From 1991 up until 2007 the NFL was backing a
professional football league in Europe. However after the 2007 season the
NFL announced that there would no longer be a European football league backed
by the NFL and instead they would start to play a few regular season games each
year in Europe. Why did the NFL Europe League fail, and can American
football ever catch on in other parts of the world other then North America?
I think it can, however they will need to try other strategies other then
a sub par league in Europe. According to the NFL, the league was losing
around $30 million a season (a major reason why it disbanded). Also
Europeans who are fans of American football realized they were watching a
vastly sub-par product compared to the normal NFL as NFL teams were using NFL
Europe to send over players who needed to "develop" or other players
who just could not make it in the top league. Therefore, if the NFL is
going to expand its brand it needs to be the best quality of the sport that
they are marketing. Also by the time the league disbanded in 2007 there
were only 6 teams, 5 in Germany and 1 in Amsterdam, while other teams in Spain
and Scotland had folded over the years. It seems that Germany finds
football most appealing and maybe the NFL should concentrate on where they can
be accepted, instead of having to force their way in. Can the NFL succeed
in marketing themselves in Europe? I think they can, but they just need
to find the right strategy.
Another way that the NFL could think about expanding into Europe would be to develop European teams that actually competed with the American teams. The NFL could consider having 2 division, 1 American 1 European, the teams would mainly play other teams in their own country, but they could play during the playoffs, creating a global championship Superbowl.
ReplyDeleteScott Kettig
I agree that is something they could look at...but right now I do not think that there would be enough buzz to support a league at the moment. Right now they are working to make sure they fill Wembley when they host a few games in London. Maybe down the road if the sports popularity increases, they can think about the idea of a new and improved NFL Europe.
DeleteI like Scott's idea and its one that has been talked about by people within the NFL. I don't think it would make sense to create a whole new conference but adding two or three teams, maybe London and Munich to start, would make more sense. If you put them in a division with some east coast teams then travel-wise its pretty comparable to flying east to west coast. Fans in Europe have shown that they're interested in football, with the recent game in Wembley drawing a ton of attention, so I think testing the waters with one or two expansion teams would be the way to go.
ReplyDelete-Dan Reardon
I agree that as far as locations the distances are comparable, but I do not think the Ravens, Bills, Patriots, Jets, Giants, and other east coast teams will enjoy traveling overseas more then they may already have too. Also with the different time zones it will be harder for players to adjust, so they would have to travel much earlier in the week so they are not jet lagged during a game. But who knows we will see, right now the NFL needs to continue playing regular season games in the UK to build up interest
DeleteI think the NFL needs to develop a way to attract the younger European fans and possibly get them more interested in playing the sport. The older generation of Europeans (around age 50) seems uninterested in football but they should attract a younger crowd. John McCann and I particpated in a practice with the Barcelona Bufals (the Barcelona football team) and they seemed pretty interested in football. It was a few days after the superbowl and they know all about it. They said they all went to the same place to watch it with Americans and loved it. They were about as knowledgeable as the average American with regards to Football.
ReplyDelete-Harris Fanaroff
I think the main point of this post revolves around competition. The reason why football is king of Europe is because they are the best at it. The reason why American football is king of the U.S is because we are the best at it. Consequently, the MLS is extremely unpopular in the U.S and it is most likely because: first, American football has a monopoly during the fall and with baseball being an American pastime, it is certainly difficult to compete during the spring, and second, the MLS doesn’t have the best players playing for it. I would argue that there is most likely more American interest in the English, Spanish, Italian, and German leagues than there is in the American. People like watching the best athletes in their respective sports. That is why it will be so difficult for the NFL to reach Europe.
ReplyDelete~Paul
While there is no denying the fact that there is some form of interest in American football and the NFL in Europe, I do not see the NFL ever expanding further from their two regular season games a year across the pond. Part of the reason NFL Europe failed is that there wasn't enough vested interest in sustaining an entire NFL season. Part of the reason why the NFL regular season games in Wembley work so well is that the are rare and not an every week occasional. Once you increase the supply the demand will begin to level off. Since the NFL games occur once or twice a year people will flock to the stadium in order to see American football. However, if the product becomes every week and not so rare, will the interest in the sport still be alive? It is incredibly hard to tell, but if I were the NFL I would continue only the yearly games in Europe and not try to expand or recreate NFL Europe.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there's a feasible way to expose lower level football. I think if the NFL wants to draw fans, they have to put out NFL-quality games. I think a good way to do this would be scheduling multiple games per year in different parts of Europe. They can take the top 4-6 teams and have them play one game (maybe after or before a bye week) somewhere in Europe. Also, I think the Pro Bowl would do fairly well. Hawaii is getting a little stale, I'm sure Europeans wouldn't mind watching the best of the best play a game, no matter how bad it is.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Blake. Introducing NFL into Europe would involved in introducing the game. People would need to like the experience of watching American football. Since soccer is the dominate force in the majority of the population, NFL would need to direct towards people who enjoy the product. As the article mentioned, it would be great to introduce it in Germany and have it grow from there. It will definitely be a difficult task to break the barrier created by soccer.
ReplyDeleteI think the NFL has a similar problem as to what soccer has in the United States. There is just to much time and interest invested into soccer throughout Europe that it will be hard to sway people away from a sport who´s postseason occurs during the NFL season. So unless they change season I do not see football drawing large fanbases in the near future in Europe.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good point. I agree that if there were to be a few teams playing in Europe it would need to be more in the warmer seasons of spring and maybe into the Summer. I say this because there is just so much demand for futbol from September to April. However football is meant to be played in the fall so I am a bit skeptical that there will be another NFL Europe type league in the near future.
DeleteEuropeans have a game called football over there that they already love to bits, and competing with that during the same part of the year is stupid. Football as they know it is not going away in Europe. The NFL has to accept that.
ReplyDeleteThey also need to realize that it's highly unlikely that they'll ever find a market in Europe. They can't solve this with marketing. They tried that, and failed. Their joke of a European league held on in Germany because--gasp!--they host more US military bases than other parts of Europe. The only people attending at the end were US personnel.
Europeans gave up on it right away, because the novelty wore off, more than for the disdain they felt for the play on the field. They found the numerous game stoppages and time outs boring. They think that all the tackling is barbaric and that the players are all brawn and no brains. They also sneer at men wearing padding and helmets as a sign of weakness.
Really.
So the supposed quality of the product on the field isn't going to matter.
Europeans simply aren't impressed with our silly little game, and the NFL just has to accept that fact.