As many people may already know, the NFL continued its tour in England yesterday by sending the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos to Wembley Stadium in London. This has gone on for several years now but I still have one problem with this although it has many benefits...you can't watch this game! While many of us were able to watch the Star Spangled Banner Sunday, CBS cut right back to the Miami Dolphins/Cincinnati Bengals game.Now, as already mentioned, the NFL has sent one game for the past few years to England in an attempt to globalize the league, but us Americans cannot view this game. The league is trying to spread to another market but why are we not aloud to watch the game and analyze its effort in globalizing American football? Another reason I am not a fan of globalizing the NFL is for the sake of the home team. Yesterday, the 49ers were the quote-on-quote home team even though they played in London. This takes one home-field advantage season game away from the 9ers and more importantly the 49ers fans. However, the league's effort in globalizing the NFL deserves an A.
The NFL set up a giant tailgate outside Wembley Stadium to give the fans the great American experience that comes with football. Set up 6 hours before kickoff, the London fans were provided with Coors product beer, hambergers, a performance by the 49ers cheerleaders, and NFL merchandise. Mark Cruick-shank, a Broncos fan out of Aberdeen, Scotland attended his third consecutive NFL game at Wembley Stadium and was quoted saying, "Americans know how to do it right...its an even not just a game."
Given a few different stands on globalizing the NFL, it is up to you to decide...should the NFL continue to travel to England?
Kevin,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up very good points. How is globalization supposed to work if the home country can't even watch the game? I think that is very poor planning on the NFL's part. I understand that they are trying to get the NFL overseas but in the meantime they are losing fans in the United States. The 49ers aren't the best team right now and because of that they are already losing fans, so why make them lose more by not showing their game from overseas?
I also do not understand the rationale for not allowing U.S. fans to see the games that are played overseas. Is it a policy, or did you just happen to notice because you are a fan of one of the teams that played in England? I thought I had seen some of the overseas games, but maybe I am thinking of basketball. I am interested in seeing how U.S. sports are received in other countries.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on this. I noticed this as well when i wasn't able to watch the game. I realize that the NFL is trying to globalize but I don't know if they are doing it in the right way. Maybe they should think about playing some of the pre-season games there or in other countries, since those games aren't as important but they can still accomplish the goal of trying to further the sport. However, if they do decide to keep it like this then I think they really need to make sure Americans are still able to view it because if you are a die hard fan of a certain team then that might not sit too well.
ReplyDeleteThose games do sell out and lots of people in England (and in Mexico a few years ago) are interested in the sport. To no surprise, their futbol is our soccer and our football is their football. Why I'm saying this is because we will always love football, just like they will always love soccer. We will like soccer just like they will always like football. We get excited during the World Cup and MLS teams have had great attendance lately, but it seems that soccer will always be way behind. I can't speak fro experience, but I feel that it will be the same way for England and Mexico, as they will always get excited come game time and have fun, but soccer and sports like rugby and cricket will probably stay way above football.
ReplyDeleteI remember trying to watch that game and it wasn't on network TV. I think those games are usually televised on NFL Network which is ONLY available to fans with Direct TV and it is not cheap. I really applaud the NFL for trying to expand globally, but we would like to watch those games in America also. Maybe its the networks like CBS and FOX that don't see it profitable to televise those overseas games. That's definitely something to think about.
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