Gridiron’s rise in Australia

The rise of gridiron in Australia’s sporting landscape has reached the point where talks of a NFL game being held in the country are no longer scoffed at.

It’s a legitimate possibility.

Gridiron has been enjoying an increasing profile in Australian media, taking on the traditionally dominating sports of rugby league and union, even AFL.

NFL games are broadcast on free-to-air (through 7mate) and pay television (Fox Sports and ESPN on Foxtel and Austar), while the Super Bowl has been shown live on the Seven Network.

Due to interest in sporting stars who have converted from their codes, particularly Ben Graham, Saverio Rocca (AFL) and Jarryd Hayne (NRL), gridiron is regularly covered by the Herald Sun and other Australian news publications.

Hayne’s story is arguably one of the biggest in recent history that has helped to launch the sport to the forefront of the Australian public’s (figurative) mind.

He made a well-publicised code shift from the NRL to NFL in 2015, signing with the San Francisco 49ers in August that year.

While Hayne’s sensational move to the NFL was short lived – he retired in May 2016 – it had given gridiron in Australia the attention it needed.

It also brought Australia to the attention of American gridiron organisations.

Not since 1999 had an American football game – with actual American football players – been staged in Australia.

In a multimillion-dollar, pre-Olympics marketing assault, then reigning Super Bowl champions the Denver Broncos and rivals the San Diego Chargers flew to Sydney to play in the American Bowl.

Two 747s were chartered to bring out the players, referees, ball boys, cheer squad, logistics team, their own television crews and, of course, the marketers.

In a 1999 report by ABC television program 7.30, John Millman, a promoter for the American Bowl, told journalists the event was “the combination of a presidential campaign with a major sports event with a military operation”.

Doug Quinn, the vice president of NFL International, told 7.30 at the time that Australia was an important market for the sporting league giant.

“Australia is a market for us that is very important and Sydney especially going into the Olympics in 2000 and we’re very excited to have the opportunity to play here,” he said.

Seventeen years and a Hayne retirement later, it was announced that the opening game of the 2016 NCAA College Football Championships would be played in Sydney.

The University of California Golden Bears and the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors faced off in the first American faction on Australian soil since 1999.

The Bears thumped Hawaii 51-31.

More than 61,000 fans attended the game at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium.

While football was the main drawcard, American-style food was a close second.

But the demand for it proved a problem, with fans complaining of having to queue for an hour for giant hot dogs and ANZ Stadium running out of beer.

A spokesman for ANZ Stadium issued an apology afterwards, saying the demand for food was “unprecedented”.

“We had more than 61,000 people walk into the venue just before lunchtime all wanting to eat an drink,” he said.

“This created long queues that took an extended period to service.

“The specific demand for American-style food products that took longer to prepare – such as the 2-foot hot dogs – added to the challenges.”

But the big question was if the game was a prelude to bigger American sporting events in Australia.

After the game, University of Hawaii’s athletic director David Matlin told Australian media that the NFL was watching the event closely and believed a competitive fixture is on the cards for Sydney.

“Obviously [the NFL] are paying attention to this,” he said. “I think it’s a possibility. I think you have the facilities and the sports enthusiasts, so it’s a real good place for sporting events.”

While a NFL game is not on the cards yet, a second NCAA game is.

Stanford University Cardinals will take on Rice University Owls at Allianz Stadium  in August 2017.