The American football revolution - Ben Isaacs

The American Football Revolution: How Britain Fell In Love With The NFL is the remarkable story of how the USA's biggest sport converted a sceptical soccer-mad nation. In 1982, an esoteric new TV channel started beaming NFL highlights into British homes and building up a small but devoted audience - just as hooliganism was turning people off the UK's national game. A year later, the Global Cup saw the Vikings and Cardinals play a flop preseason game at Wembley. Now, 40 years later, the UK is the NFL's second home. The marketing muscle of the league played a part but it's the fans staying up late to watch on TV, creating their own content and booking holidays to the States to coincide with big games that have made the sport a hit. From the man who sold his home so he could tour the NFL's tailgate parties to the one who turned his love of the sport into an all-consuming passion for fantasy football, these are the stories of the fans who transformed the NFL from a curiosity to a mainstay in the British sporting landscape.