Sundays are for football
American football is the most popular sport in the United States. It is, however, not that popular in Norway. Three of Trondheims biggest fans explain why they tune in every football sunday.
– I fell in love with the sport in 2016 when the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons met in the Super Bowl and the Patriots had this insane comeback, against all odds, recounts student Sebastian Sole.
He and his brother had stayed awake the whole night and considered going to sleep after the Patriots trailed the Falcons 28:3. Then the unthinkable happened when the Patriots came back and won the game in overtime, ending in 28:34.
– It is maybe a cliché people say in every sport, but everything can happen. And I think that this is very cool, he adds.
The Super Bowl is the final game of the season in the National Football League (NFL). The 59th edition of the Super Bowl will be played on the 9th of February 2025.
A complicated game?
Jared Baker, an American now living in Trondheim, has had experience with people not understanding the rules of American football.
– I mostly have to explain how the game works to a lot of people. Because it is so different from handball and soccer, where the ball is always moving, reveals Baker.
An American football game consists of four quarters that run for 15 minutes. Because of commercials as well as timeouts and 40-second breaks before each play, the game can run up to 4 hours which might scare potential new viewers.
– The biggest thing to remember is that you have 4 tries to get 10 yards and 100 yards to go for a touchdown. When you get these ten yards, you get a new set of downs, explains Baker.
He emphasizes that both offense and defense try to outsmart each other. While the offense tries to keep the ball and score a touchdown, the defense will try to stop the offense and retain the ball.
– It is kind of like a chess game, Baker says.
LES OGSÅ: Campussamlingen setter Dødens dal i fare
The goal is to get the ball 100 yards down the field to score a touchdown which accounts for 6 points plus 1 point for the extra point kick. If the offense can not get a touchdown, it can either kick a field goal or punt the ball to the opposing team if it is too far away for a field goal. Then the offense of the other team will try the same.
– I just try to explain as simply as possible how it works, Baker says.
Student Thies Herrmann agrees with this approach and highlights that it gets easier to understand the game if you know the basic rules.
– You always learn something new through watching the game, he says.
He adds that the Super Bowl is maybe a good starting point into the sport and a way to both enjoy the game and the spectacle around it.
Community makes the game
The Super Bowl is one of the most watched sports events in the world where millions of people tune in to watch American football. But not only the Super Bowl itself, but football sunday is established as a cultural happening.
– American football has just been such a way of uniting people in watching their team, says Baker.
He adds that everybody grew up watching or playing football which made it a part of everyday life.
– When we were younger, we used to play backyard football every Sunday after church, he remembers.
He explains that watching American football is a way to get together with friends and family. This includes tailgating before the game, a practice where fans get together in the parking lot of the stadium before the game to grill, drink, and throw the football around with one another.
– Americans are always glad to find an excuse to celebrate something, jokes Sole who himself has American parents.
He adds that he had Super Bowl parties himself where he and his friends had chicken wings and watched the game together.
LES OGSÅ: Slik feiret Trondheim samenes nasjonaldag
An American spectacle
American football is not only a game, it's a spectacle. While soccer and sporting events in Europe mainly focus on the game itself, an American football game has a series of additional features: fans and players singing the national anthem before the game, fighter jets flying over the arena, and American flags flying everywhere.
– I think it can be a bit silly, but it is just typical American, Herrmann says.
Baker agrees with Herrmann’s notion and adds that it would be difficult to just stop with it as it is important to the people.
– It needs to be a spectacle. You need to have the jets flying and the national anthem before every game, argues Baker.
Sole emphasizes that the Super Bowl is a way to bring different people together.
– There are a lot of bad things to say about the US, but the people love their country and want to celebrate it, Sole adds.
Missing media coverage
While the NFL is an important part of American culture, it has not yet become popular in Norway. Baker sees cultural differences as a main reason.
– Norwegians do not grow up watching American football. You do not hear people talk about it and you do not play it from a young age, he argues.
He adds that American football is not a part of everyday life for Norwegian people like skiing or going for hikes. Sole agrees that it is difficult to play the sport itself in Trondheim.
– It is not possible for children and teenagers to play American football in Trondheim. I think that when you are playing the sport yourself, you might want to see how the professionals do it and become more interested in watching it as well, says Sole.
Additionally, American football games are often broadcasted late at night because of time differences which makes watching the game even more difficult.
– People think that it is weird when I have stayed awake for a late game and are tired in the morning, admits Herrmann. This can make it difficult to include watching the game into your everyday life.
LES OGSÅ: Trondheim pride i fare for å avlyses – etterlyser studenter
In addition to the time difference, there are only a few matches that are actually available for Norwegians to see and are often included in a TV package or streaming service.
– The NFL Christmas games were shown on a streaming service, but it is otherwise very tough to find regular season games, Baker reveals.
Baker hopes that these offers will help to grow the fanbase in Norway so that television stations begin to show American football on Norwegian television.
– It would be so cool to actually see NRK showing some American football, he says.
Sole emphasizes that other media content like podcasts, documentaries on streaming services, and Youtube content could help a sport to grow, especially if it is tailored to a Norwegian audience.
– If there was more Norwegian language content on American football, that would probably make it more interesting for Norwegian fans as well, he adds.
Build your own team
American football has become much more than just a sport as it has developed into an industry with additional media content, merchandise, gambling, and interactive games like Madden NFL, or fantasy football.
– I became even more interested in football when I was invited into a fantasy football league here in Trondheim, explains Herrmann.
Fantasy football is a game in which the participants have their own virtual team and try to gain fantasy points based on the performance of the players in the live game.
These football players from different teams are chosen in a fantasy draft at the beginning of the season to build up the fantasy team. When a player scores a touchdown in the game, the participant gets points for their fantasy football team.
– We managed to get twelve people together for our league. You play against someone every week and in the end you have a win-loss-record, he explains.
Herrmann is convinced that something like fantasy football can make the game even more interesting.
– I think many can be pulled into American football if they have an incentive, argues Herrmann and points to the fact that a fun activity around the game can help getting deeper into the sport and all of its facets.
Love for the game
But in the end, nothing can beat a live game.
– The only NFL game I ever saw live was in Cleveland when I visited my grandparents for christmas. It was minus 30 degrees celsius and we were in a blizzard, but the die-hard Brownsfans were there with us. Everyone was screaming and partying. That was amazing, Sole recounts watching his favourite team, the Cleveland Browns.
Sole plans to see the Super Bowl this year as well, not live though.
– Even though my team is not in contention anymore, I will cheer for greatness, he emphasizes.
The whole football world is now looking forward to the 9th of February when the Kansas City Chiefs are playing the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans.
LES OGSÅ: Militærdisiplin ble løsningen for NTNU-studenten
