So if London gets NFL, do we get cricket and warm beer?
There were fireworks in London in 2007 when New York played Miami. Notsomuch in the U.S.
Last season, the lords of baseball made the bizarre and implausible decision to open the regular season in Tokyo, because I guess Cincinnati and Boston and St. Louis were all booked, and nothing screams tradition more than baseball, ramen and Camry.
We’ve also seen the NHL begin to play games overseas. This hockey season started in Prague and Stockholm. But half the players are from Prague and Stockholm, anyway, and not enough people in the U.S. care about hockey, so it wasn’t surprising to see Gary Bettman lunge for the koruny and kronor.
But the NFL?
This is the most powerful, profitable and successful league in sports. By any measurement. Even with the current economic slide, estimates put the NFL’s annual revenues in excess of $7.5 billion. Attendance for most games is at or near capacity. Multi-year television contracts total $20.4 billion.
Nineteen of 32 franchises are valued at over $1 billion, according to Forbes. The Value City of the 32 teams: the Minnesota Vikings, still full retail at $839 million.
But NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reaffirmed this week that he wants to add more regular season games in England to the schedule. The matter will be discussed at league meetings next week, along with an expanded schedule.
Saints coach Sean Payton won't go back to London. But he could be open to loaning the cheerleaders.
If you’re going to become a sellout, England is a logical venue. The league still feels guilty about imposing NFL Europe on the country several years ago. Besides, Neptune hasn’t come up with a significant site fee, yet.
This isn’t about the product (for consecutive years, a London game has been played on a quagmire in Wembley Stadium).
This isn’t about the players (some from San Diego last year said they couldn’t fall asleep until 4 a.m. because of the time difference and had to get up for 8 a.m. meetings.)
This isn’t about coaches or general managers, who thrive on the structure of an NFL game week during the season. And it’s certainly not about a team’s fans or that city’s economy, given the loss of a home game from the schedule.
This is greed, pure and simple. There’s nothing wrong with globalization and seeking out new revenue streams, even if in the long-term. But pursuing those things at the expense of fans, employees, local economies and the game is wrong, particularly when it’s a league that isn’t starved for finances or attention.
And, no: We don’t want cricket, warm beer or the Arsenal-Manchester United game as compensation.
London hosted regular season games the last two years. NFL senior vice president Greg Aiello said Goodell “is sensitive to [the criticism], and that’s why it’s being done on an extremely limited basis.”
He added: “It’s trying to bring the game to new fans in an intelligent and limited way.”
New Orleans coach Sean Payton used a lot of words to describe his team’s experience in London last year. “Intelligent” was not one of them. The Saints “home” game against San Diego was sandwiched between three road games and a bye. The team went six weeks between games in New Orleans.
Payton criticized the travel, the playing conditions and added, “It’s hard for me to say it’s a great experience and a great thing for your club. … It isn’t for [New Orleans]. It isn’t for the local economy. It’s not for anyone.”
The Saints won the game. Imagine if they had lost.
There was a report in London last week that the Super Bowl could be played there soon. Aiello denied that, saying the officials sought information from the league on what it would take, but that such a move isn’t on the radar.
Is he closing the door to the Super Bowl ever being moved overseas?
“Well, you never say, ‘’Never, ever,’” he said.
At $7.5 billion per year, maybe you should.
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90 comments Add your comment
ATL Scouser
May 14th, 2009
8:07 am
I absolutely agree with you, but speak for yourself when you said that having the Arsenal-ManU game here wouldn’t be enough compensation.
Archie
May 14th, 2009
8:31 am
None of the soccer fans on here are “singing the game’s praises”. Any regular season EPL game played in the US between any of the top 4 (ManU, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea) would be a big time deal, in the US and UK. It would sell out in a heartbeat. And yes, the World Cup games did sell out in the US. That’s not singing the praises of soccer, that’s just stating the obvious.
Sending preseason games across the pond is something Euro soccer teams have been doing for years, and the effects are wearing off IMO, I’m a soccer fan and I don’t care to see AC Milan-Club America in the Georgia Dome. It’s an exhibition game, and I care less because the game doesn’t matter. So I wouldn’t expect the Brits to care if we gave them one of our preseason NFL games. If the NFL wants to grow the game internationally, which I agree is very important for the future of the league, I don’t think sending them mediocre matchups between inter-conference opponents with no playoff ramifications is going to make much of an impact. If you want to grow the game over there, send them our best games and best teams. But do you want to lose the Colts-Patriots game, a Ravens-Steelers game? I sure don’t. Again, I’m a soccer fan, and I want to see a Man U-Arsenal game, but I would never ask the Brits to give that game up and I wouldn’t want them to ask me to give up our biggest games.
East ATL FC
May 14th, 2009
8:40 am
I will take Manu-Arsenal anyday. NFL is a bore.
cricket
May 14th, 2009
8:45 am
I will take cricket, just not the pathetic English cricket. Gimme the Australians and Indians any day.
Bill
May 14th, 2009
8:53 am
Yeah Jeff I’m an American.The soccer folks on here can have their nil-nil epics.I’d rather watch a high school football game between two 3-5 teams than sit through a 0-0 soccer match “on the pitch”.
dap01
May 14th, 2009
8:55 am
The NFL is losing grips with who is their fans. The goal of a fan is not to include the world, the goal is to have a football product.
Booo NFL.
to JD
May 14th, 2009
9:06 am
Yes there is version of Cricket called T20 (or Twenty Twenty). It lasts about three hours. Google on T20 or IPL [Indian Premier League]. Some of them get paid around 1.5 million dollars for a 6 week event. Not a bad deal. If you get a chance you watch it live. You will also get to see Washington Redskins Cheerleaders dancing to Bollywood Music.
MadridistAmericano
May 14th, 2009
9:12 am
KEVIN JONES: Thierry Henry left Arsenal to play with BARCELONA – so maybe you can like him now…..
ben
May 14th, 2009
9:21 am
as a red blooded american, i love hockey, room-temp beer and the epl. mls borders on unwatchable, not the same thing.
Otto
May 14th, 2009
9:31 am
World Cup Soccer does not sell out? The qualifying matches, which are the World Cup version of the regular season, may not sell out in the US but the Braves can’t even sell out play off games. I was in Athens to watch the Olympic Soccer games and remember the stadium being very full if not sold out.
The NFL is no longer football with their QB protection rules and bias towards scoring more points. It makes for a boring game played by a bunch of media hounds more concerned about how many times they get on SportsCenter than playing as a team. College Football is the only US sport I keep up with now and rules changes are reducing my interest in that.
JBUG308
May 14th, 2009
10:49 am
The UK can send over their teams to play – as long as they send over the “Hooligans” as well! We need some excitement and training for the police forces over here!!
Jeff Schultz
May 14th, 2009
10:51 am
## Funny how this comments section became a referendum on soccer rather than the NFL playing games in London. Oh well.
## Archie: I’m not sure but I think NFL games are shown on TV there on a fairly regular basis.
## Wxwax: I love international competition. One of my favorite things in the world is the Olympics, summer and winter. But there’s a place. The WBC disrupts spring training and has potential after effects during the season. The NFL’s practice of putting games in London disrupts their teams and season and most of all fans. I’m not anti international competition or globalization.
## Okintheak: I’m sure the fans who went to the games in London had a great time. They’re in London! It’s hard to have a bad time there. But what about the fans back home? Or the players?
## Tottenham Hotspur? Yeah, that’s funnier, too. You’re right. I should’ve used them.
London Based Yellow Jacket
May 14th, 2009
11:19 am
I’m a good ole Georgia boy, graduated from Tech and GSU and have been living in the UK for 16 years.
It is great that we have had NFL regular season games here the last two years. I understand why people who don’t live outside of the US don’t want to share – the NFL really is a great product. But in reality only 60 – 70,000 people get to attend 8 home games a year. Very few Americans can afford to travel the distances required to go to road games. So whether you are in the UK or in the US you watch most of your football on the TV. So having a game in London does not change anything for 99% of fans.
In my view sharing the game with other countries is a good thing! Don’t be so selfish! I do agree that is primarily about money but it is also about spreading the positive side of American culture, developing the USA brand and don’t forget that there are alot of people who don’t live in the US but are hugely passionate about their NFL team.
And I do think the NFL will have teams in other countries within 10 years. It may even be a European division rather than one team. And if that happens it would be great as an American not to have to defend why we call the Super Bowl Champions the “World Champions” when they never played any team from outside the US.
Mike
May 14th, 2009
11:35 am
Jeff: Tottenham isn’t a joke, they are one of the big clubs in London along with Arsenal and Chelski. Now if we got a Wigan v. Portsmouth soccer match that would stink.
As for warm beer, what are you talking about? I went to school in London and the majority of beer consumed was ice cold lager (mostly Stella) rather than their cask ales (still tasty though).
Back to the article, I could care less where the Super Bowl is played as compared to a regular season game. During the regular season normal fans can go to the game whereas the Super Bowl is reserved for the elite and 99.9% of people can only watch it on tv.
Accordingly, if it is played in London of LA or N.O. who cares where it is if most people watch from their living rooms?
Archie
May 14th, 2009
11:56 am
There’s a big difference between the Buffalo Bills playing in Toronto for a game, or the Arizona Cardinals playing in Mexico City for a game, and sending a team 6 time zones across the ocean (9 time zones if it’s a west coast team) to play a game. The logistics are totally different. If the NFL was serious about this, which I don’t think they are based on the way the schedule it and the teams they send, they would organize the details better.
Why not make this game the first game of the season, the NFL always opens with the reigning Super Bowl champ on Thursday night with some kind of rematch from the year before. Put this game on the first Thursday of September, better weather in London I’m sure. That way teams have all the time in the world to get to London before the game to adjust to the time change, and 9 full days to get back. This way you actually have the best teams and more compelling matchups.
Maggie Magpie
May 14th, 2009
12:01 pm
Soccer, or faux football, is for pansies who wear short-shorts and prance about playing kick ball.
Give me rugby or give me death!!
Billy Bob
May 14th, 2009
12:05 pm
wxwax is ever so correct.
Playing football/baseball/hockey in other countries is about developing the sport LOCALLY in those locations. When the sport is played locally , the NFL can beam their games to that location and voila’, enhanced TV revenues.
I greatly doubt the NFL will expand to other countries but USING the NFL to market football seems to be what’s going on here and more than appropriate.
jimmy
May 14th, 2009
12:16 pm
we don’t have terrance to play the race card now we start pushing the beer button which is sacred and shouldn’t be used on anything as silly as one ballgame in the mother country
Hollywould
May 14th, 2009
12:29 pm
Please stop the farce. The NFL should not be playing there. The travel not fair to the players/not fair to the home team fans. Look at the furor over Buffalo playing in Canada. Man, I would be pi@@ed if I was a Buffalo STH.
They have their wretched soccer/wretched warm beer/ and the boringest game on the planet. I have never understood how the referee is the only person with a clock in injury time (or hang nail time) whatever they call it. Like my dad said, “soccer is for kids who can’t throw or hit a fastball”.
Jeff Schultz
May 14th, 2009
12:31 pm
London Based Yellow Jacket: It’s great to have readers from overseas. Glad you’re staying in touch. You make some good points and it’ll be interesting to see the first league to place a team in Europe. There’s going to be a lot of logistical issues but I think it’ll happen one day. … Can you answer somebody else’s question: How many NFL games are televised there?
Maggie Magpie: Gotta give it to you on rugby. That’s actually fun to watch, especially when it’s in the mud.
Jimmy: Never imagined race and beer would be in the same conversation. But OK, I’ll bite.
Daniel
May 14th, 2009
1:39 pm
Jeff- a local from Atlanta who would love to have a Liverpool/ Man u. match here. I don’t want the Falcons to play overseas, but any of our divisional opponents.. Have at it!!!
Ted Striker
May 14th, 2009
2:05 pm
Jeff, watching female mudwrestlers down at some dive sports bar doesn’t actually count as rugby. (I know, I’ve inquired).
Hrundhi Bakshi
May 14th, 2009
4:01 pm
Jeff, as a Brit living in Atlanta, could you please explain to me how Florida are college football champions, yet the Pittsburgh Steeleers are “World Champions”, when the players are mostly the same players that compete for the college football championship. Therefore, shouldn’t Florida be called “World College Champions” and not National Champions??
Jeff Schultz
May 14th, 2009
4:46 pm
TED: Mud-wrestling was the highlight of my bachelor party. And that’s all I’m saying.
HRUNDHI: Easiest way to answer is Steelers aren’t world champions. But nobody from India or South America have stepped forward yet.
I like it
May 14th, 2009
5:12 pm
The dream team in 1992 helped a lot with sprading basketball to Europe and we have some great players from Europe playing in the NBA. Playing the superbowl might do the same for NFL. Quit complaining and enjoy the growth of the sport
Ted Striker
May 14th, 2009
6:34 pm
Jeff: I was AT your bachelor party. Mud-wrestling was merely the warmup. The girls you had there made Tawny Kitaen look like a nun. (Hey, I’m not complaining).
CharlieAlphaBravo
May 14th, 2009
8:36 pm
I’m an American, and I would definitely prefer a Man U/Arsenal game to a regular season football game not involving the Falcons. As a matter of fact, I would’ve never watched Miami/NY Giants if it hadn’t been in London.
You say this move is motivated by greed, and that no one else benefits from the games in London, but what if the venture is reasonably successful? Where do you think that extra cash will go?
Some of it will go to the owners, but the majority will be squeezed into team budgets, where it will be used primarily to pay coaches and players… So how is it that it doesn’t benefit the players??
Oh geez, they might have to take a free flight to Europe for one weekend. That sounds dreadful. I feel awful for them, really…
Delino Deshields
May 15th, 2009
12:23 am
Schultz, I’ll gladly give you a nickel as soon as I make one. I know this is hard for a fossil like you to understand, but links are part of blogging. I’m sure you’ll figure it out, or go the way of Terrence Moore.
BA
May 15th, 2009
12:33 am
By the way Schultz, did you send out nickels for those nifty Google image search football pics? Send a nickel…what makes you think us little guys are making money when even the mighty AJC is laying people off every quarter…
scottbravesfan
May 15th, 2009
12:53 am
There is plenty of good American beer just not the crap that is marketed during sporting events. Coors light is like drinking beer flavored water and bud light is not much better. The micro brewers in this country are top notch there are some great ones in Georgia as well. Sweetwater, Terrapin, and Atlanta brewing company each make some very nice brews.
Also I never understand why some people say that baseball is boring. Watch the Braves vs. Mets sometime and see if it’s boring. If it is you probably have some sort of attention span problem. I’ll take baseball any day over the NFL and their 500 freaking commercials per game. Every three plays there is a commercial, then the teams punts and there is another commercial. It’s unbelievable how much they drag that crap out.
And college football will never be anything until they get a proper playoff system. The BCS is stupid beyond all words and how only the big conferences can play for the championship is a joke. Utah should have gotten a chance to play for the national championship especially after they spanked Nick Saban and sorry ass Alabama.
London Based Yellow Jacket
May 15th, 2009
4:15 am
Jeff,
Fans in the UK and I think most of Europe can usually choose from up 5 games via Sky Sports (satellite station). They give you two choices of the 1:00 and 4:15 games and then show the late game as well. And the Monday night game is also shown.
We also get alot of the various highlight and analysis shows during the week.
The cool thing is that your 4:15 game is (9:15 for us so sort of like watching Monday (or rather Sunday) night football. So no fighting with the kids or the wife for the remote.
Because the Falcons did so well last year and were such a good news story they actually appeared about six times which was great.
We also have ESPN America which is a sort of compilation channel that shows college football on Saturdays and always features the CBS 3:30 SEC Game of the Week – which starts at 8:30 over here so is also great when the wife and kids head to bed.
Football (the American version) is far more popular over here than people in the US realise and the more it is shown the more popular it becomes.
okintheuk
May 15th, 2009
8:15 am
Mr. Smith,
I’m from Atlanta and am marooned in London. It takes 7 hours from New York to get to London (flight times) and about 5 and half to get from LA to New York. I’d love to get across the country in 3.5 hours. I kindly disagree about that. I agree with you, however, about the security and luggage time.
My only complaint with a game here is that they sent Saints fans here the weekend of the Georgia-LSU game which means I was severely outnumbered watching the Dawgs play. Jeff, the nfl has an office in London to promote the game. From my experience here, the nfl apparently made a big play in the UK in the 80’s and was getting pretty popular (hence the NFL Europe disaster) and then abandoned it. I’m always surprised when British people start talking to me about the Fridge and Joe Montana.
Come on Spurs
May 15th, 2009
8:58 am
Jeff shows his shortsighted ways. Any British soccer match at Wembley is better then the Falcons in the dome..Boring Boring Falcons….yes Tottenham are a major team in the EPL and have more fans worldwide then both the Falcons and even the Dawgs. Bring the Super Bowl to Wembley, problem though is there are actually no pubs near the actual stadium. We could drink Carlsberg though, better then Redneck PBRs
IlliniBrave
May 15th, 2009
11:02 am
Jeff:
Pretty funny comments here – especially the one about how one could not be an American and prefer football (soccer) over football (the NFL). I’m pretty sure that you don’t really mean that, since we are the land of Lady Liberty and Ellis Island and immigrants from everywhere. Because most of my friends from Europe and Asis, not to mention Latin America, prefer “footie” over football.
Oh, and cricket is actually pretty cool, if you give it a chance. And cask-conditioned (aka “warm”) beer is damn good.
Terence Moore
May 15th, 2009
12:17 pm
They dont have any blacks in Europe. Therefore the game would not be welcome here. Brothers would take over the sport just like the NBA.
Chris
May 15th, 2009
7:09 pm
I don’t understand why most people are appalled at the idea of the Super Bowl being played in London, a majority of the fans can’t afford the tickets anyway. If you can afford the tickets, then you can afford the airfare and cost of a hotel, food etc. The warm beer joke is getting as stale as a Budweiser btw.
Bflex
May 18th, 2009
12:53 pm
Jeff Schultz comments in the AJC today about how Michael Vick “paid his debt to society” show how obtuse sports fans are on the subject of Animal Cruelty.
Micheal Vick played games with the court so he could get out of Prison early.
The truth is, and many people feel this way and I am not referring to radicals, but if PETA were taking up a collection to hire a hit-man to have Michael Vick assassinated, I would be happy to contribute to such a worthy cause.
Alan
May 28th, 2009
4:33 pm
I’ll take the Arsenal v. Manchester game. Sorry, Schultz.
Brandon
July 12th, 2009
12:44 pm
Yeah, I hate to break it to you, but their beer is not served warm. That’s somewhat of a myth. They like their beer just as cold as ours, and even have “extra cold” taps at bars and pubs. Guinness is best served chilled and isn’t British, it’s Irish. I only wish we had beer like theirs over here…
joey
June 10th, 2010
9:57 pm
o dear god keep there damn sport over there i moved from usa to live and breath real football over here in europe now they sending the reason i left the states over here no!!!