Dallas Cowboys: An International NFL Brand in 2026 and Beyond

The Dallas Cowboys have ardent local support, established over decades, although the franchise is also one of the NFL’s most recognizable and successful well beyond the borders of Texas.

In fact, with fans spread across North America and around the world, there’s little question that the Cowboys have outshone many rivals with their brand power and reach.

Canadian football fans have been especially eager to take up support for the Cowboys, and you’ll find pockets of people backing the team in many parts of the Great White North. But what’s behind this international impact?

The same can be said in the rapidly expanding European and South American markets. In Week 3, the Cowboys play Lamar Jackson’s Baltimore Ravens in Rio de Janeiro—the first international game for the franchise in the NFL’s International Series era since 2014.

A Major Media Presence Developed Over Time

During the second half of the 20th century, the NFL teams that built a reputation and fanbase overseas were typically those that received the most coverage on international broadcast media.

The 1970s and 1990s were particularly strong periods for the Cowboys thanks to their Super Bowl triumphs, and such success on the field always brings press attention to teams.

For instance, the growth of cable TV in Canada throughout this epoch helped garner support north of the border where football trails only hockey.

The roots of Canadian football predate the NFL and some would argue the game developed just as early in Canada as it has in the United States. Because of this, successive generations of fans grew up in households watching football. And in the early NFL, the Cowboys were as hot a topic as the Packers, Steelers, and Giants.

Anyone who’s young enough to only know about the streaming era will find this a strange thought, but it was the reality for decades.

A National Icon

Because of the aforementioned successes of the Cowboys, and because the branding of the team is comparatively neutral from a geographic perspective, they came to represent American football as a whole.

This gave the team from Dallas international reach and recognition that spread more easily than many of its contemporaries.

Likewise, the 1990s saw Cowboys owner Jerry Jones innovate from a merchandising perspective, enabling branded products to appear in more global markets, including Canada, without being hamstrung by the previous limits on distribution and revenue sharing.

Coupled with the appeal of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, who again managed to stand apart from the team as an attraction for viewers internationally in their own right, it was a period of rapid growth.

Canada’s Continued Support

Canadians have more access to NFL coverage than ever, and can even bet on NFL odds championship outcomes and in-play events for each game. Despite this, there’s still no permanent NFL franchise in Canada, and until that changes, fans will have to look to US teams to anchor their support.

The Bills for instance are hugely popular in Toronto and Southern Ontario with an estimated 15-20% of season ticket holders being Canadian with 30% of tickets sold to each game from over the border.

The Cowboys by comparison, being one of the teams furthest from the Canadian border, have more of a national fanbase as opposed to a concentrated one.

There’s also the American-ness of the team’s brand, which appeals to a certain category of international fan, whether they’re from Canada, Europe, or anywhere else, for that matter.

As a team that’s a microcosm of the whole country, anyone who loves Americana will naturally be drawn to the Cowboys, and that’s what will keep their international support strong.