Can NFL style entertainment ever work in football?

Whether you like the sport or not, one of the big pulling factors of the NFL is the fact that they offer more than just sport.

With entertainment as part of their big games, the day out is extended, and games have more to offer. But would this ever work with football?

The Super Bowl is on the horizon, one of the biggest sporting events in the world. The latest NFL betting with Paddy Power shows that the Los Angeles Rams are 40/85 favourites to win the game. The Rams have home-field advantage too, as the game will be played at the SoFi Stadium, California.

There will be many football fans watching this game as for some people this is the only NFL game of the entire season that they watch. These people will see the game, plus everything else that happens on game day such as the entertainment. Being the biggest game of the season, there will be many NFL betting tips available in the days leading up to the contest, and this is not just for who will win, the Super Bowl offers excellent prop betting markets and hundreds of ways to bet.

Some of those prop betting markets will be about things happening off the field, with the biggest off-field action being the entertainment and the halftime show. But would this work for a football game, perhaps the World Cup Final, or a big club game such as the Champions League final, a game that Chelsea beat Manchester City in last season.

Munich 2012 ✔️
Porto 2021 ✔️

Chelsea win the Champions League for the second time in their history! 🏆🏆

IT’S TIME TO CELEBRATE! 🎉#UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/Rh56Iq2auu

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 29, 2021

Can entertainment work in football?

There is definitely scope for football to add something different to their match program, though the one thing that couldn’t happen is what happens in the NFL as this can’t take place at half-time. Football is a game of momentum and long play, with a small break in the middle. There is nothing stop-start about football, as there is with the NFL, which means players won’t be able to adapt to the longer half-time break while entertainment is on. However, before and after, is certainly an area that can be looked at.

The World Cup is an event that FIFA want to make into a huge deal, as it is watched by millions around the world, and often used to try and grow the game in a particular area. When Qatar won the bid to host the 2022 World Cup, FIFA were given them a chance to shine and to change football in the country forever.

Is that enough for this tournament, or should FIFA look into adding some kind of entertainment too? Shows before the game would likely work better than after the game. With the world watching, there would be no shortage of suitors who would love the chance to play. Could we see a worldwide superstar play before the final in Qatar, and could this lead to more entertainment in football in the future?

While football entertainment could not work in the same way as the NFL currently runs things, there is certainly scope to add something.