As ESPN experts and analysts struggled to keep the conversation going during the 2009 NFL Draft, crazed fans sat glued to their seats as they anxiously awaited the start of Saturday afternoon’s festivities.
As the minutes ticked by, Mel Kiper Jr. Todd McShay, Chris Burman and Keyshawn Johnson started pulling random tangents out simply to keep the conversation flowing. Topics ranged from the hardest name to pronounce in the draft to who the top draft prospect will be in 2012. I don’t think it clicked with these guys that the 2012 draft prospects are still in high school.
Then, just when it looked like things couldn’t get any worse, they dropped the ultimate bomb. The Super Bowl could be played in London as soon as 2012. Imagine watching American history unfold at around 2 a.m. our time on a tape delay? Can you even begin to paint the pictures of fans rioting at the idea of not seeing their team play in an easy to reach location? Tickets are already expensive enough without the overseas airfare.
“Ever since the NFL began playing games in London we have been in discussions with the NFL about what is involved in staging Super Bowl from the host city perspective,” David Hornby, the commercial director for London’s games told the BBC. “It continues to be something we discuss on a regular basis, without there being any specific timetable or plan in place.”
For years, the NFL has been America’s thing. We’ve already let Mexico and Brazil destroy us in soccer, the Japanese at baseball and the Chinese embarrass us at the Olympics, why should we let London take the NFL away from us if even for just one season? For once, let’s keep the one sport we seem to be pretty good at in our country and try to sell it to another group of fans.
Preseason games have been held in Europe, Asia Mexico and Canada, and all have drawn huge crowds, but there’s a difference between letting London host the Super Bowl and a preseason game between the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs airing in Mexico.
Clearly football, or “American Football,” as the Europeans call it wasn’t successful, so why take it over there? We already allow for one game to be played across the pond each year, why let the biggest game of the year be played there by an audience who can probably only identify the quarterback.
With today’s economy struggling to just get fans in the seats, the NFL needs to take every opportunity to make money within our own country. Advertising along generates millions of dollars during the Super Bowl – why would we throw that away?
Last year, the Arena Football League was shut down due to economic hardships, but will luckily return in 2010. We shouldn’t run the risk of losing NFL affiliates and advertising revenue by giving this spectacle away to other countries just because they have the available facilities.
How would you feel seeing the Dallas Cowboys or Pittsburgh Steelers crowned Super Bowl champions inside the walls of a tennis stadium? NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the Wembley Stadium would be a perfect location for the event. Yes, the last game at this venue sold over 40,000 tickets in 90 minutes in a game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants (and the Dolphins aren’t even that great), but it’s not like the Super Bowl isn’t selling out every year.
I remember going to Scottsdale, Ariz. to see the Patriots sadly lose to the Giants and every seat was filled. People were literally willing to sell their children to get a ticket to the game. The town was jam-packed with fans of all teams just wanting to witness the game in person.
Messages boards on ESPN have outraged fans promising to never watch and NFL game again should the Super Bowl in London, and I agree.
“This is about good, old-fashioned corporate greed,” said one contributor. “If London makes a good enough offer, the NFL won’t blink before signing off on the deal — despite weather issues and the small detail that London is six hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone.”
Europe has soccer. We have football. Notice we tried to make soccer big here, but well, you see the success that has generated. Every week my friends talk about Chelsea or Manchester United winning or losing a match. The last time my friend from Germany mentioned the NFL was when he told me to stop talking about my obsession with Tom Brady.
Clearly, Europeans don’t understand American Football.
Nicole Jacobsen is a journalism and advertising double major. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].
