NFL points the way to sport’s global circus

Around-the-world travel has become an increasing requirement of modern sport. This week Uefa “confirmed its opposition” to domestic games being played abroad while permitting two to take place. Miami will now host Villarreal v Barcelona in December before AC Milan and Como head to Perth in 2026. The mooted new R360 rugby union competition would involve matches being played in ­different cities across the world. The NBA is set to have games in Berlin, Paris, London and Manchester over the next two years.

This has given rise to the global sporting city. With sport unmoored from locality, the modern metropolis markets itself as the ideal place to host, with its combination of stadiums, transport links and fans. Sometimes the pitch bears little resemblance to reality, as anyone who has ever attempted to take public transport in Los Angeles will know, but as long as there are enough buzzwords in the deck, it is possible to bring whatever sport that is desired to a city. Punters can even watch sumo wrestling at the Royal Albert Hall next week.

As the city becomes the organising unit of sporting life, so the relationship between teams and the places they call home changes. Nowhere does that feel truer than in New York, where the past decade has been a void of success for its home teams. It can boast two teams each of American football, baseball and basketball. The last time any of those sides won something significant was when the Giants took the 2011 Super Bowl.

The New York Yankees crashed out of the MLB play-offs this week while the New York Jets, who grace London today, have a 0-5 record this season. Ask fans of these teams why they have struggled so much and they will not give a singular answer. It is not like the teams don’t spend. The Mets made Juan Soto the best-paid sportsperson in the world with his $765m (£573m), 15-year contract last December. The New York Giants have the third-highest payroll in the NFL, and are currently 1-4 this year. Mismanagement, complacency and sheer bad luck are all issues at play.

There has not been no sporting success in New York. The New York Liberty won the WNBA championship in 2024 and is one of the most vibrant sporting experiences in the world right now. Gotham FC won the NWSL Championship in the year prior to that. The fact that two women’s sports teams have won national titles while the men’s wait continues reveals how there is an extra level of detail paid to teams who do not have an automatic audience. In sports where success is a more stringent requirement for interest from fans, New York has managed to excel. That does not apply in the same way to New York’s men’s teams.

While New York teams have ­floundered in the past decade, London’s continue to succeed. Chelsea and West Ham can point to continental and global trophies over the past couple of years, with Crystal Palace winning last season’s FA Cup. Arsenal might have missed out on silverware but can credibly claim to have been at a minimum the second-best team in the country in recent years, and are currently top of the Premier League.

While football dominates the city, it has not done too badly in other sports either. London-based cricket teams have won six of 10 Hundred titles across the men’s and women’s competitions, while Surrey, who play at the Oval in south London, won the County Championship three years on the trot between 2022 and 2024. Saracens last won the Premiership rugby title in 2022-23 and Harlequins did it in 2020-21.

The differences between being a local team in an American market and a European one are significant. America has long had far less reverence for where teams play, while that continues to be a sacrosanct principle here. But as London’s prestige as a sporting city continues to grow, it may be wise to heed the experiences of New York’s teams. Prices at Premier League matches continue to rise, with demand supercharged by tourist interest. As sport becomes further detached from location, revenues can become abstract from success. If paying fans will turn up regardless, carelessness can become tolerated.

Photograph by Megan Briggs/Getty Images