along to his first Hilltoppers game by some school friends and was instantly hooked. Today he’s a frustrated Hilltoppers fan as the shift away from access to ESPN Player means watching the smaller schools is virtually impossible these days. Matthew now consumes his football via podcasts and with the help from family overseas.
“It’s a real shame that ESPN Player disappeared” says Matthew. “I keep up via social media these days”.
Horns Up!
Ben Tredinnick from Cornwall is a Texas Longhorns fan. Ben’s route to college football is more traditional as a New York Giants fan and then via the NFL Draft which garners huge interest in this country. However it was Ben’s curiosity that got him into the college game. A fan of New York sports in general suggests Rutgers should be his college game.
But no, the Texas Longhorns are the team that Ben follows closely. So why the shift from NYC to Austin? Interestingly the love for the Longhorns came via golf. Watching Jordan Spieth on the PGA tour Ben noticed Spieth’s Horns Up hand signal. Some due diligence led Ben to Spieth’s time in Austin at the University of Texas. So Ben started watching the Longhorns but is at pains to point out that he followed the Burnt Orange back in the days when Texas wasn’t quite “back”. Unlike the New York sports team he follows, sticking with the Longhorns has eventually proved to be the right choice.!
Ben, like almost everyone I speak to starts their football Saturday’s by watching College Gameday. It’s as much a part of the Gameday tradition over here as it is in the US. A point not lost on the Gameday team when they arrived in Dublin last year. But more on that later.
Overseas Alumni
A guaranteed audience of hard core college football fans are those whos link to the schools they support is virtually unbreakable. Even when they find themselves many thousands of miles away from home. The alumni associations of American Universities are scattered all over the world but unsurprisingly London has more than its fair share of US Alumni bases. In fact the US Alumni Association lists 70 different universities on its website with schools from Ohio State to Tulane and Stanford to Harvard listed as having UK Alumni Chapters.
I spoke with two SEC Alumni Chapters, Tennessee and Georgia.
Go Vols UK
Jeanie Torchio moved to London two years ago. An alumnus of the University of Tennessee Jeanie thought no more than reaching out to fellow Vols who had also made their way to London. However, Jeanie was more than a little shocked to learn that UT did not have a formal Chapter in London or any city worldwide.
“When I got here I reached out to the University of Tennesse Alumni Office in Knoxville to see what they have here and they told me they didn’t have anything at all. So I volunteered to kick stuff off!” Jeanie told me. “It was really grass roots” continued Jeanie.
The initial list of UK based Alumni that the Alumni office provided Jeanie with only had 25 people on it. Only one person responded to an initial communication with the sole response telling Jeanie that they no longer lived in London!
“Boy we’re really staring from ground zero here…” she laughed.
What followed was a lot of determined LinkedIn based detective work, cold calling and reaching out to contacts to see if they would be interested in a Vols London Alumni Chapter. All of this hard work and persistence has certainly paid off with the Chapter being formally recognised by the University as its first international chapter. During football season the Chapter hosts regular meet ups to watch Vols football which proves hugely popular with fans of other teams and new fans joining the London Vol nation, usually at the Passyunk Avenue pub in Waterloo.
Dawgs in the UK
The Georgia Bulldogs have a well established Chapter in the UK. Drew Bacon, a 2008 graduate of UGA is the current President of the London Chapter which has around 300 active members. With the recent national championship success of Georgia football, the Chapter is contacted often by visiting UGA Alumni or other college football fans from here or the US to meet up to watch games. This gives Drew a unique insight into the growth of the game this side of the pond.
“another element of the growth in CFB interest over here is the atmosphere and pageantry of the college game is closer to what they experience with Premier League. As CFB becomes more accessible, I think UK viewers are seeing a game like Texas vs. Georgia on Sky Sports with 100,000 people in the stadium absolutely losing their minds and it’s piquing interest. There is also the annual game in Dublin, Ireland that I think contributes to the rise of it across the pond”.
But it’s fair to say that the Alumni chapters do their bit to extend the hand of hospitality to new and existing fans of the college game. This goes a long way to attracting a new audience which is driving the interest in the game.
“For the last couple SEC championships, we’ve had locals reach out to us knowing this was a big game and if they could watch with us. And not only with the NFL and the annual CFB Dublin game, but also with the MLB and USA basketball showcases in London, there has been a growing interest in American sports overall. Because of that, we see more people show up to our game watching bar the day of asking if they can watch with us” said Drew.
The Media
live on tv
Five years ago college football could only be watched via BT Sports on satellite and cable and online via ESPN Player. Back then I imagine the viewership was committed but relatively small. However with the cessation of BT Sport (which became TNT Sport & did not hold the TV rights for CFB) and the demise of the ESPN Player in the UK and Ireland a viewing void was created. Thankfully Sky Sports picked up some games late that season and has since developed an expanded offering. However it remains the only way to watch college sports in the UK and it is noticeable that Sky hasn’t committed to providing a long term offering yet. Which feels like a wait and see approach from the broadcaster. But as UK fans will tell you, something is better than nothing which was the stark situation that they faced in August 2023.
SKY Sports
Unsurprisingly Sky Sports did not want to share viewer numbers for what was only their second season and first full season showing college football on its platform. Sky did publish record breaking numbers for Super Bowl LVIII which attracted more viewers than ever before for the NFL’s flagship season finale. While we can’t directly correlate the success of college football viewing figures to this, it is not unrealistic to believe that the college football games shown are benefitting from the wider interest in American football. Noticeably Sky also published the levels of social media impressions across Super Bowl week. During the week building up to the NFL finale 12m views were recorded across all social media platforms with 7.6m Twitter/X impressions on Super Bowl Sunday alone. I deviate from the college football topic briefly to demonstrate that the way we consume content has changed dramatically in the last five years.
Social Media
The social media space in the UK & Ireland is healthy and well served with a multitude of websites and podcasts some of which have dedicated college football content and others which are NFL/CFB hybrids. Regardless, the demand for content is huge and rising, which supports the number of online outlets serving the UK & Ireland audience.
You are reading this on the Touchdown which had over 1 million views of its content last season. This is hugely impressive for a truly independent, sponsor free UK based media outlet. Certainly the Touchdown provides hybrid content with very strong NFL and NFL Draft offerings year round. However the demand for college sports writing has increased exponentially over the last 3 years. I spoke to Simon Carroll, the founder of The Touchdown and the Head of CFB/NFL Draft content for the Touchdown about the growth of college football in the UK.
“As a big college football fan myself, it’s exciting to see the growth of the sport this side of the Atlantic” said Simon.
“When we first launched The Touchdown, this arm of football was an unknown for us in terms of readership and content consumption – but it quickly became apparent that it would be our fastest growing sector.
The yearly Week 0 contest in Dublin adds further exposure, and as the NFL becomes a mainstream sport in the UK it’s inevitable more eyes will turn to the college game over here. I’m proud of how the Touchdown and all it’s talented writers are at the forefront of this growth.”
The podcast I co-host alongside with my two other dear friends, The College Chaps has seen traffic grow steadily in the seven years we have been broadcasting and certainly strongly since the lockdown period in 2020. Host data shows that the audience is split geographically 50/50 between the US and UK/Ireland which tells us that there is a US listener base intrigued by the different perspective that the podcast gives. It also informs us that there is a UK/Ireland listener base looking for home-grown content about the American game. The College Chaps is not alone in this space with many UK based podcasts talking about the college game.
The Dublin Game
season opener
The best example of college football fandom across the pond is the College Football Classic game held in Dublin, Ireland. The last week in August has fast become a pilgrimage for college fans from the USA, Ireland, the UK and from all over Europe. The series began back in 1988 growing during that period to become a staple of the college football schedule. So much so that the game played in Week 0 has become the unofficial “kick off game” for the new college football season. It is a hugely enjoyable weekend hosted by our Irish cousins who know a thing or two about hospitality.
Before getting into the numbers, anecdotally the Game has quickly become a showcase of college athletics set in a unique locations. The Aviva stadium in Dublin is host to the game and in 2024 was played to a 47,988 sellout crowd. This included 25,909 fans from the US. The 2023 game which featured the Notre Dame Fighting Irish had 39,702 US fans in attendance. Now if a game is tailor made for a fanbase then this is it. The Fighting Irish in Ireland is a headliner writer’s dream so there is no surprise that a larger than normal travelling fan base was recorded for the 2023 game. It is reasonable to assume that the 2024 attendance numbers reflect a more regularised mix of fans origin and points to a strong fan base in Ireland and the UK.
college gameday live
Last year’s international debut of College Gameday was also a shining example of the US broadcasters taking notice of the growth of the game overseas. This was the iconic pregame show’s international debut attracting 1.6m viewers across the 4 hour broadcast with 2.0m viewers in the final hour. Bear in mind also that Gameday is aired at 7am eastern Time in the US. That’s a lot of people up early on a Saturday morning before the season has even kicked off. But what was a real barometer for interest on this side of the Atlantic was the huge crowd in attendance on Dame Street in the heart of the Irish Capital to watch the show live. I was lucky enough to be on the Gameday set that day and I was astounded by the sheer numbers of fans who came to watch the show – as far as the eyes could see. It sent a strong message to the broadcasters that there is a sizeable fanbase in Europe.
For the game itself ESPN reported 5.0m TV viewers watched the game live. This was ESPN’s highest Week 0 audience since 2019 and was the highest ever watched college football game played in Ireland. These are the kinds of numbers that get people such as broadcasters and advertisers excited which is good for the game. So could we see more games or maybe even a game on UK soil? For that we need the opinion of the Team’s who will want involved enough to travel.
The Teams
Aside from Notre Dame who have a very natural hook into Ireland, the rest of college football starts from a relatively level base when it comes to developing a fanbase outside the US. But the question is – does college football need a fanbase outside of even its own state? This is not the NFL after all which has openly declared its intention to develop the game into a global sport. College athletics has no such desire. Or does it?
American universities have had to waken up abruptly to the commercial reality that Schools now require to revenue share with its student athletes. Extending the brand as far as possible helps greatly with merchandise sales, enticing overseas fee paying students to their universities but also now more than ever attracting the best sporting talent globally. So there is significant value to reaching out to new audiences. This point is not lost on the Schools administrators.
Rock Chalk Jayhawks
Kansas Head Coach Lance Leipold reached out to me in August of last year following an appearance I made on the College Football Show on Sirius XM talking about the college football audience this side of the pond. Coach Leipold is a strong advocate of bringing his Jayhawks across the pond to play a game. And not satisfied with joining the ranks of playing a game in Ireland, Coach wants to bring the Jayhawks to London.
Speaking of getting the chance to bring his team across the pond, Coach Leipold told the College Chaps podcast,
“I’ve expressed my desire as a Head Coach to our administrators to get the chance”
“Back when I was a graduate assistant at Wisconsin we played a game in Tokyo, Japan. I still believe in the cultural experience for our young men. If you look at what the NFL keeps doing, starting games in London and keep branching out I think college football, the way we are evolving to that model, it’s a great time for a place like Kansas to explore this even further”.
Coach Leipold has some interesting thoughts about developing the Jayhawks outside of the US and is certainly amongst the most progressive head coaches that I have talked to. A game in London possibly piggybacking on the back of a college basketball game or a double header while the NFL is in town is a clever way of sharing infrastructure and resource making additional games a real possibility. Fingers crossed!
For the brand
LSU Head coach, Brian Kelly has experience of coaching overseas having taken Notre Dame to Dublin in 2017. Kelly also planned to take the Irish back in 2020 although the game was postponed as a result of the Covid-19 out break. By the time the game was rescheduled Kelly had left the Irish to take over the LSU Tigers role in Baton Rouge. However that is not to say that Kelly has left behind his designs to comeback to Ireland.
Speaking to Coach Kelly at last years SEC media Days I asked him of his thoughts about taking the Tigers across the pond.
“We’ve done such a great job with the LSU brand throughout the country the next step for us is international” said Kelly.
“The travel there is so clean and easy. Ireland has been such a great destination for other football programs to go and play. Aviva and Cork stadiums both are great venues to play in. I think it sets up so easy from my perspective for American football to go over there and be received.
I’ve been a huge proponent and been pushing our administration and hopefully we are able to see that come to fruition”.
Recruitment – Nick Saban
The other aspect is recruiting on the athletics front. As the game becomes more global so does the opportunity to recruit talent not just from the USA. This was a question I put to then Alabama Head coach, Nick Saban at my first SEC Media days event in Nashville in 2023.
“Things are more global than they have ever been” Coach Saban told me. “Football is creating more of an international brand in terms of where they are playing, who’s playing and how they are playing. With the players that we have that are international and the players that we have on our team right now and the ones that we have recruited in the past they have all made a significant contribution”.
The fact that Alabama had European players on the roster that season and continue to recruit within Europe shows the quality of player has improved significantly.
This is helped by programs such as the NFL Academy in the UK who are doing a ton of work for athletes either trying to make it to the NFL or are young enough to be able to take the route via college. The Academy is now starting to see a steady stream of young athletes make it into the collegiate system to prepare themselves for a career playing football professionally. This is a game changer for athletes in the UK and Europe.
It Just means More
There is no question that Greg Sankey has passionately taken the baton from pioneering SEC Commissioner, Roy Kramer. It has been Sankey’s innovative thinking that has made the SEC the de facto largest conference in college football. So is an International presence on the agenda around the table in Birmingham, Alabama rather than Birmingham, England?
“The ability to touch and feel what we do is important” Sankey told the College Chaps podcast in 2023 “and that’s why we have South Carolina women’s basketball playing in Paris this year and Kentucky plying Michigan in London in Men’s basketball. Can we build those touchpoints and make it economically viable? Make it a rallying point for Alumni’s who maybe living abroad but also draw a little bit of a new audience who’s heard of this but who hasn’t touched it or felt it. Those are reasons that we would continue to expand our footprint”.
“It’s something that we continue to discuss. Perhaps at some point things will align, the right teams will have interest – whether its two conference opponents or an SEC team versus another but it’s something which is at least an annual conversation”.
With the Dublin games scheduled out through 2028 so we know that an SEC won’t be playing in that game before the end of this decade. However who is to say additional or alternative games won’t be being played before then?
Cheers to college football
What can we take away from all of this?
The signs are there that interest in college football on this side of the pond is on the verge of exploding. And for all you college fan nerds out there, you know that once you find this game from wherever you have come, your life is about to change. Sports will never be the same again.
So we raise a glass to toast the Gators in the Swamp, Wolverines in the Big House, Green Wave in N’awlins and the Cougars in Provo.
We rejoice the beauty of the history, traditions, rivalries, the passion of the crazy fans. There is no sport like it.
For my shameless plug on behalf of The Touchdown, we are excited to be at the centre of coverage for fans in the UK. So much so that we have had representation at the Cotton Bowl, SEC Championship game, the College Football Classic in Ireland and various other US based games. I will be back at SEC Media days this year for the third successive year such is our commitment to bringing the best content to our UK readers and listeners. And we love it!
So here is to another awesome season of college football!
GEORGE SOMERVILLE
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER
GEORGE IS A LONG STANDING FANATIC OF LIFE AND FOOTBALL IN THE DEEP SOUTH AND WRITES HIS WEEKLY COLUMN CALLED “IT’S ONLY SEC” FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. HE IS ALSO CO-HOST AND ONE THIRD OF THE COLLEGE CHAPS PODCAST, THE UK’S FIRST PODCAST DEDICATED TO THE COLLEGE GAME.