Kraft: NFL should expand to Europe

[SHOWTIME15]

Kraft Can Envision a Team in Europe - The Fifth Down Blog - NYTimes.com

I say no way should this happen.

 

[wilfork is beastin']

better not move the pats there

 

[mosslost]

better not move the pats there

The England Patriots?

I think it is too much traveling to ask a team to commit to half the season. Think about it. Every away game would be at 4400 miles away to 7000 or so... That TAXING... it really is.

 

[Higgins86]

It wouldn't work, there isn't enough support to warrant having a team based there. The novelty would wear off and the attendance would drop!

 

[ctpatsfan77]

It wouldn't work, there isn't enough support to warrant having a team based there. The novelty would wear off and the attendance would drop!

Jacksonville says hi.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

any way we can drop the jets and send them to a league in europe? after all, their quality of play is less than NFL standards.

 

[RDS11]

I think he's saying that just to keep up the interest for this game in England. Without hope of landing a franchise, assistance to this game might drop a lot.

Traveling cost for 1 team back and forth from North America (on a weekly basis) does not make any sense. In order to have a franchise in Europe, you would need a division of a few teams over there. I think it would make more sense for the NHL to establish an European division than for the NFL. There's already a few pro hockey leagues in Europe, and if the NHL wants to keep the best players in their league, they will have to compete with the KHL (Russian hockey league) on their ground.

 

[Gwedd]

I'd rather keep all of football in the US and Canada, and send all the soccer players back to Europe.

 

[mosslost]

I'd rather keep all of football in the US and Canada, and send all the soccer players back to Europe.

Nothing wrong with a good game of runnin around kicking a ball back and forth, ya bloody wanker!


:americaflag:

 

[BelichickFan]

It works fine for this game as you can give both teams byes after so there's no competitive disadvantage. That wouldn't be the case with real teams, imagine a European team having to travel over here 6 times or so and U.S. West Coast teams having an 8 hour time change instead of the 5 from the East.

Bob, I know you guys want to enlarge your market but this is definitely not a good idea.

 

[Gwedd]

It works fine for this game as you can give both teams byes after so there's no competitive disadvantage. That wouldn't be the case with real teams, imagine a European team having to travel over here 6 times or so and U.S. West Coast teams having an 8 hour time change instead of the 5 from the East.

Bob, I know you guys want to enlarge your market but this is definitely not a good idea.

The only way this works is of Europe has it's own league, and the overall winner of their season plays the winner of our superbowl for a true "world champion" trophy.

 

[shmessy]

I also think this is a disastrous idea - - as bad as the 18 game season idea.

Please, Bob, you have the best setup in sports. Don't blow it.

(Now if you suggest there be an NFL Europe that develops alongside and separate - - not as a farm league - - from the NFL and their champion plays the Super Bowl Champion instead of the crappy Pro-Bowl, then you have my ear.)

 

[BelichickFan]

The only way this works is of Europe has it's own league, and the overall winner of their season plays the winner of our superbowl for a true "world champion" trophy.

Right, and there isn't enough talent to have "another" league over there. So you'd either have something like 30 here and 30 there and a terribly watered down product or mild expansion from 32 teams to, say, 40 and have 20 here and 20 there but then you'd have a ton of cities here without teams; while a few probably don't deserve to keep their team, most do.

So this wouldn't work either although it is certainly more workable.

 

[Lampshade]

I'm not entirely sure why they keep pushing this idea. Would any of the UK Pats fans on here drop their allegiance to the Pats and start supporting them? I've yet to meet a NFL fan over here that would. Would the casual supporters out there be a big enough fanbase to fill a stadium 16+ games a year, year in and year out?

 

[Lampshade]

I also think this is a disastrous idea - - as bad as the 18 game season idea.

Please, Bob, you have the best setup in sports. Don't blow it.

(Now if you suggest there be an NFL Europe that develops alongside and separate - - not as a farm league - - from the NFL and their champion plays the Super Bowl Champion instead of the crappy Pro-Bowl, then you have my ear.)

The problem with the previous NFL Europe incarnation was that teams had almost entirely new rosters every year. Fans had nothing to get hold of. It was great as a development league (the NFLE alumni list is loooooooong), but as a spectacle it was pretty poor more often than not.

 

[Snarf]

A ridiculous idea. Even PLAYING in other countries is a ridiculous idea.

Why must we try to push EVERYTHING American on other countries?

This is our damn game. Leave it here, and don't try to push it down some Euro-wanker's throats. They've got their girly-man soccer to watch and shout GOOOOAALLLLL at (once every 2 hours).

 

[Big-T]

I read somewhere on the NFLUK site a while back the Jacksonville would consider relocating to London because they can't sell out any home games.

 

[wilfork is beastin']

there was a rumor about a month ago that the rams would be purchased and moved to Europe. no fanbase should have their team taken away from them. if the NFL wants to start an expansion team or restart NFL Europe that's fine, but keep the current franchises right here

 

[Horace's Ivories]

The England Patriots?

I think it is too much traveling to ask a team to commit to half the season. Think about it. Every away game would be at 4400 miles away to 7000 or so... That TAXING... it really is.

The England Coats

 

[JD10367]

#1: it's way too far to travel for a game every week.

#2: there's no fan base or fan interest to support a full-fledged team(s) yet.

#3: they should probably try expanding over here first (Mexico City, Toronto, Vancouver).

The only way around the travelling would be if the European teams played the American teams in sequence, sort of like interleague baseball. In other words, if, say, the Jets were going to Europe, they would play the London team, then the Paris team, then the Madrid team. Likewise, when the London team came to the U.S., they would stay here for three weeks or something. It would still be a logistical nightmare, though.

Leave the Europeans alone. They like their soccer, we don't. We like our football, they don't. We know the NFL sees dollar signs in their eyes when they look at the untapped revenue stream in Europe, but it just ain't gonna happen.