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Thread: the NFL in London
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09-27-2013, 07:19 AM #25Hyperbolic curmudgeometer
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Re: the NFL in London
Bingo. US-style football is too complex a game to create a fan base by waving a wand; kids have to be exposed to it (& play it in the back alleys) for years, & then as parents they have to expose their kids, etc. With so many other sports (easier to play, easier to understand, more woven into their own culture) competing for their time & interest, it's going to be an uphill struggle, and it's going to take another decade at least.
I doubt the greedy next-quarter-bottom-line-obsessed bastards who run the NFL have the patience to do the long, hard, unglorious work required--they'll just keep doing the easy thing, moving regular-season games across the Pond until interest collapses over there & the North American fan base rebels, & then this latest boomlet will go the way of NFL Europe, another whole-body transplant rejected by the patients because no meaningful prep work was done. Look at the way they're trying to expand the fan base into the Hispanic community via easy-to-do but largely meaningless gestures instead of building the game from the ground up.
NB I agree with Mista T: I'd be happy to plan a trip to Europe around attendance at a Ravens game in London. Then again, I go pretty much every year to visit friends on the Continent, & take some time off in the middle to go traveling around, so it wouldn't be as monstrous an extra strain on the finances--RT on a budget air carrier from there (RyanAir, EasyJet, etc) plus a couple of days' room & board plus tickets would be closer to $500 than $2000+ for a single-purpose trip from the States.
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09-27-2013, 12:18 PM #26
Re: the NFL in London
Twenty years of Cheers.
Thanks Baltimore Ravens Fans - You're the Best!
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09-27-2013, 12:33 PM #27On The Practice Squad
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Re: the NFL in London
You'll find everything you need to know at these links:
Heres the British American Football Association: http://www.bafanl.co.uk/
And heres the British Universities American Football Association http://www.buafl.net/
To the best of my knowledge, they play using BAFA rules which you'll find on the website - I'm not too clued up on the intricacies.
But bear in mind that here all of the best athletes are recruited to rugby/football (soccer)/athletics.
Also, the leagues here are completely amateur (Although I believe some of the big London teams, such as the Blitz or Warriors, have had past NFL scrubs playing for them - ie Bradlee Van Pelt played here I believe).
But the important thing to note is: We have enough people here paying their own hard earned money to be able to play american football, both at a university level and a league level - because this is the only way the leagues stay afloat, the majority of their income is the membership fees from the players.
We have enough people playing to have 2 tiers (Premiership & National) and various divisions throughout the country. If the NFL REALLY want to grow the sport, this is where it has to start. There's no point getting people in their 20s, 30s, 40s + interested by putting on Wembley games, they need to get children involved from an early age.
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Couldn't agree more Sid.
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09-27-2013, 01:51 PM #29On The Practice Squad
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09-27-2013, 02:22 PM #30On The Practice Squad
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Re: the NFL in London
Also bear in mind that our university sports setup is very differrnt to the US. Representing your collage at sport involves getting Wednesday afternoon off lectures, playing in front of a crowd which consists off the substitutes, a couple of girlfriend s and a jolly good piss up afterwards..!!
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How the hell do you know this so well? Lmao, describes my Wednesday afternoons playing rugby perfectly. Although my club team can get quite a lot of support.
Club sports is way bigger over here than our school/college sports.
And no Sid, too busy with work, rugby, and uni, plus the team's don't really attract my attention this year haha.
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09-27-2013, 02:38 PM #32On The Practice Squad
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Re: the NFL in London
Haha spot on! The piss up at the end is always the highlight.
Yeah it is worth mentioning that sports at university in the uk is a past time, and is usually played in the absence of a crowd.
We go to university to study, not to play sports. If you want to be a professional footballer/rugby player you can do it without higher education
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Re: the NFL in London
Speaking as someone who visits the U.K. at least once a year and most of my co-workers are in Edinburgh, the interest in American football is just that. A fanciful distraction. They love the accuracy in which the QB throws the ball (lucky they missed Tebow) but it is just that, the spectacle. They also think there are WAY too many penalties and the game stops too much. Rugby and 'soccer', hell even cricket mean more to them.
The NFL is a novelty in London. Sort of what it will be when it moves back to L.A.
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09-27-2013, 03:57 PM #34Pro Bowl Poster
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Re: the NFL in London
You obviously haven't met any of the NFL fans over here as this is a ridiculous generalisation. Whilst no, it will never overtake the more established sports to the extent of sustaining a franchise, it's not merely a 'fanciful distraction' as you so disrespectfully put it and there is a dedicated support for the game and it is growing.
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09-27-2013, 04:13 PM #35
Re: the NFL in London
I just don't get how it is even possible logistically.
Right now Seattle has the worst situation for travel, and their division games are two hour flight to SF, a three hour flight to AZ, and five hours to STL. Six hours is their max.
London charters to east coast cities are going to be at least eight hours, and it goes up from there. Are they just never going to play west coast teams, or are they going to cram their 360lb lineman asses into a plane seat for 14 hours, play a football game, and then turn around and head home? Really, what players sign on for that? It almost makes more sense to have a European division, with four teams. At least then they could play each other."Chin up, chest out."
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Re: the NFL in London
Thank you!
I appreciate your and all the others insight into the lay of the land over there... we really don't have a real idea over here, except to know there is some interest because people like you post here... but beyond that
Remember we have seen artifically filled stadiums here with the Baltimore Stallions (and Stars)... not to knock that, but we take Wembley crowds with a grain of salt unless people we trust (eliminating most media) tell us differently.at one point of my life I was exactly Pi years old
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