From Clandestine to Prime Time: How Super Bowl LX showed the NFL’s broadcast boom across Europe

By John Mahnen

Despite a relative snoozer of a Super Bowl, yours truly once again braved the late night, early morning defensive slog to take a tour around the European airwaves for a look at the state of play for Super Bowl broadcasts across the continent during the 60th edition of the Big Game. The result was both familiar and remarkable: a reminder that while the product on the field may ebb and flow, the NFL’s international reach continues to surge forward at an astonishing pace.

Europe’s growing role in NFL strategy
The league’s broader international strategy was highlighted during Super Bowl week with the announcement of a regular season game in Paris in 2026 featuring the Saints and Browns. That move underlined what has become increasingly clear over the past decade: Europe is no longer just an afterthought or novelty market. It is central to the NFL’s global growth plans. An integral part of that strategy is broadcast distribution. And the Super Bowl remains the pinnacle of that effort.

From fringe event to mainstream staple
Having watched the lion’s share of Super Bowls outside the United States for the past 40 years, it’s nothing short of amazing how far we’ve come. Four decades ago, I huddled in an overcrowded guest room at the Intercontinental in Geneva with a group of semester-abroad classmates to watch the Bears dismantle the Patriots in Super Bowl XX. To this day I’m not entirely sure how they got the feed, let alone how they distributed it to the rooms, but it marked the start of a long personal run of Super Bowl broadcasts abroad.

In the early 90s, the Super Bowl often meant a party at a Marriott somewhere in Europe with an Armed Forces Network decoder brought along by a retired Army expat. Those were the good old days. And while Super Bowl parties still abound in the after-hours corners of European hotels, bars and sports club cantines, the penetration into households has become nothing short of pervasive. What was once a niche event watched by homesick Americans has turned into a continent-wide media event with local language coverage, studio shows and celebrity pundits.

Localized coverage spans the continent
Across Europe this year, several markets featured full local-language broadcasts with studio programming to match. In the Czech Republic, Nova Sport 1 delivered a complete presentation. Denmark viewers tuned into TV2 Denmark, while in Finland the game aired on Nelonen. In France, beIN Sports once again handled the coverage with a polished studio show built around local analysts. Here in the Netherlands, ESPN NL continued to provide a full Dutch-language production, a far cry from the days when finding a signal felt like a small miracle.

Other countries also provided localized broadcasts, even if the studio footprint was more modest. In Belgium, DAZN carried the game with commentary from none other than legendary Jürgen Nijs. Hungary had Arena 4, while Italy split coverage between Mediaset and DAZN. In Poland, Polsat delivered the game to a loyal audience that has steadily grown over the past decade. Even in the Baltics and parts of Eastern Europe, the presence of local partners ensured that the Super Bowl was no longer a fringe curiosity.

A notable exception this year was Sweden, where a local linear broadcast was hard to find. Perhaps the Winter Olympics calendar and competing sports priorities played a role, but it stood out in a region that has otherwise embraced American football more each year.

Germany and the UK lead the way
At the top of the honors list, however, remain the two true hotbeds of American football in Europe: Germany and the United Kingdom. Both markets now feature viewership figures approaching four million for the Super Bowl, a number that would have been unthinkable a generation ago.

Germany delivered perhaps the most saturated coverage of all. Fans had two full-featured television broadcasts on RTL and DAZN, as well as a German-language feed on Game Pass. RTL pulled no punches, sending a full crew to Santa Clara with the Statler and Waldorf-style comedy team of Patrick Esume and Björn Werner calling the game alongside Markus Kuhn and Patriots alum Sebastian Vollmer. DAZN matched the energy with commentary from Christoph Stadtler, Nadine Nurasyid and Roman Motzkus, accompanied by a full studio of analysts and on-site contributors. Even FM radio got in on the act, with Rock Antenne featuring its Rock ’N’ Ball broadcast and live updates from the Big Game.

In the UK, Channel 5 is the new kid on the NFL media partner block and broadcast live from Levi’s Stadium, while Sky Sports maintained its usual top-shelf production. Anchored by the venerable Neil Reynolds, Sky rolled out a strong lineup featuring Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ndamukong Suh and Jason Bell, with Phoebe Schecter roaming around on site. Still the gold standard for European broadcasts, Sky once again carried the main NBC feed with Mike Tirico and Chris Collinsworth. Channel 5, meanwhile, took the NFL Network international commentary feed, with Ian Eagle and Charles Davis offering viewers a free-to-air alternative and helping expand the reach even further.

A personal broadcast journey
As for me, I returned to my roots: those late nights in the late 80’s trying to pull in AFN radio from Frankfurt back in my dormitory in Kiel. I divided my time between the national broadcast on Westwood One with Kevin Harlan and Kurt Warner, picked up via the BBC’s Radio 5, and the team-specific calls from the Patriots and the Seahawks flagship stations. However, I have to confess I was particularly partial to the TalkRadio UK call anchored by the infectious enthusiasm of Will Gavin. If you haven’t had the pleasure, you’re missing out.

From improvised decoder boxes to multi-platform, multi-language productions across nearly every major European market, the evolution has been staggering. The NFL shows no signs of taking its foot off the gas, ensuring that fans can watch the Big Game in every corner of Europe. Now if we could just move the kickoff up a few hours.