Commissioner also has 'tremendous interest' in a London franchise. Associated Press
From the Associated Press:
LONDON -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says the league hopes to start playing multiple regular-season games in Britain in the next few years. He also says putting an NFL franchise in London is of "tremendous interest."
Goodell says "every indicator" shows the British market can support more games, but stopped short of giving a timeline for expanding the NFL's overseas presence.
Goodell spoke at a sports conference Friday, two days before the New England Patriots play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Wembley Stadium. It's the third year in a row the NFL is staging a regular season game in London.
Goodell said if interest continues to grow, the NFL could have a franchise in London.
Mr Goodell: If you want to encourage growth in the British market, start by making the sport more accessible on TV. There is much less coverage than last year, and apart from one game free to air it's very expensive to follow the sport. Hosting a game or two in the UK might generate a few news stories, but it won't hook in a lot of new fans if they can't watch the rest of the season.
Yeah, British fans will totally shell out $100+ a ticket every week for a sport they are only casually interested in...
I keep saying this: They need to put the Pro Bowl in London and other cities, moving it each year. This gets the game's biggest stars into new markets and puts a traditionally high-scoring game on the field. Why would anyone be impressed by the Tampa Bay Bucs??? You want to give the world your best product, right???
Besides, when it's not an important game, players have time to get out and about and be seen by locals.
I think what the NFL has done for the past two or three years is maybe the dumbest way of going about creating an international buzz. Sometimes I wonder if anyone at the NFL office has ever even left the United States. Most other countries don't even have commercial advertisements during sporting events.
/facepalm
Pittsburgh was an estimated $25...
Team down to '2 or 3' finalists
Rare condition affected him in...
Report says Patriots receiver...
Cornerback was released by Raiders...
Oct 23, 2009
01:12 PM
I live in England, and love watching the NFL, but this idea strikes me as daft. It's at least 11 hour flight to the West Coast, and 8 to the East, plus all the other transport details. It will be exhausting for anyone who has to do the travelling. The dreadful records West Coast teams have in East Coast games will be multiplied by a factor of about 10, but at least for them it will happen only once each season. The London team, admittedly going West, will have huge journeys for half their games, and that can only be a huge drag on their ability to win.
I think the best way to treat London is as a novelty venue, maybe twice a year, but no more. And it would help if the NFL could arrange to get a decent matchup. NE v. Tampa? Are you kidding me?