Via Semafor, an interesting look at the growing importance of Africa to the National Football League:

Later this evening (U.S. hours) there’ll be an American football match in the midst of some of the most expensive commercials ever aired during the NFL’s Super Bowl extravaganza. Notably, one NFL promo commercial was shot in Accra, Ghana as part of a wider push by the league to perhaps persuade Africa there’s another type of football that’s just as exciting a spectacle as, well…football.

A teaser of the campaign tagged ‘Born to Play’ shows a young schoolboy staying up late to watch a game, his bedroom a galaxy of posters and cut-out figures of pro players. Saquon Barkley, a running back for the New York Giants, comes alive from the wall to chat with young Kwesi. Dawn brings a game-like running sequence that involves two other pro players rumbling through Accra’s busy Makola market, ending with doing the Azonto dance with Kwesi. It also features Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings, and Cameron Jordan of the New Orleans Saints.

With an estimated 125 players of African descent playing in the NFL, the campaign continues the league’s push to broaden appeal and “building pathways for more international athletes to play in the NFL,” a league executive said last year. In 2022, the league held its first official Africa events in Ghana, featuring camps and flag football. It followed up with another last year in Kenya under an ‘NFL Africa’ program that will be a “long-term, multi-market commitment