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This article was first published in the May 2016 UK edition of Accounting and Business magazine.

The US National Football League (NFL)’s Super Bowl is among the biggest sporting events in the world; in the US alone 170 million viewers tuned in to see the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers earlier this year in the 50th championship game. The razzmatazz has also extended over the years to the pre-game and half-time entertainment. This year Lady Gaga sang the national anthem and Coldplay entertained the fans at half time.

Unsurprisingly, commercial revenues for the event are massive. It costs US$5m to place a 30-second advert during the event. The costs are understandable when you consider that nine of the top 10 highest-rated TV shows ever are broadcasts of Super Bowls.

Self-confessed sports fan and NFL International finance director Scott Barwick is charged with ensuring that the NFL is in a position to transplant its phenomenal popularity in the US to other parts of the globe. A clue to the markets that the NFL currently sees as priorities can be found in the location of its overseas offices – the UK, Canada, Mexico and China.

‘NFL International is responsible for all of the NFL’s business outside of the US,’ says Barwick. ‘It is one organisation across the four locations.’

During the 1980s, American football enjoyed unprecedented success in the UK, largely thanks to Channel 4, which was the first channel to broadcast NFL games on terrestrial television. Like many people growing up in the UK during the 1980s, 47-year-old Barwick became hooked on American football through the TV coverage at a time when Americana was all the rage in Britain.

The UK is now seen as a key market to increase the popularity and revenues of the sport overseas. London’s Wembley Stadium has hosted sell-out NFL games since the Miami Dolphins met the New York Giants there in 2007. The popularity of the sport has seen the number of games played at the stadium rise to three per year in 2014 and 2015, and the NFL has now struck a five-year deal with Wembley that will see two games played in the stadium each year until 2020.

The NFL has also sealed a deal to play three games over the next three years at the home of rugby union, Twickenham, and has already sold 40,000 season tickets across the 2016 games. ‘We are very pleased with the fans’ positive response to playing at Twickenham and also that they have embraced the NFL playing games across two stadiums, as this is going to be the norm for us. So 2016 will be an important year for the UK office. We need to ensure that our staff have the appropriate support and resources to successfully execute the events. It is a big challenge.’

In Mexico, the NFL has agreed a deal to play three overseas matches starting this autumn, which has brought a different set of challenges for Barwick and the finance team. ‘Mexico is a great example of why I love my job,’ he says. ‘We had been talking about the possibility of a Mexico game for a couple of years and then all of a sudden it became a reality.

‘What we needed to do on the finance side was to build a tax infrastructure that gave the commercial team in Mexico certainty in their decision-making. The international games are big events with high levels of investment, so we need to be sure that we fully understand our exposure to withholding taxes, VAT and tax residency issues. It is a really interesting challenge made easier by our experiences in the UK,’ says Barwick.

Moving up the league

Barwick’s first job at the NFL was as financial controller of the London Monarchs, an American football team competing in the European league. ‘We were responsible for running games at the grounds of Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea football clubs. We also housed the 70-strong team of players and staff at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre for 10 weeks. This role taught me the importance of communicating with different departments to ensure that the finance team were able to put in place the necessary controls over expenditure and cash.’

The controls didn’t always work. Barwick recalls the players buying a cheap telephone handset, plugging it into the hotel fax line and then taking it in turns to call home to the US, racking up thousands of pounds in call charges over the 10 weeks.

He then moved into the role of finance director for NFL Europe, which gave him responsibility over a group of companies and also exposure to an international business landscape. ‘I was able to gain a lot of experience in both these areas, which allowed me to be effective in my current role. Gaining international exposure is something that can place you in a strong position for future roles. We often look for international experience when we hire,’ he says.

Barwick adds that the NFL and many US companies attach great importance to education and training, and the ACCA Qualification is one of those they look for, along with MBAs and the legal exams. ‘The ACCA training, both through the exams and work experience, provides you with a really sound basis to approach problems and for decision-making. From there you can build up your industry-specific skills.’

Team tactics

As a standalone operation NFL International has revenues of US$300m a year and is primarily a media business, but it also drives revenue from live games and intellectual property, such as licensing and sponsorship.

‘The international finance team is an extension of the US finance team, allowing us the benefit of being able to tap into US resources, including the financial controller’s office, financial planning and analysis, tax and so on. This is a great help when it comes to projects like the Mexico game,’ he says.

Barwick (who was also finance director of NFL UK before taking on his current role) is part of small team based in the London office, which includes the international financial controller, a management accountant for the London games and a trainee who looks after the UK office bookkeeping. The business also has an accountant in each of the other territories – Canada, China and Mexico – plus a share of one of the heads in the New York controller’s office.

The London-based team has been together for two years. It manages the territory offices and the relationships with the New York finance team, and also services the needs of the international commercial teams.

‘All of the team members have slightly different skillsets, which means that we complement each other well. That’s important because we need a broad knowledge base, including audit, management accounting, Excel modelling, systems and so on, to help us manage the growing business,’ says Barwick.

‘I’m only able to be successful in my role if I have a strong team that is well respected across the business. Part of my role is to ensure that my team is well supported and that each member is able to develop their role within the business.’

Barwick reports to the NFL’s head of operations in the US and spends much of his time working with the commercial side of the business. The NFL parent company is owned by the 32 partners – the franchises – and is in an enviable position compared to other sports, as all revenues from media, sponsorship and licensing are shared. ‘The revenues from across the business are shared under the collective bargaining agreement,’ explains Barwick. ‘A percentage of the shared revenue is then allocated to a salary cap, giving each team the same amount of money to spend on players. This creates a financial parity that translates to the field of play. Teams are able to compete on a level playing field, resulting in nine different Super Bowl winners in the last 10 years.’

Broadening the field

While the NFL International business has grown year on year since its inception in 2008, the next five years will be a pivotal period. ‘In my in-tray is a newly submitted five-year plan. It is all about growth and development into new territories. Germany is interesting, and there are plenty of things we want to do in China. We are also looking to scale up our activity in many markets. Mexico is a microcosm of what we want to achieve.

‘The five-year plan is about growth,’ Barwick continues. ‘Our international business model starts with growing fans. We want to deepen our engagement with them in order to add value to the league and the 32 clubs. How do we do this? Individuals become fans of an NFL team for different reasons. They may have a friend that supports a team; they may go on holiday to an NFL city or become a fan of the Super Bowl winners.

‘Younger fans now consume entertainment differently; my daughters spend most of their viewing time on the internet or YouTube and rarely watch TV. For a media-driven sports business, it is important for us to be ahead of how fans digest media so that we can place our products where new fans can find us. What we are doing here hasn’t been done before, so it is difficult to define the pathway we are taking,’ Barwick says.

As a result, a big part of the company focus is on digital and social media. Last year, the Jacksonville Jaguars versus Buffalo Bills game was the first to be streamed globally by Yahoo. And only last month, in a deal worth a reported US$10m, NFL sold Twitter the digital rights to stream NFL games on Thursday nights – free to view – which seems a canny brand tie-in given the amount of noise on Twitter during the games. Creating more digital content and driving that content through social media networks is essential to the business, as more fans are accessing sport that way.

There has also been much speculation as to whether a US franchise will make a permanent move to the UK, with the Jacksonville Jaguars often linked to London. ‘Our job is to build up the UK market so that it is attractive for an owner, should they decide to relocate here. The recent success in the UK has opened the door to the possibility of a franchise, but there are many other important factors to consider: scheduling of games, team travel and logistics, player taxation – the list is long. A new franchise would only be successful if it could compete on the field of play and have an equal chance of winning the Super Bowl. That said, it’s only nine years ago that we were planning the first game in Wembley.’

However, one idea that remains a bridge too far is the idea of hosting a Super Bowl outside the US. ‘It is a natural question. I have no doubt that the UK fans would make it a great success, but you have to remember the Super Bowl is such an important event in the US. Giving that up is possibly a step too far.’

No doubt British fans will continue to enjoy the razzmatazz and glamour of the event on their screens, and they can comfort themselves with the knowledge that a growing number of matches will be played in London.

Alex Miller, journalist