SEOUL, The Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) will look to build new fandom of American football in South Korea this year, the league office said.
The NFL announced an expansion of its Global Markets Program on Monday (U.S. local time), and South Korea is one of five new markets, along with Argentina, Colombia, Japan and Nigeria, set to participate this year.
Established in 2022, the Global Markets Program gives NFL clubs international marketing rights to build brand awareness and fandom beyond the United States with events and other commercial opportunities. The NFL said 25 out of its 32 teams will participate in the program across 19 international markets.
The Rams picked South Korea and Japan as new markets to tap into this year after reaching out to Australia, China, Mexico and New Zealand in earlier seasons. The Rams could potentially schedule games in countries outside the U.S.
The NFL is the most popular professional sports league in America and its championship final, Super Bo
wl, is one of the most watched sporting events in the U.S. each year. American football doesn’t have much presence in South Korea, though games are available for livestreaming and on demand on the local streaming site Coupang Play.
“The momentum of the Global Markets Program underscores the strong commitment of NFL clubs to growing the game and their passionate fan bases around the world. Clubs are seeing the value and opportunity in new markets and aligning with the league to accelerate that growth together,” Peter O’Reilly, NFL’s executive vice president of club business, major events and international, told NFL.com. “We can’t wait to see the ongoing impact of the program on fandom and global growth in this season and in years ahead, both in new and existing markets and via new clubs joining and active clubs deepening their strategic commitments.”
The Rams were founded in 1936 as the Cleveland Rams. They later moved to Los Angeles and then St. Louis before returning to Los Angeles in 2016.
They won Super
Bowl titles in 2000 and 2022.
Source: Yonhap News Agency