Regular Season game in London

I'm happy for you and all the european types whose crank is turned by this idea. Honestly, it's cool that you are fired up at the idea. Still, it's not a good idea and a majority of NFL fans will see it that way.

 

Late here, but back to topic:
The Mexico City thing was a flop, from what I understand....bad teams, dull game. And the home towns of the teams felt like they were screwed because their stadium was empty on a Sunday when it shouldn't have been.

If the NFL wants to attract more fans, maybe they should address some current internal problems first. I've met a few disgruntled former fans who just quit following it due to percieved referee bias and wussified rule changes.
What made NFL so popular so quickly in the early days? What are they doing differently now?

 

That would mean that the game would probably invovle Pittsburg.

 

Again Americans only thinking of American fans (no offence avvie). The Mexico game was, afaik, a success in Mexico. But of course it didn't do anything for the American fans, but of course it wasn't supposed to.

Likewise, a game in Europe is not to benefit the American fans, but the European fans.

Whatever problems the NFL have with fans at home have nothing to do with playing games abroad. I certainly seriously doubt anyone abandoned the NFL because of the Mexico game.

 

FWIW: we hosted a couple of German exchange students last year...they told us that in Germany, pretty much everyone knows about the NFLE, but very few people know anything about the game itself, so the interest is minimal.

One of them had even been to a couple of games, and said he enjoyed the atmostphere, but it was hard to stay interested when he knew absolutely nothing about even the most fundamental aspects of the game.

If the NFL wants football to work outside of the United States, they're going to have to do a better job of educating people about the game itself. They appear to be taking the approach of "If you build it, they will come". But the reality of the situation is this: "If you build it, but nobody understands it, then nobody is going to care."

Also, let's not forget that football was hardly an overnight sensation in America. Teams formed and folded on an almost weekly basis for years, and it was twenty or so years before the game had any semblance of true stability. In fact, it took about thirty years for America to truly embrace football as a respectable national pastime....and that was in the game's own homeland. I just don't know that the NFL is willing to sink that kind of time and effort into establishing an international fanbase.

 

Who is Alister Kirkwood?