In sunny Santa Clara, preparations are well underway for America’s biggest game, the season’s curtain closer, the Super bowl.
Yet, this Super bowl is different to most. It closes the curtain on a season where international engagement has never been higher.
A record seven games were played across five countries, with London welcoming three showing how the British audience has never been more infatuated with American football.
So why do British American football teams still struggle for the spotlight?
“Our biggest challenge as a sport in this country is just putting ourselves in front of people,” said George Foster, Manchester Titans Head of Operations.
“The amount of people who say ‘I enjoy American football, I watched the NFL on TV, I didn’t know it even existed in this country’ is unbelievable.”
Despite an ever-expanding appetite for the sport, the Titans’ main challenge is simply being seen. They have invested heavily in their website, social media presence, youth programmes, live streams and gameday experience to harness a local audience.
Foster said: “One of the things that we’re actively driving within the Manchester market is doing everything we can to try and put ourselves on the map and put ourselves in front of people.
“American football isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s thousands, if not tens of thousands of people in Manchester who would absolutely love to come watch American football or even maybe even be a part of it, who just simply don’t know exists.
“That’s the big problem that we’ve got to tackle.”
Where the Titans have struggled in the past is translating the UK’s eager NFL audience into fans coming through the gates.
This is something the Titans have worked tirelessly to address, curating their matchday experience to bring more fans through the gates.
Foster said: “British American football for a long time has missed the boat on capturing that audience but it feels in the last five years we’ve really started to catch up on that and take advantage of the market that the NFL’s created for us.
“Historically, we would host games, and the game day would be just for the players. Whereas last year, we made a really defined effort to turn that on its head.
“It’s trying to deliver an experience of American football that is as close as you can get to the real thing over in the States.
“Obviously, our talent level and our budget are nowhere near, but if you’re interested in American football in this country, unless you’ve got the money to go down to London, it isn’t accessible to you, and what we can offer is that accessibility.”
It’s a long way from the bright lights of Santa Clara, but it’s the community orientation that sets British American football apart from the NFL.
Foster said: “There’s a degree of connection between our players and our fans because we all come from the same place.”
Yet, getting eyes on the game is not the only barrier to the sport, getting people on the field can prove expensive and often seem unreachable.
The club works to provide kit for those looking to get involved with the sport, something they see as crucial to improving accessibility.
This, alongside the cost of renting facilities, means it costs an eye watering amount to simply get people on the field.
Foster said: “We can’t sugarcoat the fact that it’s an expensive sport to play.
“Our challenge is trying to address that because a lot of our income as a club goes into simply surviving in terms of paying for a practice field.
“Over the last two years we’ve bought something like 40 or 50 new helmets, and each one comes in around £300.”
The club recently raised £5,000, an amount that was matched by Sport England, to provide new helmets for the club.
These fundraisers help break down barriers to participation in allowing the club to continue providing kit for their patrons.
The sport promises to grow exponentially in the future with the growth of flag football in UK Schools.
Flag football investment from teams such as the Jacksonville Jaguars have led to a growing audience for the sport’s next generation, with a recent Guardian article suggesting the sport has gone “berserk”.
With flag football being added to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, investment and involvement in British American football promises to grow.
“The flag initiative within schools is absolutely wonderful and I think it’s going to be incredibly successful,” said Foster.
“The challenge that we face is just making sure we’ve got the capacity to handle that surge in interest.
“It’s making sure that the sport is in a good place where a 11-year-old who’s just picked up flag can see that the Manchester Titans have a Premier team who play in these exciting games.
“Then they can go and watch and aspire to be on that field in 10-15 years, and it’s that pathway that so valuable.
“It’s being able to build that storyline for an 11-year-old kid who’s just picked up flag, being able to see themselves playing in European competition or representing Great Britain in their future that’s the real inspiration that will keep them in in the sport.”
Despite struggling for the spotlight now, British American football is growing and will continue to grow year on year.
To the Titans, it’s a matter of simply ensuring future audiences don’t look over the pond for their football fix, but can start to look closer to home.