Is it any wonder why the NFL is adding more regular season games (now 3 per year) and courting London as a viable site when Wembley continually sells out 85,000 for each NFL game in just mere hours.
Toronto is not even on their radar after L.A. & London and to a lesser extent Mexico City, San Jose, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Oklahoma or other.
[b][u]NFL to play three games in London next year[/u]
The NFL will play three regular-season games at London’s Wembley Stadium next year, hosted by the Jaguars, Falcons and Raiders.
The league announced Tuesday at its fall meetings that it was expanding its international series. It will be the most games the league has played abroad in one year.
“Our fans in the U.K. have continued to demonstrate that they love football and want more,? said commissioner Roger Goodell, who has championed overseas games for years and some day believes the NFL will have a franchise based in London. “Both of this year’s games in London sold out quickly. The fan enthusiasm for our sport continues to grow. By playing two games in the U.K. this year, we are creating more fans. We hope that with three games in London next year we will attract even more people to our game.?
This headline could have very well read T.O to,increase NFL games, but when you have little in real ticket sales and Rogers having to paper the house, then it is no wonder the NFL is sour on the T.O market. Funny, I don’t hear the fans in London coming out with all sort of,excuses of why ticket sells are bad, the fans in London, just buy them, knowing it sends a great message to the NFL. This just proves yet again that the T.O media has inflated the NFL interest in the T.O market place
The problem with the NFL’s success in London is they may be looking do duplicate that success in other foreign markets. The NFL is pretty much tapped out in the U.S., a declining economic power, with the U.S. TV networks losing half a billion dollars a year on the NFL and Super Bowl.
Canada and Toronto might start looking pretty good with Buffalo, Pittsburg and a dozen other NFL cities crumbling into obsolescence.
The NFL is currently doing a major marketing push into Canada, targeting the youth, sponsoring NFL punt/pass/kick circuses at 8 Canadian university homecoming games this Fall, slathering the campuses with NFL signage…in exchange for a $4,000 cheque from the NFL. :roll:
Gridiron isn't played much in this world outside the US and Canada, to any great extent. And yes, with the US economy not doing well, it is an issue with the NFL no doubt. They have to target Canada in some way.
The US economy “collapsed” five years ago and the stadiums are still packed. Americans love football and most would go without shoes before they give up their tickets. London is as depressed as any American city and they are selling 85000 tickets, where almost half are above 200.00 a piece.
Bills in Toronto NFL excuse #1: neither team is "Toronto's" team so of course attendance is low. London sell out 85,000 seats in hours yet neither team is "London's Team".
Bills in Toronto NFL excuse #2: The tickets were expensive. Tickets in London ranged from $133 for the cheap nose-bleed endzone seats to $323 for sideline seats. BTW London sells 85,000 tickets in just hours at these prices.
Lets face it, Toronto sucks as a NFL market. London is on the fast track to get an NFL team.
Well, Buffalo, Pittsburgh…umm, Detroit definately, Cleveland and a bunch of other cities. There was an article last year which listed the sad state of about a dozen cities in the NFL which were economically depressed, losing jobs and population, etc. (with Toronto being much richer, larger, on the upswing, etc). Compared to Toronto, Buffalo is in pretty bad shape as far as the economy and jobs go.
I didn’t intend to offend our American friends but the fact is many of former industrial cities in the east are suffering economically. They still may be terrific places to live with affordable housing, golf in the winter, etc. The U.S. is such a huge market, the majority of NFL teams will continue to prosper, but perhaps with road trips to London, Paris and Milan in the future.
not to mention that these American teams are based thousands of miles away and not broadcast on major British networks, while the Bills are just across the border from Toronto with pervasive NFL access on numerous TV networks/channels.
indubitably. 8)
and once the Argos obtain a proper stadium, the NFL in Toronto prognosticators will die off in quick fashion.
Toronto was never on the NFL radar as this myth was perpetrated by Paul Godfrey and his ilk to include the cool aid drinking wannabe pro US media here.
If the NFL had any interest in setting up a franchise in Canada, they would look at Edmonton and Saskatchewan before they would ever look at Toronto. I also suspect that the NFL probably through Goddell has communicated with Rogers and MLSE that it just won't happen.
I know the NFL is not coming to Canada. I wrote If they were they would go to a market that actually likes and supports football before they go to Toronto. That’s how far down the totem of possibilities this NFL in Toronto pipe dream is.
The NFL will never happen in London - as the NY Times article states, kids don’t play football in the UK it’s a real foreign sport but there is a lot of curiosity.
But the N.F.L. is at a disadvantage because unlike baseball and basketball, football is not widely played outside the United States. In Britain, the game is anathema to those hooked on soccer, which does not have the breaks in action and hard hitting prevalent in American football.
“One of the tensions for the English audience is our favored sports have an element of flow,? said John Williams, the director of the Center for the Sociology of Sport at the University of Leicester. “Play is not broken for tactical talks or timeouts. That’s always been a mystery for British fans, who think the games are too contrived and made for TV and too brutal.?
The differences raise a deeper question: is it possible to get fans hooked on a game they may be unable to play?
Fuller, the Member of Parliament from Bedford, to be somewhat significant: “There is strong support for American football within Westminster and a group of us felt that we should get more involved in developing the sport here at both the amateur and professional levels. . . . We will be working closely with [the British American Football Association], the NFL and other organisations to promote and increase official recognition of American football within the UK sporting landscape. We hope to be able to develop participation in the sport at grassroots level, create opportunities for British players to reach their full potential in the sport and support the pathway to having eventually a UK-based NFL team.?
Soccer has flow but is just as contrived, if you will, as gridiron. When I watch soccer and I rarely do, the "flow" are guys basically walking or jogging on the field while the play is "in play". Boring. Give me gridiron, when the play is on, you can get smoked and hit big time, alway on your guard.
I just don't get soccer from an entertainment aspect but didn't grow up with the game, nor do I know the game. I could dangle the ball on my feet with skill knowing no one can smoke me if I grew up with the game. At least in hockey with the fancy skilled players, they can get smoked.
Not in soccer. Joke. Soccer is basically a joke because you can't get hit. Like basketball, skilled players but man anyone with any aspect of contact and hitting with some skill can be a good basketball player. Problem is, not enough guys are tall enough. Reduce the basket to 8 feet and allow more contact, then I'll appreciate the game more.
