The NFL's Expansion Abroad

I’ve seen several reports recently hinting at the possibility of the NFL expanding to England. Wouldn’t that be something? What would they call it? Soccer?

With the recent success of the revised NFL International Series, the prospect of an expansion team playing in London is not outside the realm of possibility. Commissioner Roger Goodell was quoted as saying, “it would be a great thing for the league. If the response keeps continuing this way, that's a realistic possibility.”

And so far, the response has been great. More than 83,000 fans turned out at Wembley Stadium to watch the 37-32 victory by the New Orleans Saints over the San Diego Chargers. Furthermore, the first batch of 45,000 tickets released in May sold out in 90 minutes, and a second batch of 15,000 went off the market in 30 minutes when they were put on sale in June. Interest in American Football has increased, particularly in England, and the Guardian Newspaper has even begun to cover the NFL season regularly. Should such fan interest remain strong over the next two years—the NFL has committed to two more games at this point—then an expansion team will be even more likely.

Such a decision would necessitate scheduling changes but NFL owners have begun discussing the option of cutting the number of pre-season games from five to three. This would free up plans to expand the length of the regular season and would allow for the logistics of playing on the other side of the Atlantic.

But the larger point here is the nascent success of the NFL’s expansion. The league launched the “NFL International Series” in 2005 as a way to expand and introduce the NFL brand to new markets around the world. The International Series basically works to raise the profile of the league by showcasing competitive regular season games—in the past, the NFL hosted “friendly matches” abroad that were about as competitive as the Pro Bowl.

The first game of the International Series occurred in 2005 at the Estadio Aztecs in Mexico City and pitted the 49ers against the Cardinals. The record crowd of 103,000 signaled the potential of an expanded NFL. In 2006, the Series moved to London and will continue to host a game per year through 2010. 2008 will also witness the first regular season game played in Canada when the Bills take on the Dolphins on December 7th.

Addendum— More NFL in London would mean more access to the kind of honest commentary and writing that only the Brits can provide. This from the Guardian: “When the NFL wants to advertise its parity, it should present the Chicago Bears centre stage. On the verge of becoming a top, top team when they reached the 2007 Super Bowl, now they are distinctly average on offense, average on defense, average on special teams and, yep, average on coaching. Just how the socialist NFL likes it.” HA! I’ll take this over John Clayton any day.