ShareThisBy RAY McNULTY
Scripps Howard News Service
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
NFL Europa e morto.
It sleeps with the fishes.
It's gone.
And nobody will miss it.
Because nobody ever really cared -- except, of course, the NFL brass, who foolishly thought playing second-rate football in Europe would open up an international market for a strictly North American game.
Football fans here didn't care.
Football fans over there didn't care, either.
Not for our brand of football.
Let's face it: If they cared, if our football meant as much to them as their football, they'd riot.
Just like they do at their soccer matches.
So it was a bad idea from the start. And so is sending the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants to London in late October to play a regular-season game.
I mean, why? Why bother?
Why put the players through the hardship of an unnecessary road trip to Europe? Why take away a home game from the Dolphins? Why disrupt the season for a game that means so much over here and means nothing over there?
To us, it's a game that could, ultimately, decide a playoff berth. It's one-sixteenth of the season.
To them, it's a novelty, a chance to drink beer at Wembley Stadium on a Sunday night, an opportunity to sneer at our game and tell us that their rugby players are tougher because they don't need helmets and shoulder pads.
We can only hope this experiment fails miserably, because the NFL front office already is looking at putting another regular-season game in Germany in 2008.
Then what? Italy? France? The Netherlands? How about Russia? Or China? Or Iraq?
Heck, why not move in on the CFL's turf? There, at least, we share the same time zones.
Look, creating a developmental league -- let's call it what it really is: minor league football -- was a wise move for the NFL, which saw its trans-Atlantic farm system produce stars like Kurt Warner, Jake Delhomme and Adam Vinatieri.
But why, except for marketing reasons that made few dollars and no sense, put it in Europe? The league should be based in the U.S., where people know football, love football and will pay to watch football.
Even minor league football.
Especially if it has the NFL's stamp of approval.
Remember the old USFL? The United States Football League, which played in the spring with mostly second-tier players and small payrolls? People loved it, particularly people who lived in cities that didn't have NFL teams.
Truth is, had it not been for the arrival of Donald Trump, who bought the New Jersey Generals, convinced his fellow owners to challenge the NFL and drove the spring league into extinction, there might still be a USFL.
The model worked.
And it can work again.
With the backing of the NFL, which now has its own TV network and could use the live programming such a league would provide, it can work better.
Surely, there are markets that would welcome, even embrace, the minor league franchises. I'd start with some of the old USFL stops that still don't have NFL teams: Orlando, Memphis, Birmingham, Portland, Oklahoma City and San Antonio. (Los Angeles was in the league, too, but I'm sure the NFL has bigger plans there.) The NFL also could look at places like Raleigh, Sacramento and Salt Lake City, maybe Anchorage and Honolulu.
But wherever the teams play, people will watch. They'll tune in, regardless of whether the games are on free TV, ESPN or the NFL Network. Even in the spring and summer. Even though it's minor league football.
Because we're Americans.
We love football.
Europeans don't.
NFL Europa was stupido.
(Ray McNulty is sports columnist for Scripps Treasure Coast (Fla.) Newspapers, The Stuart News, Fort Pierce Tribune and Vero Beach Press Journal. On the Web at www.tcpalm.com.)
Poorly informed
Ray
I'm afraid while you may be right on some of your article, you're very poorly informed about *your* version of football in Europe.
*Your* Football fans in Europe are passionate about American Football. NFL Europa's crowds this year were a record year. As a European and a passionate NFL fan, I'm very disappointed to see NFL Europa close down.
If there was a problem in the NFL's strategy, it was as you highlighted that it was second-rate football being played rather than the top class NFL. Added to which, the players were never around for more than a year or two and so no loyalty to stars, to particular players ever allowed the teams to gain a sense of identity.
The game between Miami and New York sold out in 90 minutes earlier this year. That isn't the behaviour of people treating it as a novelty. British people stopped treated *your* football as a novelty 20 years ago with William 'the Fridge' Perry. They either now ignore it or they love it. Half a million people signed up via the NFL-UK website to try and get tickets for this game between Miami and New York. I am one of the many absolutely gutted fans who didn't manage to get one of the 90,000 tickets that were snapped up almost instantly.
We will not be there for a novelty, a chance to drink beer or sneer at *your* game. We are there to finally see a proper NFL game that really counts, to cheer on the two teams (even if we don't support either) and show the NFL how crazy the hard-core of NFL football fans are in this country.
Best wishes
David Green
Cambridge, England
p.s. I've played rugby and *your* football and anytime I hear anyone sneer about football players in pads, I testify passionately that I always got hit alot harder playing football than I ever did playing rugby. It's the rugby players who are the pansies.
p.p.s. Rioting at British soccer grounds died out in the mid 80s. We have one of the most exemplary records in Europe. Police forces from around the world (including the USA) come here to find out how we do it... on that point your comment is crass and hopelessly misinformed.
You got it right Ray
I have travelled extensively throughout Europe and not once did someone even remotely mention anything about American Football. The person above is an extreme exception. I am not American, so far as I am concerned American Football in Europe or anywhere else in the world is non-goer. You suggestion for a 2nd division type league for all the athletes who do not make the cut for the NFL, makes a lot of sense.
Yes, you're an american
... dont care about more than 100.000 fans
... dont care about 6 individual Fan loving cheerleader-squads (maybe 400)
... dont care about men who love nfle and live nfle
... dont care about Teams behind the teams who live for their team
... dont care about the most symphatic american export in europe you have,
and thats the problem. I cant belive why the nfl-bosses closed the league, the number of fans rises, many of them bought for 15euro/month NASN. The citys slowly began to recognize what a fun such a nflgame is. More people game by game learn the rules.
-The stadiums were'nt sold, but thats not an european problem. The style of commercial was wrong. (you only know about new games by internet or less, very small articles in local newspapers).No activities in schools, no special/or wrong town-identifying activities) Many Cologne citizens for example, heard about the centurions but they werent informed enough, if they won.. whos next which place they reached, if the defense is better than an other, etc.
Maybe the cause of the less fans was the bad-quality we have to watch ;)
But in fact of the bad informations, the number of fans rises season per season. And thats the point!
I'm a centurions fan since this year. I learned the rules within 3 games, i bought a fanshirt, i love the cheerleaders, i was very depressed that we didnt reach the world-bowl final. But now... im very angry about the nfl. And thats for sure... i never more will sing the american national anthem.
dolpins in london
if the nfl game in london is so unimportant and the subject of yawns by europeans/brits, why is the game next october sold out? instead of sports jingoism, perhaps you might find a way for americans in europe to attend the game. we can't! sold out!