NFL commissioner says Super Bowl may someday be held in London

[BengalszoneBilly]

IMHO this isn't a great idea, but I'm sure ScottishBengal and our other members here who live in the UK would find this attractive.

NFL commissioner says Super Bowl may someday be held in London

By CHRIS KAHN, Associated Press Writer

October 15, 2007

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- A future Super Bowl champion may someday be crowned overseas in a game witnessed predominantly by a foreign audience, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said.

"There's a great deal of interest in holding a Super Bowl in London," Goodell told reporters Monday. "So we'll be looking at that."

The commissioner said London's new Wembley Stadium would make a great candidate for pro football's biggest matchup, given the enthusiasm overseas for the game.

The NFL has been expanding its overseas presence for years by televising games around the world. It's held preseason games in numerous countries in Europe, Asia, Mexico and Canada, and in 2005, the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers played the first regular-season match outside the United States.

The game at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City drew the league's largest crowd to date, 103,467.

On Oct. 28, Wembley will host the first regular-season NFL game outside North America. It took just 90 minutes to sell the first 40,000 tickets for the game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants. Goodell said event organizers have sold 95,000 tickets in all.

Goodell spoke about the possibility of a British Super Bowl after a luncheon Monday in Scottsdale sponsored by the host committee for the 2008 Super Bowl in Arizona.

[Riagogogoindanati]

Friends I know who have been to London lately have said it is very expensive for Americans to vacation there. This will be quite interesting as it develops.

Soccer stadiums vs. NFL stadiums equal a 30,000+++++ difference in available seating.

How much were those tix selling for in Mexico? 9 pesos??? which is equal to $1 USA.

[BengalByTheBay]

Can anybody tell me why I should care about whether anybody in Europe or Mexico likes NFL football? This reminds me of the recent story about how Taco Bell is trying (for a second time) to open "restaurants" in Mexico. Why the hell isn't the NFL happy to be the dominant entertainment in the US without trying to gain a fandom in countries where US football is, at best, a curiosity? It hasn't even been a whole year since NFL Europa cratered.

[HairOnFire]

Under this commish London will get an NFL team before Los Angeles.

[Dan2330]

When I first heard about this I thought it was a bad idea, but then again who am I to give a damn since my chances of ever going to the Super Bowl are about the same as winning the lotto. I am not one looking to dump $5k on a seat in the top row of any stadium to watch the big game- If I were a season ticket holder of a team I would be more pissed about the regular season game begin played over the pond since that is one less game I would have a chance to see in person.

[kenyon1977]

this is stupid, at best. the NFL is a product, and it is by far the best selling product in the states when it comes to entertainment. TV ratings are sick for the NFL. There maybe a few overseas that like the American version of football but if it was so popular then the World Football League and NFL Europe would have been more successful. Moving the biggest game of the year overseas is just plain greed because it's the one game that guarentees a sell out.

With the major broadcast selling a 30 second commercial for 1 million dollars to an American audience how much do you think they will sell that same 30 second spot when it's to a global audience? How much of a cut of that does the NFL get?

[kingwilly]

Hell, why not just have the SB in Paris....where all things American are hated?

If they really, really, really want to take the product on the road, go to China. The NBA has salivated for years about getting a developmental system going there...a vritable factory of players.

If the NFL could mine China for thier football dollars, they might have something.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Hell, why not just have the SB in Paris....where all things American are hated?

If they really, really, really want to take the product on the road, go to China. The NBA has salivated for years about getting a developmental system going there...a vritable factory of players.

If the NFL could mine China for thier football dollars, they might have something.

The Chinese might be able to produce a 7 foot plus NBA player once in a blue moon, but I doubt they could produce any quality NFL sized players in our lifetime.

[HairOnFire]

The Roger Goodell legacy continues to grow.

One of the most striking things about the idea is how rarely fans in this country are able to watch championship games be contested in their home cities if they live outside of warm weather cities like Miami, San Diego, or Phoenix.

Paul Brown Stadium is an outstanding stadium but will never ever host a champonship game. Nor will most of the stadiums that dot the hinterland. Yet somehow Goodell believes apathetic fans living in London deserve this opportunity more?

In the end this idea is so stupid that it's chances of happening have to be close to zero.

[ArmyBengal]

The year this gets approved will be the same year the Bengals go to AND win the Super Bowl !!!

F*CK !!!

WHODEY !!!

[kenyon1977]

The year this gets approved will be the same year the Bengals go to AND win the Super Bowl !!!

F*CK !!!

WHODEY !!!

Yeah against the 49's

[Scottishbengal]

Sheeeesh, so much for the Superbowl winners being World Champions (excuse me but what other nation gets to compete?) Baseball - the World Series (excuse me but what other nation gets to compete?).

I believe that one day teams from outside the USA (yes, there are OTHER places in the world) will compete in the NFL - my guess would be Germany first as they have a sustained presence with American Football and have done for many years in the guise of NFLE and it's various previous forms. If American Football, as a sport, wants to be a global market leader then it needs to put footholds in other countries. I don't have a problem with this and would quite enjoy seeing this happen at some future time.

And, by the way, London IS very expensive ($6 - $7 -$10 for a beer depending on where you go) and it's also full of cockneys. That said the whole of the UK is a rip-off, high prices, small portions, service not quite as good as it should be (certainly not for the price anyway)

[Scottishbengal]

Baseball - the World Series (excuse me but what other nation gets to compete?).

Humble pie being eaten here - I apologise for my ignorance of Baseball - I have learnt that the World Series was infact named after the sponsorship of The World newspaper and is not a claim that the winning team is the champion of every other on the planet. I'm sorry.

[kenyon1977]

The Roger Goodell legacy continues to grow.

In the end this idea is so stupid that it's chances of happening have to be close to zero.

I've found that were I work and when I was in the military the craziest dumbass thing someone could come up with would usually grow like a snowball going down hill and end up in the end being what is done.

[Spor_tees]

Sheeeesh, so much for the Superbowl winners being World Champions (excuse me but what other nation gets to compete?) Baseball - the World Series (excuse me but what other nation gets to compete?).

I believe that one day teams from outside the USA (yes, there are OTHER places in the world) will compete in the NFL - my guess would be Germany first as they have a sustained presence with American Football and have done for many years in the guise of NFLE and it's various previous forms. If American Football, as a sport, wants to be a global market leader then it needs to put footholds in other countries. I don't have a problem with this and would quite enjoy seeing this happen at some future time.

And, by the way, London IS very expensive ($6 - $7 -$10 for a beer depending on where you go) and it's also full of cockneys. That said the whole of the UK is a rip-off, high prices, small portions, service not quite as good as it should be (certainly not for the price anyway)

Ok here is the problem...by moving the SuperBowl to London it is like slapping the fans of the 2 teams that play that game in the face. The average working Joe has to scrap together everything they have just to buy a ticket to the game let alone pay for transportation and lodging. If you throw in $1,000 or more to have to fly trans-Atlantic to see the game, you are totally taking this game away from the working class. Plus, anyone with a real job would have to take off an additional 2 days of work just for the travel which makes it even more unrealistic. Europe has now had 2 shots to prove they are a market place for "American" football and have not come out in enough numbers to sustain the World League or NFL Europe. Why should they get a SuperBowl game?

[mancunian]

The Roger Goodell legacy continues to grow.

One of the most striking things about the idea is how rarely fans in this country are able to watch championship games be contested in their home cities if they live outside of warm weather cities like Miami, San Diego, or Phoenix.

Paul Brown Stadium is an outstanding stadium but will never ever host a champonship game. Nor will most of the stadiums that dot the hinterland. Yet somehow Goodell believes apathetic fans living in London deserve this opportunity more?

In the end this idea is so stupid that it's chances of happening have to be close to zero.

First things first I agree with the points you make about the warm weather stadiums. Not only is there PBS but Qwest field, Solder Field, DFed Ex, Gillette Stadium....all of these places are good stadiums who would get a a shot of hosting a superbowl if they had decent weather in Feb.

I have an idea though - whoever wins the Superbowl gets to host it the following year.....

Cant agree with your comments about apathetic fans in London or the UK for that matter. There were over 500,000 ticket applications in the first 24 hours of the tickets going on release for the Fish- Giants game so there is a market here.

Personnally think that the SB should be for the fans of the teams involved (and I'd like to see less "corporate" tickets too).

[ArmyBengal]

I agree with Spotees 100% on this and could care less about how many tickets were sold for ONE game between the Giants and the Dolphins... Answer me this one question please. Why should this game be taken away from the United States and MOST IMPORTANTLY the fans of the teams involved to be played in a place that most of those fans won't be able to attend ?? If your answer is the money to be made, well then, that is part of the problem. If you say anything else, then I call BULLSH*T !!! Most season ticket holders also get first crack at playoff and possible Super Bowl tickets, so they get screwed as well.

My opinion is that the entire thought (OUTSIDE OF THE NFL MAKING MONEY) is complete BULLSH*T and if allowed to happen, should result in huge protests from American NFL fans. Sorry for you guys living abroad, as this is not a personal thing against YOU, but if the Super Bowl is that important for you to see, YOU SPEND THE MONEY to come see the game...

WHODEY !!!

[mancunian]

The powers that be want the NFL to be THE GAME worldwide, why I'm not sure. If I was a fan of the Giants, the Fish, and any team that got to the Superbowl I'd be p*****d off to. It would be like my team getting to the FA Cup final and having it played in New York.

Now as a fan of the NFL its great to have a regular season game over here...

Sport Tees wanted to mention your comments about NFL Europa (or whatever the latest name was), it was popular in Germany and the teams in London and Scotland always had decent support. The problem was not the popularity but the actual cost of running a development league in Europe.

The UK does have its own league http://www.bafl.org.uk/ - but its still considered a minority sport

[redsbengalsbucks]

Looks like Mike Brown and the Buffalo owner were the only smart owners when voting this new commish into power. Seems as if Goodell is bad news for the NFL at every turn lately.

[HairOnFire]

Cant agree with your comments about apathetic fans in London or the UK for that matter. There were over 500,000 ticket applications in the first 24 hours of the tickets going on release for the Fish- Giants game so there is a market here.

Fair enough, but you're talking about a one time event. London's history of supporting American football long-term is spotty at best.

Look it it this way. For a championship game to be played in London the NFL will have to drop it's requirement that title games be played only in cities that are home to existing NFL franchise, something they'e always been reluctant to do. But obviously Goodell seems open to the idea, right?

So why not take it a step further and move the Super Bowl, not to London, but to Los Angeles. Put Los Angeles back into it's once familiar Super Bowl rotation, hosting the Super Bowl for something like three out of six or seven years, then use the revenue generated to help finance a new stadium for a Los Angeles NFL franchise. Those stadium construction costs have already soared to over 1 billion dollars, and without the taxpayer help so common around the rest of the country Los Angeles isn't getting back in the NFL. Not when an ownership group would also have to put up another 800 million plus in franchise fees. There's no way anyone is going to invest close to 2 billion dollars in startup costs for an NFL team.

[Scottishbengal]

Answer me this one question please. Why should this game be taken away from the United States and MOST IMPORTANTLY the fans of the teams involved

I can see where you're coming from here AB and I think (assume) that the reasoning behind it would be to make the game more "global" and so more saleable/commercial - particular in "Football Developing" countries. How many fans of teams in the SB get a chance for tickets to the big one anyway? Not many. The real fans stay at home and watch on TV whilst the majority of tickets go into the corporate sponsorhip sector.

Soccer has been running with the same theory for quite a few years now, with the World Cup Finals being hosted in countries (marketplaces?) where there is a potential to instill interest and enthusiasm and exploit market share. The USA was a prime example - the USA were much a laughing stock in regards football (soccer) terms as it wasn't "their sport" - but following being the host nation in 1994 the US has since developed into a highly respectable nation in footballing sense, and football has increased massively. Job done, success. I expect that's what Goodell/NFL are looking for.

[ArmyBengal]

Well, I do know that all season ticket holders get first dibs on Super Bowl tickets if their team makes it that far and with the Bengals tickets being sold out due to season ticket holders, this would a HUGE loss for them. I compare it to Super Bowl XVI when the Bengals played the 49er's in Pontiac, Michigan. My father had season tickets for the Bengals and got two tickets for the Super Bowl that year. He took me (10 years old), but that would have never happened had the game been overseas somewhere. I just think it screws the people that are putting money into an organization...

WHODEY !!!

[Spor_tees]

Ok lets just think about this a little more. Why would we as fans of football in America care whether countries in Europe or other parts of the world have a professional football team or not?

First off it isn't even logical for them to have an NFL team. The time zone differences and travel schedule would just be so disproportionate that it would be illogical for teams from the US to play in another country on a regular basis. What is the time zone difference from say San Diego to London? 8-9 hours? So if a game started at 1 PM on a Sunday, that means a fan of a San Diego team playing in London would have to get up and watch the game at 4 or 5 AM? That's not going to make for good TV ratings. If I was to go through this with all the teams and different time zones in Europe it would continue to be ridiculous. This is why ratings for events such as the Olympics are always so poor when they are commenced in countries such as Korea or China where the bulk of the events are tape delayed. Most people don't want to get up at 4 AM to watch it live...and don't want to watch something they already heard the results of on the news.

Secondly, how can you expect players to do that much travel in a weeks time and continue to be properly prepared to play a game. I am guessing it would probably also lead to more injuries.

Lastly, Everyone could see the drop off in talent from the NFL to the NFL Europe league, so if the NFL adopted teams in Europe, it would do nothing but thin out the talent level of the league and make it an even poorer performing group. NFL teams already have enough trouble trying to find enough quality QB's to start on Sunday now...imagine if there were 4 more teams or so! Ok now think about what that would mean for salaries of the best players. If the talent level was thinned out in the league, that means the best players would be able to demand even more dollars and there would also be even more teams bidding for their services. Just a bad situation as a whole!

If Europe wants to become a player in the world's stage of NFL football, they need to begin to develop their own leagues and create enough interests from the fans that the talent level can rise to a level where they can maybe compete with an NFL team. When that time comes then maybe some games between the two areas could be played...but until then just leave things the way they are, and quit trying to be so greedy. Godell took over the NFL at a time when it was the most healthy it had ever been, and since that time he has hit some bumps in the road, some not his fault and others self inflicted. I just wish he would quit messing around with the game and all the things that make it so great...and remember a long used saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

[Spor_tees]

The powers that be want the NFL to be THE GAME worldwide, why I'm not sure. If I was a fan of the Giants, the Fish, and any team that got to the Superbowl I'd be p*****d off to. It would be like my team getting to the FA Cup final and having it played in New York.

Now as a fan of the NFL its great to have a regular season game over here...

Sport Tees wanted to mention your comments about NFL Europa (or whatever the latest name was), it was popular in Germany and the teams in London and Scotland always had decent support. The problem was not the popularity but the actual cost of running a development league in Europe.

The UK does have its own league http://www.bafl.org.uk/ - but its still considered a minority sport

You are the second person to mention that American football did well in Germany. Show me some proof for that. I mean if it did do as well as you said, wouldn't the NFL Europe league still be around? The NFL disbanded the league because it was continually losing millions of dollars despite the fact that the players weren't getting paid high salaries, the season was only 12 weeks long, and the teams were playing in stadiums that held almost twice as many seats as the average NFL stadium. If you take into account those things, even a mediocre turn out by fans would have resulted in the league staying around, but it didn't.

Honestly until NFL football reaches the point where it would be considered an Olympic sport, I don't see it hitting things off as a "global" sport. You may have fans of the game in other countries, but there just isn't that many countries that think it is worthwhile to put that much money into developing it as a revenue. Let's face it, Football is an expensive sport as compared to a game like soccer which is the most popular sport in the world. I think the main reason for soccer being the most popular sport in the world is because how easy it is for a kid to play and learn, plus it is cheap to play. Buying one soccer ball, as compared to buying helmets, balls, pads, ect. just isn't even comparable. Then take into account the likelihood of an injury in football as compared to soccer, and the fact that so many countries don't have readily available healthcare, it just isn't feasible.

I'm sorry you guys live in Europe and do not get to see as many live NFL games as you would like, but I guess there are always trade offs in life. I mean I don't get to drink good German Beer, or get to drive my car as fast as I want on the highway, or any other thing that is available in Europe. But those things come from living where I live, and if I really wanted to do the things that I can't do here, but could somewhere else, I would move...

[mancunian]

Agreed it was the cost of running a developmental league half way around the world. The Germans teams achieved pretty respectable attendance figues, heck the Claymores did too. It was never going to achieve the same level of attendance as soccer.

Never been convinced about a team in London, if anything if they should have put it near Birmingham as its easier and cheaper to get to.

Have to challenge you on this though

the teams were playing in stadiums that held almost twice as many seats as the average NFL stadium.

Most of the time they played in local soccer stadiums most of which hold less than or around the same as an average NFL Stadium. PBS holds what 67000.....besides Wembley there is only one stadium in English soccer that holds more. I think the same applies to German stadiums too.

What I would like to see is for the NFL work with the nationl associations such as the BAFL to improve the grass roots of the game, not I'm not talking necessarily about money or fincancial investment but the use of some their "experts" and knowledge.

and if I really wanted to do the things that I can't do here, but could somewhere else, I would move...

oh I would my friend but there's a couple of things stopping me, one's the wife, the others the US government