Posted on 06/30/2007 6:59:35 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
National Football League officials bet in the early 1990s that the world — or at least North America and Europe — would embrace a brand of football that was of lesser quality than the one the league’s 32 teams play in the United States.
But N.F.L. Europa, born 16 years ago as the World League of American Football, lost money, ran through television partners, narrowed its trans-Atlantic focus largely to Germany and finally was shuttered yesterday. The N.F.L.’s strategy will shift to playing some of its own regular-season games overseas.
“If we can present two or three games a year, and fans are engaged in that experience, we will grow exponentially overseas,” Mark Waller, the senior vice president of NFL International, said by telephone from Frankfurt.
Despite its domestic power, the N.F.L. has struggled to export its game.
The National Basketball Association has deep roots in Europe and Asia. More than half the traffic to its nba.com Web site emanates from outside the United States, and more than one billion viewers watch league programs on 51 Chinese stations. Last season, 83 foreign players were on N.B.A. rosters, including stars like Yao Ming (China), Tony Parker (France) and Manu Ginóbili (Argentina). The sixth player chosen in the league’s annual draft Wednesday was the Chinese 7-footer Yi Jianlian.
Major League Baseball had a record 246 foreign-born players on opening day rosters, including 98 from the Dominican Republic and 13 from Japan, including Daisuke Matsuzaka, whom the Boston Red Sox signed to a $52 million deal after spending $51.1 million for the right to negotiate with him.
The Yankees, whose pitching ace is the Taiwanese right-hander Chien-Ming Wang, recently entered into a working agreement with the Chinese Baseball Association and subsequently signed two Chinese players.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I watched the World Cup in a bar filled with a bunch of Portuguese and Brazillians in Newark, NJ. HATED the boring-ass game, but it was kind of cool seeing a bunch of folks cursing the French in Portuguese while rooting for the Italians.
Or ever.
American football is a sport largely played from childhood into the 20’s. I’m not sure how it could attract a fan base without a population that grew up playing it.
And you think that that level of "criticism" is ripping something to shreds?
Not only LOL but a couple of accidental snorts too.
I wouldn't be too sure.
I have three different full time Soccer channels on my satellite FSC, GolTV and SETANTA which are supplemented by ESPN2, ESPN Latina and two mexican channels showing soccer a fair amount of the time. You can't find that much NFL football on TV, partly because there ISN'T that much NFL football by comparison.
Somebody must be watching or there wouldn't be so much coverage - just like Talk Radio..!
And the Americans are useless at it because they only play in World Championships where they never have to leave the country or include any Foreign Competition. The egos couldn't stand defeat by foreigners..
Only in America can you be WORLD Champions of the NATIONAL Football League.
Go Figure...
The World Cup outdrew the World Series in the US last year...
but most those TVs werent speaking English!
I think it’s baseball who calls their tournament the World Series.
Football, IIRC, calls it the SuperBowl.
But they all refer to themselves as "World Champions", in fact, before it was called the "The Super Bowl", the NFL-AFL decider was called the "World-Championship Game"
Just go right now to www.colts.com/trophy and you can see it for yourself.
Even the winners of the hokey little Arena Bowl league refer to themselves as "World Champions"
The NFL is concerned about concussions and FIFA is worried about the egregious “soccer flop” that puts a man in writhing agony because his shin has a “boo-boo.”
Perhaps the wimps should talk to Joe Thiesmann about leg injuries. Zheesh!
The bulge in the waistband of the guy sitting next to you at an NFL game is likely to be a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson. That kind of keeps morons from getting too rambunctious or dissing the home team.
;-o)
You forgot the part about deciding games of over 150 minutes in length by putting a “futbol” in front of a goalie about 8 inches away and seeing if he can stop kicks in a “shoot out.” And then that goes back and forth.
I’d propose a rule modification for ties. If you don’t want to play until everyone drops dead, how about a coin toss? Or better yet, get one of those lawn darts that is razor sharp, get both teams at midfield in a mob, throw the dart in the air, and see which team has a guy willing to take a “header” for the home country!
Good show!
As long as taxpayers continue to fund college football, the NFL does not a minor league system. The same holds true for the NBA and minor league basketball.
I watched them both.
Alright, I guess I don't belong here then. I like soccer. Still play it. But I guess I'm going to have to deport myself if you say so. As long as I can bring my DirecTV dish and my NFL Sunday ticket package wherever you decide to send me.
What was interesting was that the Mexican fans outnumbered the American fans at the Gold Cup finals game this week by a margin of 5-1...AND THE GAME WAS IN CHICAGO!
The only way to clear the stadium was for an ICE agent to yell "immagracion, immigracion"
So you’re saying teams from Europe would beat the Colts? Right.
There you go, that's always the American argument.
Being the best in the world is not the same as winning a World Championship.
The best team doesn't always win, that's why they have competitions
If it's NOT a world sport then a World Champion is a meaningless title that cheapens the accolade.
If it IS a world sport then hold a World Championship and make it open to teams from all countries in the world that play the game.
Arguing that you can determine the results on paper kind of makes it pointless to play any games at all, why not just do it by computer if the form book is never upset.
Holding a domestic competition to the exclusion of every other team in the world, and then declaring the winners "World Champions" is arrogant in the extreme.
bttt
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