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International games...CRAP!!!
philabramoff
Exiled Packerfan in SoCal
When I first heard that there was going to be a regular season
game played in London, my first reaction was "okay, which
team is being jobbed out of a home game this year?"
If my team was playing one of their home games overseas,
I'd be really really mad. Firstly, unlike major league baseball
or the NBA, there are ONLY EIGHT games at home for your
team each year...it seems horribly unfair to the fans of that
city to take away one of those precious games!!! In Green Bay,
for instance, there's a waitlist for season tickets that goes for
over a hundred years! I'm not kidding...Packer season tickets
have been bequeathed in wills.
Secondly, when it comes to playoff implications (I know it
doesn't matter to Miami THIS year...but of the future...)
home field advantage is a BIG deal in the NFL. Somebody
is going to get screwed in the future if they keep doing this.
Terry Bradshaw was right. There's no need to try to "expand
interest" in the NFL overseas, especially when we have cities
without NFL teams here in the US.
I think Roger Goddell is trying to be Bud Selig, trying to make all
sorts of innovative new changes. But, if he goes the collossally
bone-headed route of putting the SUPER BOWL (the quintessential
American event) in London, he may go down as the crappiest
commissioner in the history of pro-sports.
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coachJ
All-Star Player
The only point you make is about the fans, they are the ones losing out. Considering he fact that the home teams this week went 4-8, I dont think the home field advantage really plays a big factor in the NFL. Its just not the same as college, they dont care where they play.
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I think the issue of the fans is the biggest thing, actually.
Let's face it...would people in London really appreciate going
to an NFL game the way a team's homefield fans would?
The Brits going to the NYG-Miami game were primarily going
to it as a novelty.
Maybe some team's fans would not care as much, but I know
as an absolute FACT that it would tear the heart out of Packer
fans to lose one of THEIR games, just because Roger Goddell
wants to be a big hero and give an NFL game to some European
As for homefield advantage, you're wrong. It DOES make a big
difference for many teams. Again, I say Terry Bradshaw was
right, when he pointed out that Jerry Jones wouldn't want his
Cowboys going overseas, especially if they were contending
for the playoffs.
HibachiDG
Sports Virtuoso
What if London had their own team, rather than just playing games between American teams there?
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There's some minor talk of future NFL teams in Europe,
but don't they have the London Monarchs of the World League???
Whatever happened to NFL Europe??
We don't NEED to play NFL games over there.
PS: HibachiDG, the Michigan State helmet you got there?
An MSU fan??? I went to MSU myself. Did you?
Location: Lake Wylie, SC
I agree. The NFL failed in Europe like soccer has failed here. Having teams in the NFL isn't logical considering the travel nightmares it would cause.
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Well, soccer has succeeded here more than football has in Europe. But, I don't think the idea is entirely farfetched. An NFL team fielding NFL quality talent for 8 games a season would draw sell outs to Wembley.
I also can't imagine the travel nightmares being actual nightmares. I could understand if they flew back today and had to play Thursday, but they don't play again until Sunday. I mean, the Charges still do have to travel to play the Jets and Patriots occasionally. And if the London team played a game against say the Seahawks, you could play in two game blocks where they come to the United States for the first game, stay a week and play another road game.
I'm not saying it's the best idea, but getting a professional team in London would be a step closer to a global game than anyone else has done. It's not too feasible without 4-5 european teams in the NBA, but one London team or two European teams in the NFL would not be impossible to do and would branch the game out.
doublee
Originally Posted by philabramoff
They did.
The NFL pulled the plug on it because they were losing 10s of millions of dollars on it every year. Basically the only teams drawing decent crowds were the teams based out of Germany.
I don't really see the point behind it. Ultimately, I have a feeling that football will be about as popular in Europe as soccer is here. After the novelty of having a NFL team wears off the money likely dries up.
I don't see how they would logistically make it work unless they were able to support enough teams so that they could play the bulk of their games in Europe and not have to travel to the states to play half of their games.
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Baseball Fanatic
Location: Marshalltown, Iowa
I'm definitely against playing in a foreign country. They have their own sports.
Keith "baseball nut" Thronson
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Just have the losers of the conference championship games play at some foreign site the week before the Super Bowl - and the proceeds can go toward paying for the pensions, health insurance etc., of all these retired players, whose plight was the topic of recent hearings in Congress.
This would be a lot better than a regular-season game between two teams who had gone a combined 14-18 the year before (what were they thinking?), one of whom actually went over there 0-7.
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Originally Posted by Anthony
I'm sure the NFLPA would LOVE this idea.
A few other points on this whole international thing:
1. There are some teams that have contracts with their home cities in which all their home games must be played in that stadium. This fact unfairly punishes teams who don't have that clause and have to go barnstorming around the world at the NFL's whim.
2. Homefield advantage isn't that big of a deal in comparison to the NCAA...I'm with coachJ there. Still, these games are a big deal to the home cities.
I still think "International Games" are a load of crap.
A Home Game is a HOME GAME for that team, and for that
team's fans. There are only 8 of them each year, and it's
unfair to the team and their fans to be sent halfway across
the world because Roger Goddell wants to be "innovative".
I understand Buffalo has requested having same home games played
in Toronto. That's their choice, if they want to expand their
market (although I can imagine my friend in Buffalo, who has
season tickets, being none-too-glad about that).
If Goddell and the NFL board decides to go on some sort of
"rotation" where every so-many years each team plays a
game in Europe, I'll be ready to put out a firing squad.
It just seems like such a load of bullcrap to take away those
precious games we wait all year for!!
And talk of the SUPER BOWL IN LONDON?????
Maybe we should have the World Cup played in Chicago.
Actually, it is a pretty big advantage later in the season when you start dealing with dome teams playing outdoors and warm weather teams travelling to cold weather venues.
Originally Posted by doublee
I'm not sure there is any evidence of this but even if it were somewhat true that isn't the point.
Homefield advantage means the whole atmosphere of the joint gives the home team a jolt.
That's the case in the NCAA. Paid mercenaries don't care where they play. IF there is some evidence of dome teams doin' bad in cold games then it's simply because the millionaires are pissed that they have to play in bad weather and may get a sniffle. It has nothing to do with crowd noise or the emotion of the game.
A spring game in Columbus has more "energy and feel" than a playoff game in the NEW stadiums of Cleveland or Pittsburgh.
Now if you're talkin' the old days in those two NFL cities...yeah...now you got something. In today's game: not even close.
I've heard this all before. Warm weather teams can't win in the cold. Well the Bucs shot that theory down when they beat Philly in Philly. The Eagles later decided to blow the place up rather then play on that field again.:lol:
Dome teams playing outdoors.... hmmm. When these guys played in college did they always play indoors? Nah. In highschool did they play indoors? Nah. So I'm not buying that one either.
GO to The Swamp and you will get goosebumps even if you are an opposing fan. I'm sure there are many other venues where this happens. When you (a fan) can't hear what the guy next to you is saying because it's too damn loud, that's home field advantage.
Has anyone ever noticed while watching a Colts game, when the defense is on the field that place is loud as hell. But, when the offense is on the field you can hear Manning calling audibles? That is home field advantage at it's best.
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