Taking American Football International | The Dirty Dozen

Over the years, the NFL has tried to bring America's brand of football overseas. The idea is to spark international interest into the sport, in order to generate more revenue for the league. They've done this by having foreign sites play host to preseason NFL games, as well as trying to get some regular season games scheduled as well (They played one in Mexico City in 2005). Now, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is pondering whether to allow foreign cities to play host to the Super Bowl. If you ask me, the NFL is going about this the completely wrong way.

Why play preseason games oversea?

Honestly! We have a hard time watching these games here in the states. They're only there so teams can get in synch, and to evaluate players trying to make the roster. There is no emphasis on winning, just on getting the teams ready for the regular season. How do you expect for international fans to embrace a game, that we give to them pretty much half-assed?

Why play regular season games overseas?

This is way better than the whole "preseason game overseas" idea. At least here, you get a full dose of what the NFL has to offer. Here teams are actually playing for something. If they take away an away game from every team, and use that game to play overseas, they could get 16 games that they could play overseas per year. That could be one game per week, except for one week (17 week season). Owners shouldn't have a problem with it, because they shouldn't lose the revenue that they make from home games, because they will still have 8. It will be a little difficult to work the schedule in this manner, but at least it's a strong foundation which you could bounce other ideas off of.

They had NFL Europa, wasn't that enough?

No, it wasn't. It was a developmental league for the NFL. This was where players who aren't good enough to make their NFL rosters, go to gain experience. These are America's best-of-the-rest. You allow them to have a league overseas, which still excludes other nation's people to enter the sport. If it's NFL Europa, the teams should mostly consist of people who are from Europe. Am I right? The league is still unpopular in Europe, and was seeing the most success in Germany. The league was focusing it's efforts in this area, and planned on developing players in this area. Still, if they have no one from the land representing, how can you expect more fans to embrace the sport in their area? What the league should have done is bring in young, innovative, and ambitious coaches who love this game. Have these coaches work in big cities around Europe, recruitting local players, teaching them the game, and then putting them up against another city's teams. Imagine a bunch of Berlin boys, playing for their city, playing against Paris' boys. The two cities would embrace the match, and local prides would be on the line. I would say start this league with a team in six or so capital cities, and see how it works. After a few years, if all is well, expand to 8 teams and capital cities. Over time, each country would have their own local heroes in the sport, and more young people would want to play. Right now, they have nothing to really be proud of or to root for.

Dr. Z from SI.com suggested that NFL Europa was formed to keep potential NFL players from signing with rival upstart leagues, which could have competed with them. That they used the front of of trying to spread the game internationally to maintain it's monopoly on the game. I don't consider Arena Football the same thing as NFL type football. To me it's like comparing field hockey to ice hockey.

Why play a Super Bowl overseas?

This is the worst idea yet. Yes, it's the two best teams, in the biggest game, and on the biggest stage. That don't factor into the equation here though. The NFL is all about making money. In this regard, they have sold exclusive rights to it's brand to Burger King, Reebok, and EA Sports, just to name a few. Only Burger King can use the NFL in it's promotions, only Reebok can make NFL gear, and only EA Sports can make it's games. Now let's talk about the Super Bowl itself, which has also been sold out. First dibs on tickets go to all NFL players and their families, corporate sponsors, celebrities, and the media. What ever is left, is saved for some lucky season ticket holders. The only way for a fan to get tickets to this event, is to pay an exuberant amount to a ticket scalper. If the domestic fans can't get tickets to this event, how will the "fans" on foreign soil be able to get tickets? It's a horrible idea, and it would do little to nothing to help promote the game overseas.

Another point to make is how other sports leagues expanded their game overseas. By developing foreign players. Some made the pros, and that gave hope and pride to those back at home. They didn't do it by taking their league championship across the sea. Have you ever seen the NBA Finals overseas? How about the World Series? How about the Stanley Cup Playoffs? So why start with the Super Bowl?

What should the NFL do, in regards to expanding the game into foreign markets?

The NFL says it wants to develop the game overseas, but have really failed in generating any interest. They focus too much on money, when they first need to focus on making a consumer interested in their product. If the NFL truly wants to expand the game to foreign markets, they should work on making foreign teams. These teams should be full of only young hometown players, and let them grow on their own. NFL sponsored foreign youth leagues would be good too. If they develop their own style of play, much like college teams do, that should make it seem more exciting too. No knock on the NFL playing style, but it is too conservative and unimaginative for a lot of people's tastes. Also, these teams should play other countries' teams to build rivalries and build local pride in the sport and in their home country players. Maybe after a few years, we can play an exhibition game or two against these teams, and they will see how far they have come. This will give foreign cities a reason to root for their teams, because their own players will be representing them, and this will also give them a sense of pride.

Note: This was a previous blog entry that I made. I felt it had to be revised, and should be revisted. So I made it available again.