Ive been relatively unconcerned about the NFL's attempts to internationalize itself in the past. A preseason game here or there played in Tokyo, Dublin or Mexico City is no real big deal. Who cares about the preseason anyway.

Now its starting to get outta hand. When they played the regular season game in Mexico City between Arizona and San Fran it was a little annoying, but they were two bottom dwellers and its hard to muster sympathy for Arizona season ticket holders. Plus at least Mexicans care about football.

Now we have the much hyped NYG/Fins game in London, the possibility of each team playing 1 game outside the US in coming seasons, and the commish exploring the possibility of the superbowl in Europe.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3065254

Why?

Europeans hate football. NFL Europe, or Europa or whatever they call it never made a profit. Euros regularly trash and mock the game. Rejection of football is a point of honor with just about any Euro I've ever met. Your audience is and always will be American. Football is America's game.

Its hard enough to go to the superbowl now, add in the issues associated with getting a ticket and travelling to the game in Europe, and the only people going will be major corporate sponsors and Europeans.

What time will a Euro superbowl be played? London is 6 (i think) hours ahead? So do you play at midnight to keep the game on the same US sched, or do we get screwed and have the game on at 2 in the afternoon?

So yeah, lets move the superbowl, an unofficial American national holiday, to Europe so it can be sneered at while alienating the true fan base. Ingenious. Myabe we can celebrate the 4th of July in Paris.

Don't forget the plan to have the Bills play a home game each season in Toronto, though that is a more natural expansion than going right to London.

I doubt they'd put a Super Bowl in Europe any time soon, for the time differences and the fact that quite a few of the usual crowd may be unwilling to hop across the pond to attend. It would be a big promotion "You and four friends get to go to Paris for Super Bowl Fifty!" but probably not enough to consider it yet.

I'm not sure what the hell Goodell is talking about. It'd take massive resources to stick a Super Bowl in Europe. For what gain?

I think the NFL isn't as ridiculed as you think, and there are pockets of fanatical NFL devotion in Europe.. the parallels between American Football in Europe and Football in the US are strikingly similar.

I think the commissioner is just brainstorming. I think if you put a gun to his head and said "will we ever have a Super Bowl played in Europe, yes or no?" he'd answer no. But the NFL has always been one of the more proactive professional sports leagues, unlike MLB. I don't worry about it because I don't think it will ever happen. And I don't mind the regular season game, because they've got a time table set up where each team out of the 32 will do it once in an eight-year period. That's fine with me.

Super Bowl in Europe won't happen. Too much outrage, lost viewweship, and lost sponsors. Goodell would be an idiot to try.

Europeans hate football. NFL Europe, or Europa or whatever they call it never made a profit. Euros regularly trash and mock the game. Rejection of football is a point of honor with just about any Euro I've ever met. Your audience is and always will be American. Football is America's game.


Try getting your head out of your arse before you start posting nonsense, alright? There are plenty of Euro's who love football. Don't be like some braindead parrot and repeat the loud voices that complain and say stupid things like that. Make up your own mind, preferably by getting informed about a few more Euro's than the few you've met, and then try saying it a bit less sounding like a crying baby... :rolleyes:


I totally agree with tcjsavannah...
I find the paralels between soccer in the US and football in Europe very striking.

Now personally, as a European who loves football (yes, they do exist!), I like the NFL experiments outside the US, and if the NFL ever decided to play a game in the Netherlands I'd try to get tickets no matter which team was playing. I think this is a wonderful attempt to create even more European enthousiasm for football.
I don't see a Superbowl outside of the US happening though. That's like an extra holliday in the US. I doubt the NFL will ever truely try to change that very well established tradition.

OK, I've said my piece, you can go back to your rant now... :crazyeye:

So will there be another attempt at an NFL Europe?

So will there be another attempt at an NFL Europe?

I dont't think so. The level of play is simply not comparable to 'regular' NFL. I went to see Amsterdam Admirals versus Rhein Fire this spring and the level of play was quite low compared to NFL. Also NFL europa had no continuity. Good players left after one year, so there was no team identity for the fans to cheer for.

The good part of NFL europa is that it got people like me interested in the NFL. Kurt Warner was (also for a lot of other Dutch fans) the reason for me to start watching NFL games.
The 1999 season was the first season that the NFL was broadcast in the Netherlands and I started watching because I wanted to see how the Amsterdam Admirals' star QB did in the NFL. So I started watching and cheering for the Rams, which is probably a big reason why I am a Rams fan right now (as much as that sucks this season)...

Some examples, most of which mirror what people I've met in Europe (admittedly only London, Dublin and Manchester) have to say about football.

"Soccer World Cup?? What is this? I thought it was the Football World Cup or have the Americans re-named it? Stick to your Yankieball and let the rest of us get on with a decent sport."

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=23807

"But Europe hasn't American Football!I don't know any leagues of that sport. We have a similar and better sport the american football:RUGBY its much better!
There's only American Football in US and Canada!I think"

"OK, you're right, but in most of the european countries american football isn't a profissional sport and it isn't popular,
european's favourite sports:
1-Football, of course
2-Rugby
3-Basketball
4-Handball
5-Volley
...........
and after many sports american football!"

"- False. No one here gives a damn about American football, "

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=107518

"American Football is wannabe Rugby for the weak hearted. I'm sorry if anyone is a fan of it but just look at how much padding and protection they wear! In Rugby you wear colthes and that is all."

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=154289

"American Football may be physically demanding, but only in the sense that there's lots of collisions. In terms of musculature, conditioning, and full-body strength, it's an awful sport (as evidenced by the fact that many NFL players are overweight)."

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=199861

"Gridiron is where two lines of people dressed up in oversize novelty foam pads bounce into each other, while a frightened bloke called a quarterback desperately throws the ball away before anyone can bump into him, hoping a fast-running player on his team will be able to catch it further up the field. And every time a play fails, they'll spend fifteen minutes perving on some scantily clad girls with pom-poms dancing about, before deciding to do go and bounce into each other again. And that's why it's the only sport in the world where at its biggest event (the Superbowl) spectators are likely to say to each other "wake up, it's the half-time break -- something interesting might be about to happen".

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5995876

"oh, and BTW, football here really means it, not the rugby mutation that is American Football (is it true that only one person on the American footbal team is only allowed to use his feet? odd name for the sport!!)

Gridiron please!

Let us mutilate their attempt at a sport as well."

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=141017

"American football or renamed by me American soccer is a crap game. I turned on a game, went out for 4 hours, came back and the game was still playing. Its so boring. the game stops and starts. You have a play, then the game stops, new players are put on, the managers have 5 mins to construct a new play and then it starts again. the game fits american tv because there are so many breaks and thus lots of time for adverts"

"Yankeeball ain't that bad. I think thats what I'll be calling it from now on."

"It's football, football, football.

The other one should be called the "Girlie, Wimpy, protection-wearing-excuse for rugby."

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=23052

"American football should be called that pansy-ass sport that those Americans wusses play."

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=96614

Thats just a sample. You can find more by googling "gridiron" since many Soccer lovers go nuts over the mere fact that football has the same name as their precious sport.

Don't forget the plan to have the Bills play a home game each season in Toronto, though that is a more natural expansion than going right to London.


The NFL would like the Bills to move to Toronto. As it stands, an awful lot of folks from the area make the hike to attend games in Buffalo, so like you said, its just a logical extension of the market.

Yeah, I'm with everybody else on the European superbowl. I'm all for playing regular season games all over the world..maybe this will help get more people playing football, which will help broaden our talent base, like it has with baseball and basketball

Some examples, most of which mirror what people I've met in Europe (admittedly only London, Dublin and Manchester) have to say about football.

"Soccer World Cup?? What is this? I thought it was the Football World Cup or have the Americans re-named it? Stick to your Yankieball and let the rest of us get on with a decent sport."

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=23807

"But Europe hasn't American Football!I don't know any leagues of that sport. We have a similar and better sport the american football:RUGBY its much better!
There's only American Football in US and Canada!I think"

"OK, you're right, but in most of the european countries american football isn't a profissional sport and it isn't popular,
european's favourite sports:
1-Football, of course
2-Rugby
3-Basketball
4-Handball
5-Volley
...........
and after many sports american football!"

"- False. No one here gives a damn about American football, "

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=107518

"American Football is wannabe Rugby for the weak hearted. I'm sorry if anyone is a fan of it but just look at how much padding and protection they wear! In Rugby you wear colthes and that is all."

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=154289

"American Football may be physically demanding, but only in the sense that there's lots of collisions. In terms of musculature, conditioning, and full-body strength, it's an awful sport (as evidenced by the fact that many NFL players are overweight)."

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=199861

"Gridiron is where two lines of people dressed up in oversize novelty foam pads bounce into each other, while a frightened bloke called a quarterback desperately throws the ball away before anyone can bump into him, hoping a fast-running player on his team will be able to catch it further up the field. And every time a play fails, they'll spend fifteen minutes perving on some scantily clad girls with pom-poms dancing about, before deciding to do go and bounce into each other again. And that's why it's the only sport in the world where at its biggest event (the Superbowl) spectators are likely to say to each other "wake up, it's the half-time break -- something interesting might be about to happen".

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=5995876

"oh, and BTW, football here really means it, not the rugby mutation that is American Football (is it true that only one person on the American footbal team is only allowed to use his feet? odd name for the sport!!)

Gridiron please!

Let us mutilate their attempt at a sport as well."

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=141017

"American football or renamed by me American soccer is a crap game. I turned on a game, went out for 4 hours, came back and the game was still playing. Its so boring. the game stops and starts. You have a play, then the game stops, new players are put on, the managers have 5 mins to construct a new play and then it starts again. the game fits american tv because there are so many breaks and thus lots of time for adverts"

"Yankeeball ain't that bad. I think thats what I'll be calling it from now on."

"It's football, football, football.

The other one should be called the "Girlie, Wimpy, protection-wearing-excuse for rugby."

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=23052

"American football should be called that pansy-ass sport that those Americans wusses play."

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=96614

Thats just a sample. You can find more by googling "gridiron" since many Soccer lovers go nuts over the mere fact that football has the same name as their precious sport.

So what? That's just the opinion that some people have. Not all Europeans are like that. You don't see me saying that all Americans hate soccer, so why should these posts prove that all Europeans hate football?

I find it really odd that this has you so pissed off... :confused:
In 1994 the soccer World Cup was in the US. We didn't cry about that one either (and that's only held every 4 years), so why are you so upset about something that will probably never happen. So what if they play a regular season game in London. People here are very enthousiastic about that. The game was totally sold out (88000 seats in Wembley stadium) extremely fast. The first 40000 tickets were gone in 90 minutes, so don't say there's no-one in Europe that likes football...

I find it really odd that this has you so pissed off... :confused:

1, Im a season ticket holder. I will likely have to pay for a game I cant attend if and when the Steelers ever play a "home" game away from Heinz Field. Although the Rooney's are good people, they may not screw season ticket holders.

2. I'd like to go to another Superbowl sometime. Its hard enough and expensive enough to do it now, let alone if they put one in Europe.

3. If a superbowl is played in Europe and televised here at 2pm, i wont have a good excuse to blow off work the next day. When the game, and the drinking, ends at 11, work is not even an option. Think of the superbowl parties wrapping up at 7pm.

4. The attitude of most Europeans, yourself excluded, has always annoyed me. I dont think all of you hate football, but the vocal majority who scream at you everytime you use the word 'football' drive me nuts.

Yes, because the internet has always been a statistically valid sample space of how the world feels on any topic.

Try asking a group of Americans their feeling on soccer...

But my feelings on a Superbowl in Europe mirrors joycems pretty closely. The difference between a Superbowl being in Europe and the World Cup being in the USA...well, the World Cup is constantly moved around the world. The Superbowl has just recently moved outside of the Miami-San Diego-Pasadena rotation :p

I tend to agree with Joycem actually. American football will never be popular in Europe. If a sport of that category would have to spread over Europe one day, there are higher chances that it would be rugby for obvious cultural connections. But even this isn't granted. Outside the British Isles, France and timidly Italy, rugby is totally marginal in the rest of Europe.

As for the parrallel between NFL football in Europe and FIFA football in the US, I'm sorry but I totally disagree with those saying that the evolution were similar:
- There's no professional American football league in Europe similar to the MLS in the US.
- There are no millions of affiliated players of American football in Europe.
- There's no "American football mom" phenomena in Europe.
- Several dozens of American soccer players play in European Championships. How many European players are they in the NFL?

Well, as a matter of fact, soccer is significantly more develloped in the US than American football will actually ever be in Europe. I know that soccer remains marginal in the US, but there's an enough strong minority interested in that sport to organize a profitable domestic professional league and to make of the US national team a decent squad on the international level. I doubt this will ever happen in Europe. You will never see a Beckham of the NFL ending his carreer in the "Barcelona Donkeys" or whatever.

Now this being said, I'm sure some European crowds would be curious to see an NFL parade game once in a while. However, I'm just sceptic about the idea that they would actually like to play it seriously by themselves afterwards. In my opinion, Ice hockey has stronger chances to grow in Europe than American football or baseball has.

I dont't think so. The level of play is simply not comparable to 'regular' NFL. I went to see Amsterdam Admirals versus Rhein Fire this spring and the level of play was quite low compared to NFL. Also NFL europa had no continuity. Good players left after one year, so there was no team identity for the fans to cheer for.

The good part of NFL europa is that it got people like me interested in the NFL. Kurt Warner was (also for a lot of other Dutch fans) the reason for me to start watching NFL games.
The 1999 season was the first season that the NFL was broadcast in the Netherlands and I started watching because I wanted to see how the Amsterdam Admirals' star QB did in the NFL. So I started watching and cheering for the Rams, which is probably a big reason why I am a Rams fan right now (as much as that sucks this season)...

I suppose you would be right. It'd be pretty hard to just stick in an NFL minor league of people that couldn't make the 55-man roster or need some seasoning and expect it to be big.

But if there is a shot at expanding the brand, how would it be done?

The NFL would like the Bills to move to Toronto. As it stands, an awful lot of folks from the area make the hike to attend games in Buffalo, so like you said, its just a logical extension of the market.

Yeah, I'm with everybody else on the European superbowl. I'm all for playing regular season games all over the world..maybe this will help get more people playing football, which will help broaden our talent base, like it has with baseball and basketball

All that and sadly, Buffalo is a market on life support. The depressed Western New York means people are moving out. Stick it in vibrant Toronto and it'd have a shot.

In my opinion, Ice hockey has stronger chances to grow in Europe than American football or baseball has.

True, but that might be partially due to the fact that Europe already has a pretty big winter sports tradition and the fact that there are a lot of Scandinavians, Czechs and Slovaks playing in the NHL.

@all: Please also note that I am not trying to say that the NFL should play the superbowl in Europe. It's fine staying in the US. Gives me a great excuse to take the monday after off from work. Game starts at midnight in the Netherlands. I just think that some regular season games in Europe would be great. I'd love seeing the Rams (once they're actually decent again!!!!) play here in De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam, because I would definately be there with some friends.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/19418/Kuip2.jpg

@the Yankee: Football is a minor sport in Europe. Here in The Netherlands kids mostly play soccer, (field) hockey and tennis. Football simply isn't that popular among the young kids, so there's no big foundation for local leagues. Now that may change in the future. Hell, we Dutch have no cricket youth leagues either, but the sport is growing among adults (like Stapel for example). Maybe something like that can happen with football also, but something like that takes time. The game in London is a great way for the NFL to showcase itself here in Europe, but I don't think that at this time another NFL europe could be succesful (for the reasons I posted above).

cool remarks Darkness :thumbsup: now i know why you're a rams fan! :lol:

i don't mind the exhibition games being played abroad but regular season games or --gasp!-- the superbowl being played overseas is an anathema to me.

but at the same time, i recognize the nfl's attempts to reach the global markets. so i guess overseas games may be a 'necessary evil' as they say.

i will admit though that i softened my stance a little after reading Darkness' remarks about actually wanting to attend a game in person :)

You will never see a Beckham of the NFL ending his carreer in the "Barcelona Donkeys" or whatever.

That's wrong. If they money is right some would do it. American Football actually has a strong minority following in Germany. Consider that 5 out of the 6 teams of the late NFL Europe were located in Germany (the sixth in Amsterdam).

It had a decent following and for many years free TV broadcasts. It was also a place for prospect or mediocre former NFL players to spend the off-season. In fact when I watched the superbowl they were always a couple of player who played in Germany before.

The problem was the lack of interest outside Germany (and apparently the Netherlands) and some bad management. Also the hype of American football in the 90s subsided in this decade coinciding with an even bigger hype of (real ;) ) football and the traditional second tier sports like handball or ice hockey. It probably also "coincided" with the general drop of pro-Americanism after 2000 (now who might be responsible for that?).

And therein lies the truth about the chances of American football in Europe. Real football is so established as a first sport in the vast majority of countries and a strong contender in all others that the aim should be for the spot behind that. That probably not continent-wide but instead in certain key "markets".
The traditional rugby countries (as mentioned by Marla) are in my view absolutely not the right places to look for but rather those without any established sport of that kind.

A clear target could be Eastern Germany, with cities like Leipzig who have no top-level club of any sort in any sport. Instead they choose London, which sounds cooler in America itself but the fans there mostly think the idea sucks anyway and in London noone besides corporate sponsored people and expatriate Americans will care anyway.
However, I'm just sceptic about the idea that they would actually like to play it seriously by themselves afterwards.
Certainly not. The clear advantage of real football - i.e. that you need virtually no equipment, a coke can may do the job - is unbeatable. Rugby also needs less.
In my opinion, Ice hockey has stronger chances to grow in Europe than American football or baseball has.
Now that I don't get. Ice hockey is already well-established in several European countries, in particular in the North, East and Centre. In other words, in all places where there even is some ice at least some time of the year. And it has an even worse disadvantage than American football as there are few places where you can actually play it.

And really, can you imagine Spaniards picking up ice (!) hockey? :crazyeye:

what's with this "real football" nonsense? do you realize how insulting and insensitive that is? really?

the fact of the matter is that a majority of gridiron fans in the US could give a rat's toosh whether folks overseas enjoy the game. i mean, i certainly do not care. however, i find it irritating and condescending that non-americans like to belittle a sport that, quite frankly, they know very little about (save for the few who do follow it abroad). it strikes me as not only ignorant but arrogant...

And really, can you imagine Spaniards picking up ice (!) hockey? :crazyeye:

Stanley Cups have been won by teams from North Carolina and Florida, and one of collegiate hockey's most fanatic fanbases resides in Huntsville, Alabama.

what's with this "real football" nonsense? do you realize how insulting and insensitive that is? really?
That's a tradition in this forum. ;)

And "real" does refer to it having an actual ball and it actually being (mostly) played with the foot. :D

Now that I don't get. Ice hockey is already well-established in several European countries, in particular in the North, East and Centre. In other words, in all places where there even is some ice at least some time of the year. And it has an even worse disadvantage than American football as there are few places where you can actually play it.

And really, can you imagine Spaniards picking up ice (!) hockey? :crazyeye:I see your point.

Stanley Cups have been won by teams from North Carolina and Florida, and one of collegiate hockey's most fanatic fanbases resides in Huntsville, Alabama.Yeah but actually Hitro is right. Even if some Hockey teams could be strong in Florida, their players are rarely from Florida themselves I believe. People from Spain will never have the opportunity to play Ice Hockey as massively as people from Finland.

what's with this "real football" nonsense? do you realize how insulting and insensitive that is? really?Well, I agree Hitro's shortcut was a bit quick. He should have said "the football that is really played with the foot". :p

EDIT: Ah well, Hitro has been faster than I.

Anyway, the sport culture is I believe totally different in the US and in the rest of the world.

When Americans play soccer, they do so in clubs, rarely in the streets. It's somehow counter-intuitive that kids in the US never have the idea to put a ball on the ground and to try play it between them with their feet, without using their hands, just for fun. Soccer is popular worldwide because it's only a game at the beginning. It's simple, intuitive, spontaneous. Once you know you can't use your hands, you know enough to enjoy it. And if it's that enjoyable, it's because you can't hold the ball with your feet as you can with your hands. As a result, it's harder and funnier to try keeping the ball from your opponents.

In the US, the sport having the most a similar role is probably basket-ball even more than base-ball. Basket-ball is based on the same principle. Granted you can use your hands, but you cannot hold the ball either.

Anyway, the sport culture is I believe totally different in the US and in the rest of the world.

When Americans play soccer, they do so in clubs, rarely in the streets. It's somehow counter-intuitive that kids in the US never have the idea to put a ball on the ground and to try play it between them with their feet, without using their hands, just for fun. Soccer is popular worldwide because it's only a game at the beginning. It's simple, intuitive, spontaneous. Once you know you can't use your hands, you know enough to enjoy it. And if it's that enjoyable, it's because you can't hold the ball with your feet as you can with your hands. As a result, it's harder and funnier to try keeping the ball from your opponents.

In the US, the sport having the most a similar role is probably basket-ball even more than base-ball. Basket-ball is based on the same principle. Granted you can use your hands, but you cannot hold the ball either.

I agree with this, you'll see kids playing football in the empty lots, parks, and even streets, but you won't see kids playing pick-up soccer. The only pick-up games of soccer I've seen are Hispanic men, no white people play. That being said, a lot of youths play soccer as a kid, so it makes me wonder why it hasn't been played pick-up for a while.

When Americans play soccer, they do so in clubs, rarely in the streets. It's somehow counter-intuitive that kids in the US never have the idea to put a ball on the ground and to try play it between them with their feet, without using their hands, just for fun. Soccer is popular worldwide because it's only a game at the beginning. It's simple, intuitive, spontaneous. Once you know you can't use your hands, you know enough to enjoy it. And if it's that enjoyable, it's because you can't hold the ball with your feet as you can with your hands. As a result, it's harder and funnier to try keeping the ball from your opponents.When I was a little kid in NYC, there were many more convenient sports kids could play. Foot-football requires at least four markers (for the goal) and gets boring without out-markers since people would start holding the ball against the fence (everything is fenced).

American football is infinitely more convenient. All you need is a ball of any sort. We played with tennis balls. We used a Mississippi-count to simulate the rush.

Baseball never was that popular (no room to play it) but basketball was really convenient too. There were basketball courts everywhere you looked.

If all else failed you found a wall and played Butts-Up. Even some other games like spud could be played with just a ball and a paved surface.

And also contributing, I believe, it that American kids don't get to see the fancy maneuvers of professional foot-football players on TV. Playground children emulate the moves of NBA stars and run American football trick plays (and try to throw curveballs), but when they play foot-football, the strategy is either "stand near your goal and talk with your friends" or "run after the ball and kick it towards your opponent's goal."

Yeah but actually Hitro is right. Even if some Hockey teams could be strong in Florida, their players are rarely from Florida themselves I believe. People from Spain will never have the opportunity to play Ice Hockey as massively as people from Finland.

This is a defeatist argument though. Sure, there aren't many NHL players from Florida, but I guarantee you there will be some eventually. The Lightning were formed in 1992. The Panthers a few years later. It takes years for leagues to form, then years for kids to grow up with hockey around them. When I was an undergraduate in Gainesville, I had never seen a hockey game in my life - I attended probably 20 games in Tampa and caught the "hockey bug" for a while. Alabama-Huntsville's roster is not made up of Alabama kids (yet) but they have players from hockey hotbeds such as Los Angeles and Texas.

Never is a pretty strong word to throw around.

That's a tradition in this forum. ;)

And "real" does refer to it having an actual ball and it actually being (mostly) played with the foot. :D
bah, it's insulting. you and anyone else who feel that it's a tradition :rolleyes: would probably be better off categorizing it as a "misnomer" rather that taking pot shots at a sport they know very little about...

I agree with this, you'll see kids playing football in the empty lots, parks, and even streets, but you won't see kids playing pick-up soccer. The only pick-up games of soccer I've seen are Hispanic men, no white people play. That being said, a lot of youths play soccer as a kid, so it makes me wonder why it hasn't been played pick-up for a while.

I live in Canada, which is practically America's backyard. I see more kids playing pickup soccer than pickup (american) football.

In fact, I see a lot of pickup soccer being played. (American) football isn't as popular when it comes to pickup; different story when it comes to watching it on TV though. .. Although there are tons of Prem. fans here..

I wouldn't say no one in Britain likes the NFL. http://www.nfluk.com/

They even have their own forums, and they have been looking forward to this NY-Miami game for a long time.

Exactly...

They sold out a 90,000 venue in no time at all....months before the game...

Exactly...

They sold out a 90,000 venue in no time at all....months before the game...

Just read an interesting article about this.

To most of London, the Dolphins-Giants game on Sunday, while a sellout at Wembley Stadium, is an obscure oddity. (http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/286308.html)

They really shouldn't have done this on the day of Arsenal playing @ Liverpool. Everyone's going to be preoccupied with that clash instead. 90,000 tickets sold is not bad, but:

''I reckon only one in 10 people at this game will know what's really going on,'' guessed Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes, Scotland-born. ``It's an event and good for a few beers, but it's never going to sway football [soccer] fans. Once a year maybe there's a curiosity. But outside of that?''

Grid Iron will find it extremely hard to survive successfully outside the US because of 2 main reasons. First, the most popular sports around the world don't have the constant breaks in play like Grid Iron. Second, Grid Iron requires a lot more people to play it than any other major sport. Having said that, I still prefer Grid Iron over Rugby but it will never be able to compete with Soccer or Aussie Rules in Australia.

I live in the UK and I love to watch NFL, esp. as the Seahawks have been doing so well the last few years, and as my flat-mate last year was from Indie. I love the sport, it's tactically engrossing, and extremely fun when a game is evenly matched. Sadly, if you live in Scotland you have to stay up to 5AM to watch Monday Night live football on Channel 5. In contrast, Baseball is boring and Basketball has too much scoring ... to the extent tactics play almost no role compared with ball skill. Ice Hockey is fun, but I don't really regard that sport as American.

Anyways, if I were an American Gridiron enthusiast, I wouldn't get ahead of myself at the Wembley thing. American Football in its NFL guise is glamorous, that's all. It's not gonna make many people stay up until 5 in the morning, or pay a fortune for all the gear, and it certainly ain't gonna produce English NFL stars. NFL players in the US are produce through High Schools and Colleges, through an extremely well established and well integrated system, and there's no way on earth you're gonna be able to replicate that in any European country. It also has the problem that you have to buy expensive kit to actually play, and no-one plays it. Catch 22. Therefore, all this is is a good way to add more revenue from the purses of Londoners a few times a season. It'll never be anything more.

It will never be anything more unless the NFL can export and change the style of the game depending on the country...look at the rules present in the CFL and you will see that its different from the NFL.

It would be hard, and it would likely (at the BEST possible scenario) be a forever second to soccer in almost every country, but what else is the NFL going to spend all of that extra money on (since they certainly wont spend it on former players medical care)? :mischief:

I just wish they would have scheduled a team they KNEW would be great, like Indy or New England. The NFL is very lucky that it does not have two sub-.500 teams out there to showcase its game.

I know a few people who watch American football a lot. however when I have tried to watch it the game has not interested me that much prehaps due to the constant breaks.
The fact there is 90,000 people there who have paid money to see a match shows that there is a level of interest but the fact is it will never be a main stream sport due to the vast majority of the matches being shown at 1AM onwards so only students and the unemployed will have realistically have time to watch it.

Also i get the feeling it will constantly get compared to Rugby in the uk, due to similar physical nature of the sport but rugby being on TV at accessible times will be the more popular.

There have been a lot of efforts to try and improve North American sports stature in europe recently just look at the Ice hockey match hosted in london however until the time difference problem gets solved i doubt any of these sports will be mainstreamly popular, As there is no way to justify moving these sports to appeal to European viewing habits they will therefore remain unpopular.

1 in 10 people knowing what's going on is the whole point...:rolleyes:

Presumably, that number will be in higher than 1 in 10 leaving the stadium, and job done.



Note: that 1 in 10 is pulled out of some guy's arse. ffs.
This game was sold out too quickly to be done just on publicity. There are plenty of NFL fans in the UK. Same goes for baseball too.

American sports in Europe? Make an "American Sports" channel first, see if there's demand, then send a game or two out there. In the meantime... hockey or soccer can cross oceans. Nothing else.

one of collegiate hockey's most fanatic fanbases resides in Huntsville, Alabama.
Lol, No. Not even close!! :lol:

American sports in Europe? Make an "American Sports" channel first, see if there's demand, then send a game or two out there. In the meantime... hockey or soccer can cross oceans. Nothing else.


Basketball has done pretty well/

Basketball has done pretty well/

I would add that Baseball has done pretty well across the Pacific in Japan and Korea.

Lol, No. Not even close!! :lol:

It's why I said one. I didn't say -the-. Trust me, I know Minnesotans have little else to do in the winter than watch hockey. :)

American sports in Europe? Make an "American Sports" channel first

There is one.

There is one.

Exactly.
How else do you think that I manage to see NFL games?
They have a bit of a strange way of selecting games to show to the European viewers (huge, yet very strange, bias towards Cowboys and Patriots games), but overal I'm very happy with it.

@all (potentially) offended Dallas and New England fans: I realize that showing the winless Rams is probably not on the priority list for NASN, but it'd be nice to see the Colts a bit more.

nothing wrong w/ that Darkness :) they are, afterall, the reigning champs.

The Cowboys being on that short list is kinda surprising...I know of several teams that have bigger international fanbases (Packers, Dolphins, Steelers)

The Cowboys being on that short list is kinda surprising...I know of several teams that have bigger international fanbases (Packers, Dolphins, Steelers)

The Cowboys have supposedly the largest base in the UK.

thing is, there is already an american football league in the UK. Its fanbase was inevitably going to be limited because of the overwhelming popularity of football. Even the other major sports in this country (cricket and the two codes of rugby) can't compete with football in terms of fan demand, and both have been established sports here for well over a century. Any foreign sports (american football, basketball, aussie rules, ice hockey...) that are played here will always be fairly minor compared to the sports we already play

"Soccer World Cup?? What is this? I thought it was the Football World Cup or have the Americans re-named it? Stick to your Yankieball and let the rest of us get on with a decent sport."


"But Europe hasn't American Football!I don't know any leagues of that sport. We have a similar and better sport the american football:RUGBY its much better!
There's only American Football in US and Canada!I think"

"OK, you're right, but in most of the european countries american football isn't a profissional sport and it isn't popular,
european's favourite sports:
1-Football, of course
2-Rugby
3-Basketball
4-Handball
5-Volley
...........
and after many sports american football!"

"- False. No one here gives a damn about American football, "

"American Football is wannabe Rugby for the weak hearted. I'm sorry if anyone is a fan of it but just look at how much padding and protection they wear! In Rugby you wear colthes and that is all."

"American Football may be physically demanding, but only in the sense that there's lots of collisions. In terms of musculature, conditioning, and full-body strength, it's an awful sport (as evidenced by the fact that many NFL players are overweight)."

"Gridiron is where two lines of people dressed up in oversize novelty foam pads bounce into each other, while a frightened bloke called a quarterback desperately throws the ball away before anyone can bump into him, hoping a fast-running player on his team will be able to catch it further up the field. And every time a play fails, they'll spend fifteen minutes perving on some scantily clad girls with pom-poms dancing about, before deciding to do go and bounce into each other again. And that's why it's the only sport in the world where at its biggest event (the Superbowl) spectators are likely to say to each other "wake up, it's the half-time break -- something interesting might be about to happen".

"oh, and BTW, football here really means it, not the rugby mutation that is American Football (is it true that only one person on the American footbal team is only allowed to use his feet? odd name for the sport!!)
Gridiron please!
Let us mutilate their attempt at a sport as well."

"American football or renamed by me American soccer is a crap game. I turned on a game, went out for 4 hours, came back and the game was still playing. Its so boring. the game stops and starts. You have a play, then the game stops, new players are put on, the managers have 5 mins to construct a new play and then it starts again. the game fits american tv because there are so many breaks and thus lots of time for adverts"

"Yankeeball ain't that bad. I think thats what I'll be calling it from now on."

"It's football, football, football.
The other one should be called the "Girlie, Wimpy, protection-wearing-excuse for rugby."


"American football should be called that pansy-ass sport that those Americans wusses play."



If there were a gridiron game here, I'd certainly go to watch it. A unique exotic experience.
Even though I agree with all of the above sentences

In Britain, not sure about the rest of europe, there is only one sport that is really seriously followed, football. It's the only one that gets a huge following every Saturday afternoon. Other sports like rugby and cricket are followed, but often only at a international level (ask which club Toby Flood plays for, or Paul Collingwood plays for in England, not many people would be able to tell) of course there are a small amount of people who follow them closely, but not in the same way with football. Everyone comes in on a Monday morning and discusses the games (slighty different this Monday due to the six nations, but most mondays at least) Remember Havant and Waterloo, coming to Anfield and for a time scaring me completely out of my mind! the only time i have felt that sought of excitment was in the Rugby World Cups and the 2005 Ashes, not at club level.

Because of this American football will find it hard to even break though, it was a real oddity the 90,000 people coming to Wembley (alot of them were from contiental europe as well, thanks to the fact you are allowed to travel within the EU freely, mostly). If you want American football in Europe, you need to create a base from which to start, ie local clubs, try to get people interested in the sport and play it. Don't just play games here because some of us may want to try and play it, but there are no clubs to go to, so it gets forgotten. Football, Cricket and Rubgy all have lots of local clubs which keep interest in them high.

Plus football, is just so easy to pick up and play, you need two people, a round shape object, two trees/two jumpers/coke cans/anything else that won't move and you can take shots at each other or get four trees/two jumpers/coke cans and several other people and play a game.

American football is quite a expensive game to start, you need padding, other equipment so you have to be pretty serious about playing it. It's also physical like rugby which you start playing at school when you reach secondary school, often by that time you will have played football quite alot, so alot of people are into that and stay into football though school into adulthood.

If there were a gridiron game here, I'd certainly go to watch it. A unique exotic experience.
Even though I agree with all of the above sentences

Yea, ok...thats nice. Go away now and stop necromancing threads and trying to restart arguments that have been done AD NAUSEUM.

necromancing?
Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see the date, I didn't mean to restart any argument.
I arrived here from a link in another thread.

No problem, I probably shouldnt bump this, but I should apologize for being a bit rash ;)