American Football in London

Fubar1 · 10-24-2007, 04:13 AM,

This Sunday the New York Giants face the horribly bad Miami Dolphins in London. The National Football League keeps pushing our league into other countries.

My question to our friends on the other side of the pond:
Do any of you care about these games? What kind of following is there in the UK?

Steelrain60 · 10-24-2007, 08:33 AM,

I''m a fan of the NFL, but this decision boggles me. Didn't the NFL just shut down NFL Europe because there wasn't enough support. I also heard that they're thinking about playing the Superbowl in England. I'm not one of these people who thinks, "(American) Football is our sacred game; how dare they even think of exporting our premier sporting event!", but I can't imagine that there's a ton of interest.

Perhaps some of our English cousins can enlighten us?

Stryker · (This post was last modified: 10-24-2007, 05:58 PM by Stryker.)

As an Englishman I can honestly say that I don't know a single person who has any interest whatsoever in American Football. That's probably because it doesn't really get any coverage over here and therefore has no fan base at all. I seem to remember some years ago we had a team called the London Towers, but nobody bothered to go and see them. Having said that, if I visit the US, I would be very excited to go and see a game over there, but wouldn't bother in England because there are so many other sports I would prefer to see. Case in point, I went to see a baseball game in Toronto and an ice hockey match in Detroit, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed and would definately go again, but I wouldn't bother going to see those sports in the UK (we do have ice hockey teams here).
We are brought up here playing and watching Soccer and Rugby so those are preferred, Aussie Rules and Gaelic Football also get shown here on TV and I do enjoy watching those because they're exciting, can't really say the same about American Football on TV - too much stop/start... sorry... oh.... just one thing though, one of my favourite computer games used to be an EA Sports American Football game.. now that was good.
cheers

cillmhor · 10-24-2007, 07:08 PM,

I am a Scottish NFL fan, and my impression is that there are quite a few NFL fans here in the UK and in Ireland. The game is a 90,000 sell-out (the first 40,000 tickets sold in 90 minutes, and only 10,000 fans are expected to come from the US) and people I know who were trying to get tickets had trouble getting them, despite the fact the Dolphins are so dire at the moment (they shouldn't worry about losing a home game this season anyway, might do them some good to get out of Miami). There is plentiful coverage of the NFL on Sky Sports - a choice of five games on a Sunday night (triple-header with two optional games), Monday Night Football, and this year Sky Sports have started broadcasting NFL Total Access, NFL Playbook, America's Game (history of the Superbowl winners) and another programme I can't remember. So I'm guessing with the increase in coverage this year that there is a market for the game here in the UK.

I think the trouble historically with teams such as the London Monarchs and Scottish Claymores was that they were very much B-teams with NFL cast-offs or nearly-men playing for them in many cases, and so you only got crowds of 10,000. Now give the UK an NFL franchise and you might see a big difference in crowds? I didn't manage to get a ticket and will watch on TV, looking forward to it, the Fins have got to win a game some time, right?

**Mr Grumpy** · 10-24-2007, 07:20 PM,

I am in the UK and have watched the NFL on and off since 1981, over those years the NFL has tried again and again to launch the sport but with no success, in my circle of friends i know of no other NFL fan and when i ask why people don't watch it the usual answers are- lack of coverage, the game is too slow with too many ad breaks, the rules are too complicated, the amount of padding is considered a big joke! The amount of times i have heard "under all that is a 140lb weakling" :rolleyes:

So i don't believe it will ever catch on, the odd game we get maybe a sell out, but that is hard core fans who are not enough to keep the sport going year on year.

Lowlander · 10-25-2007, 01:43 AM,

David Beckham and posh spice to you, is what NFL is to me !!!.

However no doubt like me, your more than happy doing your own thing.

So many games and so little time.

Wolfman · 10-25-2007, 04:29 AM,

cillmhor Wrote:I am a Scottish NFL fan, and my impression is that there are quite a few NFL fans here in the UK and in Ireland. The game is a 90,000 sell-out (the first 40,000 tickets sold in 90 minutes, and only 10,000 fans are expected to come from the US) and people I know who were trying to get tickets had trouble getting them, despite the fact the Dolphins are so dire at the moment (they shouldn't worry about losing a home game this season anyway, might do them some good to get out of Miami). There is plentiful coverage of the NFL on Sky Sports - a choice of five games on a Sunday night (triple-header with two optional games), Monday Night Football, and this year Sky Sports have started broadcasting NFL Total Access, NFL Playbook, America's Game (history of the Superbowl winners) and another programme I can't remember. So I'm guessing with the increase in coverage this year that there is a market for the game here in the UK.

I think the trouble historically with teams such as the London Monarchs and Scottish Claymores was that they were very much B-teams with NFL cast-offs or nearly-men playing for them in many cases, and so you only got crowds of 10,000. Now give the UK an NFL franchise and you might see a big difference in crowds? I didn't manage to get a ticket and will watch on TV, looking forward to it, the Fins have got to win a game some time, right?

Excellent post, I agree with all of it - plus you could add that we've just had the Rugby World Cup, a proper contact sport:cool:

McIvan · 10-25-2007, 12:17 PM,

Novelty one-off events will sell anywhere, especially when it's between good teams...but it's a far harder sell to get a league going especially with second rate product, and particularly when there's a more or less competing local product (eg rugby) that is doing well internationally. That's my take on it...but I'm not in the UK.

Fubar1 · (This post was last modified: 10-26-2007, 12:17 AM by Fubar1.)

Thanks to everyone who responded. I love American football and your reactions are what I've suspected all along. A group of hardcore fans are interested in these "one time" games. NFL Europe was basically a developmental league for players who were a notch below. I see why it folded.
I love the sport of rugby, however, the recent World Cup games were not broadcast here even though the USA had a team (as bad as they were).
Lastly, I understand why people say rugby is a proper contact sport. But that doesn't make American football less of a sport due to the equipment. I liken it to getting run over by a horse (rugby) versus a truck (NFL). The person getting run over is going to be in pain regardless. However, if done properly, the person doing the hitting in football may not feel any pain. Whereas in rugby, the hitter will feel something! The NFL is not a contact sport, it is a collision sport

Hobbes · 10-26-2007, 12:36 AM,

It was certainly gaining a lot of popularity over here in the 80's but that seems to have wained a little since. I still follow it though and many of my friends regularly watch the games on Sky on Sundays. We are also avid football, rugby and cricket fans - so who says a country only has room for 3 sports.

Go Vikes!
Cheers, Chris