Kraft stumping for London team (say it ain't so, Bob)

moosekill said:

DaBruinz, come on that was a just plain stupid comment.

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Coming from the guy who can't be bothered to quote things or provide actual links, that's pretty funny..

Tunescribe said:

What, among 6-year-olds? I see no competition between kickball and football on this side of the ocean.

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Just curious tunes, are you a fan of dunkball or stickball, both of those "sports" ar every popular in the US, as is drive car in circles.

I have to say, this is definitely one of the most popular touchball sites on the internet. And touchball is the most popular game in the US, even more popular than car dirve, dunkball, lardassball, and stickball.

DaBruinz said:

Viewing yes. Putting teams here, No. BIG DIFFERENCE.

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Well yes and no. There is already a substantial soccer base here in the US, between the people who played and the MLS, along with the US national team. We already have in essense a minor leage soccer league here. So while putting a team or two here would probably help, we aren't starting from scratch. In Europe, no one really plays the game, so I would argue, you need to get a team on the ground to really jump start the NFL over there. Truthfully, much like happened in the US in the 80's when they brought Pele over and had the original professional league here. Even though it failed, it introduced a ton of people to the game and helped soccer get to where it is now.

Add to that Obama's policy of letting anyone from Latin America into the US, heck we will be a soccer Mecca before you know it!!

DaBruinz said:

Coming from the guy who can't be bothered to quote things or provide actual links, that's pretty funny..

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Yep don't really get that but that is fine.

WIKI and Business Insider, which quoted an ESPN article. Sorry I will post it in a couple more places if you like to make sure you see it.

moosekill said:

Add to that Obama's policy of letting anyone from Latin America into the US, heck we will be a soccer Mecca before you know it!!

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Ahhhh yes, fantasy politics, the perfect forum for it.................

Ivan said:

Ahhhh yes, fantasy politics, the perfect forum for it.................

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Well whether or not it is Obama's fault, there are huge numbers of people from Latin America coming to the US, and guess what sport they like to watch.

moosekill said:

Well whether or not it is Obama's fault, there are huge numbers of people from Latin America coming to the US, and guess what sport they like to watch.

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Moosekill, i think injecting politics into these discussions is always a terrible idea.

Ivan said:

Just curious tunes, are you a fan of dunkball or stickball, both of those "sports" ar every popular in the US, as is drive car in circles.

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No, just football, although I have a mild interest in hockey (ice boxing).

You gotta admit, kickball is a more accurate name than soccer.

"By simple mathematics, the Brazil-Germany match averaged more than 12 million viewers, on a Tuesday afternoon in the summer, who watched a 7-1 World Cup blowout. And those ratings actually increasednear the end of the match, buoying to nearly 15 million viewers, which still does not include the record-breaking streaming numbers.

By comparison, ESPN's 17 Monday Night Football games last seasonaveraged 13.7 million viewers, per Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated."

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...p-now-is-the-time-to-redefine-american-soccer

Tunescribe said:

No, just football, although I have a mild interest in hockey (ice boxing).

You gotta admit, kickball is a more accurate name than soccer.

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I actually think it's as accurate as touchball, car drive, lardassball, dunkball and stickball.

Tunescribe said:

You gotta admit, kickball is a more accurate name than soccer.

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Tunescribe, i have always considerd you one of the better poster's on this site, in this instance however I feel like you have some unknown need to try and insult soccer fans by consistently deriding the sport and that's a shame because it is really lame imo.

SB39 said:

I think the NFL feels there are already enough teams packed into that part of continent. I don't see any way they throw another team in there. IMHO, the only chance Toronto gets a team is if Buffalo relocates.

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Then they are making a big mistake. NFL is huge in Canada. Toronto could absolutely support a team. Vancouver could as well. Hell I wonder if they could just let the Argonauts into the NFL.

mgteich said:

ALL businesses must grow or die.

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That is simply not true.

mgteich said:

And what percentage of an NFL team do you own?

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According to this idiotic logic, none of us can or should ever give an opinion on anything since none of us are owners, coaches, players, etc.

mgteich said:

I find it interesting that we have so much financial expertise on this board. So many seem to know that this will be a financial disaster and that Kraft must be getting senile to support such an idea. Personally, I believe that Kraft and his advisors know a bit more about the economics of the NFL than we do. And yes, there may be an initial cost, hopefully offset by future gains.

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Just out of curiosity, what part of "it may succeed financially but not competitively" do you not understand?

mgteich said:

ALL businesses must grow or die. That is the nature of business.

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That is a phenomenally ignorant statement.

To quote you, what percentage of an NFL team do you own that makes you think you know so much about how to keep the league alive?

moosekill said:

It is all about the TV revenue and growning that. A team in LA or a team in Alabama, isn't going to expand that at all. The NFL has to find a new market and they are looking at Europe. England is the only place that makes sense. Economics 101 is grow or die for any business, if the NFL doesn't grow it will stagnate and die.

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Speaking as someone who took Economics 101, no one would ever make a statement so black and white such as "you have to always be growing or you will die." There is always middle ground.

moosekill said:

Anyone that thinks the NFL isn't worried about soccer is crazy. Have you seen how many kids are playing soccer, it is huge! At the same time, the media is driving home the dangers for your kids playing football. Soon there will be more kids playing soccer than football,if there aren't already, and when those kids grow up, what are they going to be watching? NFL or FIFA? That is why the NFL has to grow, a smaller percentage of a much larger pie is better that a smaller percentage of a smaller pie.

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The dangers of playing football are legit concerns. Putting a team in London does nothing to solve or address those concerns.

moosekill said:

Luker is the scientist behind a few ESPN studies — one of which concluded that soccer is America's second-most popular sport among 12-24 year olds, and another that found Lionel Messi was the 16th most popular athlete in the US

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/soccer-popularity-2012-9#ixzz37qZcFvRR

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The once-every-4-years World Cup got great ratings here in the U.S. As far as TV ratings for regular soccer leagues are concerned, soccer lags waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind in all demographics.

I personally like the idea of an NFL team in England (though seriously Canada is the only country that immediate sense).

Imagine the Patriots vs the Lobsterbacks. Immediate fun rivals.

I suggest closing one if the two teams in NY to make this happen.

Joker said:

what a complete Pollyanna viewpoint...totally unreal.

Put a team in Mexico City????????? yeah, go out for a taco and your QB gets kidnapped and held for ransom...over and over and over. Terrific. Growth!!!!!

London is much closer to the Al Qaeda presence in Europe and sports a burgeoning middle eastern population. What an inviting target for a terrorist strike of massive proportions. An American NFL game targeted for the annihilation of an entire team and thousands of innocent patrons. "Forward thinking!!! Growth!!!".

You want growth because you fear a total collapse of the sport if they don't expand? OK...L.A. Alabama ...Nevada...there's plenty of room to expand RIGHT HERE.

Mexico City...still can't believe THAT one.

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J, I'm with you most of the time, but London is maybe the most secure capital city in the world after DC. If anyone wanted to make a statement with a terrorist attack, they'd have tried with the Olympics, or one of the two recent Champions League finals. Or at one of the many Premier League games.

Having that as a reason for not putting a Franchise there is daft mate. Truly.