Australia's thirst for live American football was proven once again at the Sydney Cup on Sunday, but fans of the game still aren't likely to see NFL teams on Australian soil any time soon.
The Sydney Cup looks set to become a regular event on the American College Football calendar with teams from across the nation showing interest in playing their season openers in Australia. A crowd of more than 33,000 fans gathered at Allianz Stadium on the weekend to watch Stanford destroy Rice, a solid number given that many would have been lured away to watch the broadcast of the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight taking place in Las Vegas at the same time.
Last year's Sydney Cup attracted more than 60,000 fans to ANZ Stadium, giving a better indication of the city's interest in seeing the game live. The last time the NFL brought an exhibition game to Australia, in 1999, more than 70,000 fans packed the newly constructed Olympic Stadium to watch the Denver Broncos play the San Diego Chargers.
Despite this apparent success, Senior NFL official Michael Signora says the league has no immediate plans to have any of its teams make the arduous journey.
"We certainly appreciate the NFL interest in Australia, as well as the passion of our fans,'' he told News Limited. "Unfortunately, the travel distance and time zone changes are major barriers for us to schedule a regular-season game in Australia.
"Even a preseason game would be incredibly challenging to arrange.
"So we aren't optimistic about playing a game there. In saying that, we have no doubt we could do so successfully, and that fans would respond enthusiastically."
The NFL retains a keen interest in expanding its reach globally, as indications are that local audience growth has plateaued in recent years.
NFL executive vice president for international Mark Waller spoke to ESPN earlier this year, when he laid out the framework of a strategic plan that has become a mantra within the league. He said he hoped to develop a following that made the NFL at least a "top-five" sport in five different regions or countries: The United Kingdom, Canada, China, Mexico and Germany.
"If you can do that," he said, "and you measure the number of fans in those countries and add them up, that would give you a fan base that I would argue is the same as what we have in the United States."
New revenue is the obvious endgame, either as a net gain or simply to address a stagnant stateside market. At the moment, though, Waller's efforts are directed at building the structure and base for eventual monetization.
"To me, it's always been a very much fan-driven set of goals," he said. "If you build the fan base, everything else will flow out of that."
The NFL, meanwhile, has pushed back its timetable for staging a game in China because of travel and other logistical reasons. It seems Australia, with a fraction of the potential Chinese audience and all of the logistical headaches, will find itself down the queue when it comes to expansion plans.
