The Indian government has made a sizeable investment in introducing American Football to an Indian audience. Michael Irvin, Ron Jaworski and Mike Ditka are heading the move to tap into a large Asian television audience.
Being called, the Elite Football League of India, the expectations are high for investors and NFL figures alike.
Mike Ditka, made famous by the Chicago Bears victory in Super Bowl XX in 1986, was quoted in the guardian saying, “I'm involved in a project now to start a professional football league in India. A few of us are behind it and there's big money behind it and it's going to happen. There's 1.3b [actually 1.2b] people over there. They have got the money and nothing to put on TV, but cricket. The ground-work is pretty much laid out - they've got some big investors. If it works it's a no-brainer. You're going to have teams who will probably play all the games in one stadium. If it works, the TV [revenue potential] alone is incredible because there's nothing to put on TV. It's the most American country basically of any country out there because they copy a lot of things from us. That's something that I know is in the works."
This is an extension of what is already in the works in trying to introduce American Football to other countries around the world. Soccer seems to be the more popular sport in every country except for the United States and when others think of football, it’s soccer that is in the forefront of their minds.
The question remains whether or not the sport will pick up and be interested by international audiences.
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