Maybe I'm "odd" but I don't feel any kind of "need" to see the NFL expand further. 32 teams is a lot of teams. Teams playing in Toronto (They've got the CFL in Canada) and Mexico City (If they want an American football league they can create one of their own) don't interest me. Teams giving up a home game to go play in Europe where this sport is never going to truly take off seems like a waste of effort to me. As for the NFL expanding to cities in other countries I say "Isn't this the "NATIONAL" football league? Don't we already have 5-6 teams in any given season making do with really lousy quarterbacking or no running backs to speak of (looking at you guys Green and Dayne)? Why would we want 36 teams or 40 teams and diminish the level of play even further? Don't we already have college football for that? Why move it to Mexico and Canada and start paying them to play? Can't we just do that with Oklahoma and USC?
first of all, i dont know many that want to see overseas team (or 36 teams etc) and i dont think it will ever happen.. im just talking about taking a couple games overseas as a reward to nfl fans outside of america... it doesnt need to 'truly take off' as long as its popularity steadily continues to grow and the stadiums continue to sell out (and considering wembley could've still been filled at least 6 times over eventhough a 0-7 team is involved would indicate it will)
and the 2nd part of your paragraph only reinforces what i was saying about the need for more quality players in the league- some of which could come from abroad
Now I know what you're going to say, "What makes you think that the NFL will never take off in Europe?" and here's my response. Look at baseball or basketball which have both made a huge impact overseas. Look at the people playing the sport. In baseball they're normal size guys (no, don't look at Barroid Bonds) and what do you need to play baseball? A stick and a ball. Gloves help but it's not like it's an equipment intensive sport. Now look at basketball. Every country has some tall guys and all you need is a ball and a basket.
Now look at the most popular sport on the planet. Soccer only needs a ball and if you can walk you can play soccer badly.
whatever, if you can walk you cant play nfl badly too??
Now look at American football. Look at the guys playing this sport. Look at the size and athletic ability of the people playing on the lines. Yes every country has big muscular guys but as we learn every year being big and muscular doesn't make you a LT. Look at the equipment needed to play this game just "moderately dangerously" (forget about safely, that's an illusion). Sure you can play the game without all that equipment and with ordinary size athletic guys. That's called "Rugby" and guess what? Most of the world already has that.
dont watch much rugby right.. there are excellent athletes in international rugby.. how many nfl players can run into each other for 80 minutes with 1 break and no pads/protection (now thats dangerous).. now what if some young players in the future decided to try play nfl instead of rugby thanks to the increased exposure of the sport through the international games?
They don't need American football, they don't particularly seem to want American football, and they would take forever starting today with moderate to intense exposure to the American game to get even remotely up to speed at it on a high school level much less in anything more advanced than that.
I don't think the NFL translates to the rest of the world like MLB or NBA does. I don't think it ever will. I think that an occasional game overseas is a thing of interest but any sort of regular exposure is going to be like putting a team in Jacksonville. Sure they're going to be fired up at first but eventually those tarps are going to come out and people are going to start talking about moving those games to Los Angeles.
Most of all, and this is just me. I don't want to see American football played all over the world. Not as an export like McDonald's or Coca Cola. They can catch it on television if they're so inclined and if they want to start playing it then fine, start playing it.
Just leave my sport alone
. I won't start asking for the UK to bring Cricket matches over here or for Japan to export Sumo if they'll leave my NFL schedule alone.
what will we do thats so horrible to your sport.. i wonder where that insular american stereotype comes from eh? those 3 paragraphs are all your personal opinion which many including the commish and most owners must disagree with.. just remember we weren't asking for the game- that was the nfl's decision based on the support they saw
