Tuesday, February 19, 2013

NFL vs. MLS


A comment I received on another post had to do with comparing the NFL globalizing into your Europe with the already globalized game of soccer in America. I thought that this comment was perfect when thinking about how the NFL is trying to expand into Europe. The game of soccer is a European sport and always will be. This is shown by how unpopular the MLS is. Kids in America follow European club teams like Manchester United and FC Barcelona more then MLS teams. The ratings for the 2012 MLS Cup were even worse then they were last year. Football, on the other hand, in America is an American sport and always will be and the popularity of the game just keeps on growing throughout the country.



Therefore, I believe that if the NFL expanded into Europe then it would just be like how professional soccer and football are in America but switched around. Soccer and the English Premier League would remain extremely popular like the NFL is in America and the NFL in Europe would be extremely unpopular like the MLS. I just don't see Europeans beginning to follow American football just like Americans don't follow the MLS. If the NFL is smart they will look at how the MLS is struggling and think of better ways to globalize the game.

One idea that the MLS is trying improve on is getting stars to play in their league. A superstar like David Beckham recently played in the MLS and that helped the popularity of the league a lot but there hasn't been any other prominent players. If the NFL expands into Europe then they will need superstar players that the fans will want to see and follow to help globalize and grow the popularity of the game. This is one good idea but the NFL is going to need to come up with many more if they want to succeed at globalizing the game.
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownFebruary 19, 2013 at 2:58 PM

    This post is spot on. The NFL in Europe would have the same fate as the MLS in the US. The MLS has tried to get star players like Henry and Beckham, but most come over for their tour after their best playing days. This isn't the best way to go about bringing prominence to a league. I feel like this would happen if the NFL tried to move to Europe. Older players past their primes would go over (Brett Favre?), and this wouldn't garner a lot of interest amongst the European population.

    -Jimmy Madden

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  2. Sam, Alex, BenFebruary 20, 2013 at 6:35 AM

    I agree that bringing old superstars in might not be the best idea because they will be out of their primes. But if somehow there is a way to get younger superstars to play in Europe then that could definitely work. Also, Europe could train and breed their own athletes into good football players but this could take a long time.

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