American Football is looking to expand its reach beyond the US — but Middle East gridiron fans may be in for a long wait.
That is the view of Ahmed Nassar, an Egyptian-American who is the president of the licensing arm of the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA).
While there could soon be plans to host football camps in the region, a full-blown move is unlikely.
He was speaking just a day after the New Orleans Saints beat the Miami Dolphins 20-0 at London’s famous Wembley Stadium.
The UK capital has hosted regular season NFL games for a decade, with four clashes taking place in the city this year.
The move is part of the sport’s ambition to branch out beyond the US and internationalize the game, with talk that eventually there will be a London franchise.
Middle East fans, however, will have to wait for the game to make its regional debut.
“Sports on the world stage is important (in the Middle East), we have the (soccer) World Cup coming up there and there have been other events that the region has been keen to attract,” Nassar told Arab News.
“I think we’ve had some very preliminary discussions with people in the region about doing things like camps, football camps there,” he said.
Nassar used the example of work done with Hispanic NFL players as a model which could be used to promote the game in the Middle East.
“There are a handful of players with Middle Eastern roots, the Seattle Seahawks’ Oday Aboushi is a Palestinian American, and there are at least two or three more, and so we can maybe tie into that,” he said.
“We’ve done a lot of work with players of Hispanic heritage, there was a game in Mexico City last year so tying into that so I think tying in players to with their heritage and doing more targeted media.
“I think we can get there. And I think to the extent there’s an interest in and demand for American culture we certainly fit squarely within that, so exporting something is something we’re going to keep looking at.”

Source:Arabnews