NFL Exec VP/Int'l Mark Waller, whose mission is to "turn America's favorite sport into the globe's game," has become "one of the most important and influential figures" in the league, according to a profile by Ashley Fox of ESPN.com. Waller is a British citizen who has lived in Kenya, England, China, Spain, Greece, Canary Islands and, for the past 20 years, the U.S. Waller, who was born in Kenya to British parents, has "worked for a cigarette company, an alcoholic beverage company and, for the last decade, one of the biggest brands in all of sports." Waller in '06 spurned an exec position with Coca-Cola and joined the NFL "to help develop its international strategy." The NFL's popularity abroad has "exploded in the decade since Waller arrived at the league office." Since '07, there have been 14 games in London and three more are scheduled for this season. Waller is "on record as saying he believes there will be a team based in England in the next five years." The league also is "committed to growing the business in China and potentially playing a regular-season game there" as soon as '18. Asked where he sees the NFL in 10 years, Waller said, "We will have at least one or two franchises outside of the U.S. I think we'll be incredibly strong in Mexico, possibly even more popular than soccer by then. I think we'll be very strong in the U.K. and Germany, and we'll be growing a really interesting niche business in China, but niche in China will still be a meaningful thing to be, and that will really be I think a digital business with the young, global Chinese and Asian consumers" (ESPN.com, 6/13).
