When the Giants Phins game was announced like most fans over here initially I was really up for it , but thought , heu I'm a season ticket holder in another sport , How would I feel if I had one game taken from me? Pretty pissed off I'll tell you. Another thing , the NFL is what it is because of its strong heritage and traditions. The NFL might well be a global brand but the game is wholly American and in my honest opinion (IMHO for Jeto :smile: ) should stay that way. I'm not about to rip into the 'fans' that will go to wembley today , but how many of them will actually know whats going on? Not alot if other exhibition games are to go by. How many of them will be Giants or Dolphins fans? At most half the fans AT MOST. So is this really worthwhile trying to expand the global name of the NFL to an audience that really doesn't want or know how to cope with the NFL? Again , I say no. I'm left scartching my head , earlier on this year the NFLE was scratched and NOW Goodell wants to spread the good word of the NFL? HUH? Are you kidding me??? If the NFL wanted to start to build a fan base in Europe at all , it should have started in Germany where interest is at a maximum , such as it is. The UK has a very loyal following and unfortunatley only about 100 teams now playing. But the actual figures of who is watching on the TV is surprising. I don't actually know the figures , but hey this is sunday primetime and we have at least 3 LIVE games aired on SKY TV every week , si there has to be a market , BUT that market wants to watch a US sport in , yep the USA , not some stadium in an industrial estate. The NFL should ONLY be played in the USA , period. Have I got this wrong? I would be very interested to hear both sides of the story here , US and European opinions.
Maybe give Canada a game so they see what real football looks like. But England? c'mon, they like to watch that boring communist kickball.
I don't mind the exhibition games being played outside of the US but regular season is a NO to me. We've got major cities that are just dying to get a team base (ie: Los Angles). Football is America's game. This is just like the US trying to get soccer going on over here. We're not interested and I don't think anyone out of the US is really interested in the NFL. But that's just my opinion. :grin:
Sending a couple of teams here and there out of the country is a bit unfair to the teams being sent regardless if it is exhibition or not. It eats up too much of the teams time traveling. And in these cases both teams have to travel.
I voted no, but I guess I really don't care about exhibition games (there are already too many of them, however). Fundamentally, I agree with you, Gus - unlike basketball, American football is just not of any interest to people in Europe (perhaps with the exception of Germany, judging by NFL Europe), and as a fan I see nothing good coming out of trying to force it down people's throats.
Exhibition games are one thing...since most fans outside of the US don't follow it like we do...they wouldn't know the difference. It is horribly unfair, IMO, to force two of the 32 NFL teams to leave the North American Continent for a game. Talk about a disadvantage. Not to mention, it's unfair to season ticket holders who look forward to their measly 8 games/season. A game or 2 or even a team in Canada or Mexico would be fair from a traveling standpoint...but as Gus alluded to, it is not the same as American fans who grew up on it cheering. It is definitely a cultural thing best enjoyed in the US.
Yes, but they need to add 1 extra week of play so no team loses a home game. Plus, who can argue against watching 17 games of your favorite team instead of 16 and 18 weeks of Regular Season NFL instead of 17.
Just back home and it was great. It was also the biggest crowd in the NFL this week. Gustoonarmy, The Sky figures (which they usually don't give out for any game) say the NFL is popular so surely it follows that people would actually want to see a game live and not just on TV. From what I remember The London Monarchs were getting huge crowds at the old Wembley before they changed stadium and moved to a Saturday game. Up here the Scottish Claymores were regularly getting 10,000 through the gates even although they weren't very good for their the last few seasons. This was for a second tier league so the fanbase for live football is there. Maybe NFL Europe failed because fans wanted the real thing and not a breeding ground (albeit a fairly successful one) for overlooked or under- developed young talent. London was picked for logistical and media friendly reasons and it worked. As for the people around me most had team colours on and seemed to know what was happening. OK so it was a bit strange that the crowd was cheering for both teams at some point but I think that was because everyone was glad the the two teams were actually there. As a Jets fan for a very long time I can remember listening to a weak signal on the Armed Forces Network broadcasts late on a Sunday night in the 70's so to get a regular season game here, even just the once, was great even if it was for two teams I wouldn't normally cross the road to watch. I would imagine when the time comes the NFL will just add a game to the season which has to be played abroad. Money talks. (just look at the WWE it seems to be here every two weeks now).
But thats the problem I have with this and other regular season games in London or wherever. They are not OUR teams and for the sake of marketing a global brand at the cost of season ticket holders , the bread and butter of any franchise. Those tickets are not cheap , and like me in this country I spend all year saving for next seasons ticket. I heard today on Talk Sport that they might look into putting an NFL team in London , ABSURD!!! Goodell stop F'n around with a proven formula , its not broken. As for the Monarchs , Initially the gate was at about 80k then it went down to 40k when they didn't repeat the world bowl title. They then moved the games to White Hart lane where the attendances strolled in at 16k+ , and most of those tickets were free. I entered a competition on Virgin radio and won tickets and merchandise to a game , a week later they told me they could let me HAVE tickets for the rest of the season plus more clothing , THATS how popular they had become. The Claymores were a different proposition entirely , with the demise of the Monarchs , alot of people in the 'know' at the Claymores , knew they had to put bums on seats as they were sitting on a time bomb , too bad the NFLE pulled the plug on that one too. The rest of the NFLE is now history , what a mess. So far Mr Goddell has not impressed me at all , it must be some plan he has , I can't make head nor tail what hes trying to do. As far as the NFL/NFLe(?) having a team in the UK , I think they will be lucky to get a regular attendance of no more than a good championship team gets. 20k ish. Keep the NFL in the US.
Gus, The NFL has always been about change and money - that's why fans wake up in the morning and find their team has moved, just ask people in places like Cleveland, Baltimore, Indy or LA etc., As for a UK team If it can make money then it will probably happen and if it fails then LA will probably get a team after all. Goddell is market testing because that is his job. I do see your point about it being an American thing and that was part of the mystique when I was listening to the AFN broadcasts 30 odd years ago but times move on and if you stand still these days then you are going backwards. I do appeciate that Football is different from all the other American Sports testing the market over here because of the amount of games involved for each team and it did fall nicely that a poor Miami team that just happen to be popular here were just happening to be playing another east coast team that are also popular here. Maybe a better example than the NLE would be the Pre-season games they played here which was largely successful but it just made people want the real thing and I think a regular season game once a year will sell mostly sell out for a long time but I think that will just lead people to want a team of their own for the reason you said, fans want their own team to support. However maybe you are right and people over here just want to have a second team sport to support after Newcastle, Man U or even Partick Thistle. And maybe cheerleaders and QB's on sunday night TV are best viewed from a distance. That's what Goddell and the owners want to know. There's far to much money at stake for them not to find that out.
I just don't believe that Football in the UK is as popular as the NFL are making out. Question. If Goodell is so bent on making the NFL more marketable in the UK , why did he pull the plug on the NFLE and more importantly why was there NO coverage in the UK , via TV/SAT? Thats marketing??? All pre season games do is titilate the curious and the very diehard fans so I see no point in having them here either. I also think that its a bad idea in preperation terms as well , the team needs to focus on work , not being on holiday. Everytime I think about what we are discussing I use the Jets and think how I would feel as a US season ticket holder and as a diehard fan here. I want wants best for the Jets and the league and believe that Goodell should really set his stall out. He hasn't done that at all and IMHO has sent a baffling message to europe.
They should create a league that has teams all across Europe in order to promote NFL football and they could call the league NFL Europe or NFL Europa...........
Gus, Every point you make is valid and I think that is what they are exactly trying to find out - My opinion is there is enough interest especially if it is only one game a season. As for NLE, There was coverage even after the Claymores went but no one wanted to watch a German League (sorry Admirals) so TV pulled the plug here. That probably was not a popular decision with the NFL. The message I took was fans wanted their own team especially here and were never going to watch a German team in Europe in a second tier league on TV when you can watch your "real" team in the States in the NFL. The NFL didn't understand the European market or the Culture. Yesterday was them trying. I totally see your point about season tickets but that's not how the NFL works when there is money about. Wildthing, :lol: Probably at some brain storming session in the deep past they and the WLAF would have reckoned that after 10-15 years we would have home based players coming though all of Europe and maybe even enough to support a expansion division. (insert your own smiley here) I think Europe confuses the NFL and it is trying to find out if the market is here or not and if it is, what it is we want exactly? Only time will tell here
Yeah, I liked the Cards playing in Mexico, and I like the idea of the Bills in Toronto.... But going overseas is too much...
Well, I enjoyed the game and the event massively, despite the rain, but I wouldn't go back unless it were to see the Jets. Disagree that the fans didn't know what was going on though. What would have been better would have been to make people indicate on their ticket application which team they preferred, then have "home" and "away" sections. That said, 80% or more seemed to be following the Dolphins.
I love Celtic but the idea of a non-freindly match over here wouldn't be right, I figure exhibition games can be anywere but leauge games need the home fans.
