Long before “global sport” became a common phrase, the Premier League had already begun selling its broadcast rights to international partners rather than treating English football as a domestic-only product. Over successive rights cycles, that strategy expanded the league’s overseas television deals to a scale that now regularly exceeds the value of its domestic UK contracts.
The result is a competition that airs, in some form, in the vast majority of the world’s television markets — a reach few other domestic leagues can match. Combined with clubs actively touring overseas during pre-season and building international fan bases through digital media, the Premier League has spent three decades turning itself from a national competition into what is often described as English football’s most successful export.