NFL In London - Here To Stay Or Had Its Day?
This weekend saw London’s Wembley Stadium, the hallowed turf of English soccer, play host to an NFL match between the New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers.
With the globalization of sport, particularly through television and aided significantly through expats developing sports in their host countries, events such as the baseball World Series, the Superbowl, FA Cup final and even the Australian Football and Australian Rugby league finals all draw huge audiences - and don’t the advertisers love it.
Australian football has toyed with demonstrations matches in the UK, US and throughout Europe. Soccer has developed a system of ‘friendlies’ between clubs and national teams and clubs from the NFL have paid fleeting international visits to promote the game. The day had to arrive when regular season matches would be taken abroad in an effort to promote the sport.
The English Football Association has raised the issue on several occasions but been silenced by the howls from fans and clubs. In Australia, they have played with this idea but never taken it seriously. On Sunday, 83,226 fans were thankful for the NFL’s decision to make a return visit. Last seasons effort was disappointing in a number of areas. This year’s was a raging success.
With two different sets of results to assess, where to from here? Does the NFL continue to showcase the sport internationally, or do they keep a home competition - at home?
Provide the fans with quality competition involving two quality teams and you will always have a popular turnout. It’s great for the game internationally, however, the real assessment has to be on whether or not it harms the home competition. For now, I think it’s here to stay. Do you think the NFL in Wembley is here to stay?
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