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Greg Palkot

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NFL Plays in “Old Blighty”

October 26, 2009 - 10:23 AM | by: Greg Palkot

The game might not have been the most exciting, but it did help the NFL move the ball a bit further down the field towards its goal of at least MORE games abroad…and maybe even an international team.

The New England Patriots beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 35-7 Sunday at the third regular season NFL game to be played overseas.

The game was played before a sell-out crowd of 84,254 at London’s Wembley Stadium which usually plays home to the soccer (or “football”) crowd. And if you think it was just an ex-pat crowd you’d be wrong.

“The vast majority of the crowd were British fans of the sport,” NFL UK publicist David Tossell told me. And the majority of them came from outside London, some even from continental Europe.

For their trouble, aside from the somewhat one-sided game, the fans got singers Toni Braxton and Katherine Jenkins in a battle of the national anthems, flags and graphics which gave the game the feel of a “home” Tampa Bay game, and the very well- received Tampa Bay Buccaneer cheer leaders.

So could there be more NFL games abroad next year? “It will take a little more groundwork to develop the fan base here,” NFL official Tossell told me. The teams don’t love the travel, and the owners miss the home game revenues.

But all spoke highly of the reception and the facilities. “It was like a Super Bowl,” New England Patriot quarterback Tom Brady is quoted as saying.

When the Giants played here in 2007 they went on to win the big game. It might work again for the Pats!

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HJS

Unfortunately the size of the market in Europe for AF/NFL is tiny....so small it doesn't register. There was the now defunct NFL Europe...but this was populated with American players for the most part and went out of business. There are still some amateur AF leagues scattered around Europe, but nothing to suggest that AF is anymore popular than NASCAR in Europe. Germany is probably the biggest fan of AF, but that probably due to the large number of US soldier based in various army camps in that area. The rest of the world has other sports which are similar to AF, i.e Rugby League, Rugby Union, Gaelic Football, Aussie Rules Football. Only the US and Canada (to an extent) have TV markets for AF. The rest of the world doesn't care. The PR executives at the NFL may say differently, but they would wouldn't they? I'd like to see the NFL's oversea's rights, they must be small at a guess. Owners of NFL teams understand that you can make some money in the NFL, but the real money to global consumers lies in soccer. The Glazers @Man Utd, Hicks/Gillett @ Liverpool, Kronake @Arsenal, Lerner @ Villa. The EPL has a big and massively growing overseas TV market, which these business men know will mean more $$$. The way the figures are going in a few years time the international fess will be greater than the UK domestic fees. The NFL has saturated its only market (USA) and cannot give away its product to any other country. I can understand why the NFL is trying to play games in London, but for all non US fans, seeing lots of commercial breaks is off putting. The stuff with musicians and bands playing before hand is just a gimmick, the fireworks etc it just sends a message of "look, we are the NFL, we are trying really hard for people to like AF, please, please become a AF convert". People in Europe want to come to a game and watch it and then go home. They don't want to waste time of kids/circus entertainment thats shown to jazz up the event. It actually detracts from the actual game. People think, "are they just showing us all this crap (fireworks, singers, bands, cheer-leaders) because the game is crap?"

October 26, 2009 at 4:57 PM
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Benevolus

Great -- the NFL expands to Europe. The game becomes even more PC at the league-office level than it already is, and we get to watch our favorite teams play their away games in the middle of the night!

October 26, 2009 at 3:48 PM
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Jalend Skyr

I think this is great. I can't stand soccer so it would be awesome if the NFL expanded to Europe.

October 26, 2009 at 2:32 PM
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Michael

Who cares? Why are we playing in Europe anyway? Last I checked this was the NATIONAL Football League, not the International Football League. I am glad they like it over there, but it is an American sport. Why would we care what people think overseas????

October 26, 2009 at 2:15 PM
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