Cross-Continental sportsinternationalization : A case study on the NFL’s internationalization process to Europe

Abstract: This study takes a deep dive into the internationalization process of the NFL and explains the various steps involved. The study is based on classic theories of internationalization and theories of sports internationalization. The study is mainly made up of secondary data such as newspaper- and journal articles. The results of the study are that the NFL went through a stepwise process which can be connected to previous internationalization literature. However, the results of this study suggest that the process is not as linear as previous literature describes. The study also finds that adaptation plays a key role in sports internationalization. Finally, the thesis contributes to the sports internationalization area by adding more empirical knowledge about this particular branch of the internationalization literature.