of U.S. Major Sports Leagues

F1 has been able to cultivate millions of fans from around the world for decades by hosting races all over the world and highlighting drivers from different racial backgrounds and nationalities. Over the past few years, F1 has expanded tremendously in the United States, with the U.S. hosting three Grand Prix events in 2024, the most races hosted by a single country during the season. Although F1 has an overall different league structure, I recommend that the NBA, NFL and other American sport leagues look to F1 for a structure for further expansion. In recent years, the sport’s viewership and fan base has expanded immensely. There are many reasons why F1 has picked up momentum in the United States and internationally including the popularity of Netflix’s Drive to Survive, found to inspire 2.3% more viewers to watch F1 content in 2022 (Driven to Watch: How a Sports Docuseries Drove U.S. Fans to Formula 1, 2022). The show is not the only reason for the sport’s success, especially as other sports attempt to replicate the effect of the show on sports fans. The utilization of international academies or scouting of potential stars and development of a unique personality for each race based on location have lended well to engaging a culturally diverse audience. These dedicated efforts have further expanded the sport’s global audience even despite the average cost of an F1 weekend experience being $2,400 (Koebert, 2023). Even with the high price of attending an F1 event in-person, fans from around the world tune in to support their team or racer. This success has translated to viewership on television rising in 2023 to 1.11 million U.S. viewers, a nearly 100% increase from 2018 (Hall, 2023). 

Scouting for F1 drivers starts at a very young age, with kids who participate in karting. Some of these kids started at the age of 4 but most karters really honed in on skills between the ages of 12-15 (Sieff, 2024). Karting teams are not managed or run through F1 or specific F1 teams but rather provide opportunities for F1 scouts to look at potential rising talent. If NFL or NBA teams that have dominance and fandom within specific international regions established satellite teams, it could lead to future development of star players matching the rigor of both American football and basketball in the United States. The leagues could also expand their international academies to have more than 15-20 high-school aged students, as per the current structure of the NBA and NFL’s academies, while starting to have kids play these sports at younger ages. This would replicate a similar structure in the United States while introducing the sport to others around the world. Events and experiences that focus on introducing individuals to the sports are incredibly beneficial, especially alongside the ongoing efforts from the LA28 Olympics. Although it is a step in the right direction that the NFL and U.S. Department of State hosted over 50 Super Bowl watch parties internationally. These kinds of efforts help in establishing localized fandom but why is the end of the season the only time some of these communities see any excitement around the sport locally? Investing more time and resources to showcase these sports in international communities would help create excitement for fans throughout the season and develop larger fanbases. 

F1 has successfully localized their races, creating different atmospheres for a race depending on the culture of that city or country (Ajayi, 2015). Racers who are originally from the country that a race is happening in are also often highlighted in some way, developing further localization between F1 viewers and the athletes. In comparison, at the first inaugural NFL game held in São Paulo in 2024, Brazilian individuals attending noted difficulty following the game and questioned “why the game lasted so long.” From the perspective of the players, some noted that the crowd was rowdy and loud the entire game, losing the traditional U.S.-based practice of “home-field advantage” for the game’s designated home team, the Philadelphia Eagles. With an overall population of 203 million people in Brazil, the league estimates the South American country to be the second-largest international market (Pearson, 2024). Although the NFL or NBA should not change the rules of the game depending on each country, the leagues need to consider how different sports viewership practices may impact the experience at an international NFL or NBA game. Putting a game in another country is not enough to facilitate a positive experience for individuals, especially for those with little prior contact to the sport. The leagues need to adapt fan experience opportunities depending on the needs of a particular market alongside the games, such as adapting carnivalesque cheerleading routines after a mixed reaction to the NFL cheerleaders from the Brazilian crowd (Pearson, 2024).