W&N to publish ANY GIVEN SUNDAY: The NFL’s Epic 100-Year History in 20 Games

Weidenfeld & Nicolson will be publishing a comprehensive and hugely entertaining history of American football by Matthew Sherry, editor of GRIDIRON magazine. ANY GIVEN SUNDAY: The NFL’s Epic 100-Year History in 20 Games will be published next autumn (September 2020) to coincide with the centenary of the formation of the NFL in 1920 and in advance of the 2020 London Games in October. UK and Commonwealth Rights were acquired from David Luxton of DLA.

The NFL has been broadcast in the UK since the 1980s to a sizeable and extremely targetable audience. Since 2007, the NFL has held annual regular-season games in London, with each one selling out (255,000 fans attended the three games held in 2018, and they take over Regent Street with their fan village). The league has had such success here that they are actively pursuing a London franchise by 2025, and Tottenham Hotspur have included a retractable American Football pitch into their new stadium. Sky are pushing their live broadcasts and general coverage, and the BBC broadcasts the London games live, with increasing coverage on the BBC Sport and GUARDIAN websites.

No narrative history has been published for a UK and European readership. Matt Sherry has an excellent platform to reach the core audience via his editorship of the only UK-based American Football magazine, and his credentials and access ensure that ANY GIVEN SUNDAY will be the go-to title for fans of the sport outside the USA.

Through the prism of twenty significant matches, Matt Sherry charts the history of this sport from its humble beginnings in Ohio to the behemoth it has become today. Whilst the sport’s popularity remains huge in the United States, it has made serious inroads into the UK’s sporting landscape. Every year four matches featuring NFL teams sell out in days and demand is only getting bigger. NFL fans are committed and hungry for some literature covering their beloved sport. This the perfect book for them.

Matthew Sherry is the founder and editor of GRIDIRON, the UK’s only NFL magazine. Over the course of his journalistic career, Matthew has reported on wide variety of major sporting events, including the Olympic Games, the Ashes, Premier League football and, of course, the NFL. He has covered every Super Bowl since the 48th edition between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos, and also travels around the United States each year interviewing some of American football’s biggest names.

Matt Sherry says: ‘The NFL’s journey to its current standing is not only a remarkable story, but one I’m extremely honoured to tell. Working in the industry over the last six years has been extremely rewarding, but there has been no greater thrill than putting together this book. I’ve made multiple trips around the Unites States and interviewed some of the greatest names in the game’s history. I believe this has allowed me to do this remarkable tale justice, and I cannot wait to share it.’