NFL eyes 2007 preseason game in China

[HTownBTDown]

ORLANDO, Fla. - With the Summer Olympics headed to China, why not the NFL, too?

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Wednesday the league is considering playing a preseason game in Beijing next summer, one year before the Olympics are staged there.

The NFL has played exhibition games outside the United States regularly since 1986, although there won’t be any this summer. Last Oct. 2, Arizona beat San Francisco in the first regular-season game played abroad, in Mexico. The Cardinals gave up a home game in Tempe, Ariz., to play in Mexico City, where they drew 103,467 to Azteca Stadium.

“I think the chances are increasing,” said Tagliabue, who was in China last May and met with Beijing officials and Chinese Olympic executives. “We’ve had many discussions on that and our international people have been to China.”

Several NFL owners have cited China as a new frontier the NFL needs to penetrate in a global marketing approach. The NBA already has succeeded in that area, in great part thanks to the popularity of Rockets All-Star Yao Ming.

While Tagliabue called the Mexico City game “a resounding success,” no regular-season games will be played abroad this season. He did emphasize the need to “institutionalize” having such games, or the Pro Bowl, played outside the United States in the future.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12068413/

Show the world what the NFL is all about, not a bad idea If I lived in china seeing a NFL game once or twice would be very entertaining.

 

[TexanExile]

It'd be interesting to see if the team souvenirs would be any cheaper for games in China. After all, think of the savings on the usual shipping charges.

 

[Grid]

It'd be interesting to see if the team souvenirs would be any cheaper for games in China. After all, think of the savings on the usual shipping charges.

 

[F-minus67]

Didn't China have a NFL Europe team?

 

[Double Barrel]

It makes sense for the NFL to try this. China's billion+ population is fast becoming a huge market, and you just never know where tomorrow's football players could be coming from.

 

[tulexan]

The Texans should play a game there, have Yao Ming tell the people of China to buy Texans merchandise, and then we will become the richest franchise in the league after selling 500 million Reggie Bush jerseys.

 

[powerfuldragon]

Didn't China have a NFL Europe team?

Don't know if it did. But if it did, i'd laugh.

 

[Speedy]

Marketing-wise, I sorta see why they want to do this. I mean, once the meaningless preseason game is over, do you really think Chinese people will have the itch for American football? If China played an exhibition here of whatever sport they played, I wouldn't be rushing to get Chinese channels on my satellite.

Football-wise, I think it's a distraction for the teams preparing for the season.

 

[powerfuldragon]

why?

If china had an NFL team, it'd be NFL Eurasia.

I don't know. It was funny to me at the time...

 

[powerfuldragon]

I think its a greedy money play by the NFL...as if they didn't have enough cash. The plane trip to the other side of the planet is brutal

Imagine having to play full contact football after that plane ride. No thanks.

There are going to be plenty of amphetamines eaten on that flight.