American Football
Eagles star Saquon Barkley returns to London as NFL's biggest global advocate
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This October, Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles lock horns with the Jacksonville Jaguars in a Week 5 showdown at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
It'll be his third game overseas. He beat the Packers at that same venue back in 2022 as a member of the Giants, then opened the 2024 season in Brazil on his Eagles debut.
Jetting around the world to bring the sport to new fans hasn't dampened his enthusiasm for any of it. If anything, he's one of its biggest advocates.
Barkley makes the case for the global game
"It's so important that we are travelling across the country to play the game," he told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. "The more eyes you can get on it, the better it's going to be."
"The more people are going to want to grow up and play football, want to be involved. It's really kind of crazy that football is probably the biggest sport, and we really haven't even scratched the surface yet, to be completely honest.
"There's so many more territories that we just take over, and I think the NFL is doing a really good job of that. I'm a fan of getting as many eyeballs as we can in the game, help growing the game.
"Anytime I can get an opportunity to play in front of someone that's never got to watch the game, I want to try to make it memorable and have an impact on them.
"So right now, I'm all about eyes, eyes, eyes on the game, and let's grow this game as big as we can, and let's have an impact on as many people as we can.
Why the league wants Barkley leading this
The 29-year-old didn't have it all his own way last year, but he still finished with over 1,400 all-purpose yards and nine combined touchdowns.
And he deserves the benefit of the doubt after reaching 2,000 rushing yards, winning the Offensive Player of the Year, and taking home a Super Bowl in his first season as an Eagle.
That CV is exactly why the league wants him fronting these trips, and precisely why he seems to take the responsibility as seriously as he does.
"I love it," he said when asked why he's still doing this at all, still flying to new countries and still selling a game he's already conquered by most measures many times over.
