Commanders Post at The Warpath - View Single Post - NFL Regular Season Games Overseas: Good or Bad Idea?

SantanaMan · 10-26-2006, 05:16 PM

Travelling east if I remember correctly is a lot easier than the return journey (as it would be for NFL players), east coast teams would notice a time difference of 5 hours (and hence are likely to be placed to playing in europe), the return journey is harder and more likely to have jet-lag (hence the bye week after it).
I would also think that these games would/could be best suited for MNF (or like has happened this season a MNF doubleheader), giving these teams extra time to rest, etc after the travel (they may even have the euro games played on MNF the week after say an NFL Network Thu game , thus giving even more time).
The NFL has been involved in grass roots programs in the UK for many years (not sure if you are aware of this), obviously the schooling system is set up differently and would take time to evolve towards the same kind of system in america, but it is happening, college teams have been formed, there are leagues - like my earlier analogy to USA soccer, it wil take a while for these "seeds" to grow, but with the right exposure to games/coaching it can only be a good thing wordwide.

Yes, Germany is possibly the biggest country to embrace NFL (followed VERY close 2nd to UK may I add), this is due to the US armed forces based there and many ex-pats in these countries that generated the intial interest 20-odd years ago.

Indeed in my very early days as an NFL fan there was little TV coverage here (originally a 1 hour show), so I used to have to try and get radio reception from Armed Force Radio to try and listen to coverage of games(which involves moving about my room lots with the radio to pick up the signal) - since then coverage has boomed to what we have now which is the ability to watch each and every game each and every week, ability to watch all the shows such as PTI, Around the Horn, Sportcenter, you name it, we can pretty much watch it too. Add to that the internet and NFL is sitting at everyones fingertips.

Who's to say the players won't embrace the new games? Many NFLEurope players and current NFLers have only positive things to say about their time in europe.
The NFL is leagues ahead of every other sporting league in the world in organisation/planning, I am sure they will not only think/plan this through thoroughly, but it will also be better than what we as fans think.

I don't wish to argue with anyone about this, as we are all fans of the same sport (and team) - I can only see positive things coming from this.

I guess I can just see this akin to what I heard from staunch soccer fans in the UK when they heard about the WC being played in the USA ...
all the "they will ruin it, they know nothing about it, blah, blah", I personally didnt feel this way and was pleased when USA put on what I feel has been the best WC in a long time and would willingly let them host again.

10-26-2006, 05:16 PM	#36
SantanaMan Special Teams Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 224	Re: NFL Regular Season Games Overseas: Good or Bad Idea? Travelling east if I remember correctly is a lot easier than the return journey (as it would be for NFL players), east coast teams would notice a time difference of 5 hours (and hence are likely to be placed to playing in europe), the return journey is harder and more likely to have jet-lag (hence the bye week after it). I would also think that these games would/could be best suited for MNF (or like has happened this season a MNF doubleheader), giving these teams extra time to rest, etc after the travel (they may even have the euro games played on MNF the week after say an NFL Network Thu game , thus giving even more time). The NFL has been involved in grass roots programs in the UK for many years (not sure if you are aware of this), obviously the schooling system is set up differently and would take time to evolve towards the same kind of system in america, but it is happening, college teams have been formed, there are leagues - like my earlier analogy to USA soccer, it wil take a while for these "seeds" to grow, but with the right exposure to games/coaching it can only be a good thing wordwide. Yes, Germany is possibly the biggest country to embrace NFL (followed VERY close 2nd to UK may I add), this is due to the US armed forces based there and many ex-pats in these countries that generated the intial interest 20-odd years ago. Indeed in my very early days as an NFL fan there was little TV coverage here (originally a 1 hour show), so I used to have to try and get radio reception from Armed Force Radio to try and listen to coverage of games(which involves moving about my room lots with the radio to pick up the signal) - since then coverage has boomed to what we have now which is the ability to watch each and every game each and every week, ability to watch all the shows such as PTI, Around the Horn, Sportcenter, you name it, we can pretty much watch it too. Add to that the internet and NFL is sitting at everyones fingertips. Who's to say the players won't embrace the new games? Many NFLEurope players and current NFLers have only positive things to say about their time in europe. The NFL is leagues ahead of every other sporting league in the world in organisation/planning, I am sure they will not only think/plan this through thoroughly, but it will also be better than what we as fans think. I don't wish to argue with anyone about this, as we are all fans of the same sport (and team) - I can only see positive things coming from this. I guess I can just see this akin to what I heard from staunch soccer fans in the UK when they heard about the WC being played in the USA ... all the "they will ruin it, they know nothing about it, blah, blah", I personally didnt feel this way and was pleased when USA put on what I feel has been the best WC in a long time and would willingly let them host again.