NFL prostitution, London style

[Tunescribe]

So, the league now is selling "season tickets" to next year's three-game London series. PLUS, the Oct. 26 Falcons-Lions game is scheduled to kick off at 1:30 p.m. London time -- 9:30 a.m. EDT and 6:30 a.m. PDT. That will make for an NFL first of four consecutive games being televised. Also, Herr Goodell apparently is angling to expand the number of London games to eight.

:bricks:


Tickets | NFL UK

2014 INTERNATIONAL SERIES SEASON TICKETS ON SALE


Fans will be able to purchase Club and Premium Club 2014 season tickets from 10 a.m. on Thursday, December 5 from Ticketmaster.co.uk - NFL 2014.

Here are the games you can look forward to in 2014:

The OAKLAND RAIDERS will host the MIAMI DOLPHINS in Week 4 on Sunday, September 28.

The ATLANTA FALCONS will host the DETROIT LIONS in Week 8 on Sunday, October 26.

The JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS will host the DALLAS COWBOYS in Week 10 on Sunday, November 9.

Game times will be announced at a later date.

Season tickets across all price categories will go on sale from 10 a.m. on Tuesday, December 10.

 

[BradyFTW!]

If I was a Falcons fan I'd be pretty pissed. As if losing a home game isn't bad enough, now you have to mess with your whole routine (and skip church, if that's your kind of thing) to watch.

 

[signbabybrady]

Brilliant they should do 4 games in a day every week!

 

[Ring 6]

I'm not sure why your tone implied there was something wrong with this. Can you clarify?

 

[CelticPatriot]

Nobody likes my thread.

But yeah, I think it's a good move (purely for selfish reasons being a UK fan)

1) It's baltic in London in late October

2) Early kick off time = more time to do stuff post game (ie, the game doesn't finish at 8:30pm and you get back into central London before 11pm)

3) More football. 10:30am, 1pm, 4:25pm, 8:30pm - not too bad

I can see arguments against it as it's a bit ****ty asking fans in America to get up at 10am or earlier on a Sunday for a game.

Think about it from the NFL's point of view though, say you do move a London franchise over permanently, or have 8 games in London per year. You can have them all kick off at 10/9:30 on a Sunday, you can sell those games as a package and make a fortune. There is a big gap in the market, lots of people are up at that time anyway and there would be no competitor. Money talks and this would make money. Put it this way, would you rather the Pats played on TNF, or on a Sunday at 10:30am? Sunday wins, everytime. Even if it is in London with a bye week after.

 

[JMC00]

Actually selling a 3-pack of tickets and putting the game at 1:30 local time is a pretty good business move.


Also i'm all for having a game the caliber of Falcons/Lions on at 9:30AM, it beats watching nothing or NFLN Gameday until Noon.

 

[Joker]

Man , all those millions of British Jaguar fans, and Miami vacation fans and Oakland Pirate fans(Captain Kidd relatives are rife in the commonwealth) are gonna be happy as bangers and mash at an all-u-can-eat pub in Soho.

 

[SalemPats]

If I was a Falcons fan I'd be pretty pissed. As if losing a home game isn't bad enough, now you have to mess with your whole routine (and skip church, if that's your kind of thing) to watch.

-skip church? If they're going to church they are crazy

 

[GaryfromTO]

just get the hell out of the UK altogether Goodell.

It's called AMERICAN football for a reason.

on a happier note, the new director of football operations in Buffalo is looking for ways to scrap the Bills in Toronto series. (I've never attended a Bills game in Toronto, and never will, unless the Patriots play)

 

[SalemPats]

just get the hell out of the UK altogether Goodell.

It's called AMERICAN football for a reason.

on a happier note, the new director of football operations in Buffalo is looking for ways to scrap the Bills in Toronto series. (I've never attended a Bills game in Toronto, and never will, unless the Patriots play)

I think a team in London could work and would be kind of cool. I don't like having a slew of games in London, 1 is fine, but after that I don't like it.

They should do what is expected and just move the Jags to London already.

 

[Patjew]

I don't see any problem with this.

 

[Tunescribe]

I'm not sure why your tone implied there was something wrong with this. Can you clarify?

I'm sure a good argument can be made in favor on all counts. I just don't like the whole "overseas expansion" concept of taking home games away from domestic season ticket holders, making teams play at odd hours (9:30 a.m.), etc., etc.

 

[CelticPatriot]

I'm sure a good argument can be made in favor on all counts. I just don't like the whole "overseas expansion" concept of taking home games away from domestic season ticket holders, making teams play at odd hours (9:30 a.m.), etc., etc.

10:30am Eastern actually

 

[Tunescribe]

10:30am Eastern actually

I'm pretty certain 1:30 p.m. London time = 9:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Otherwise it would be 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard time.

 

[CelticPatriot]

I'm pretty certain 1:30 p.m. London time = 9:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Otherwise it would be 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard time.

Yeah but our clocks change a week before yours do, so for that week 1:30pm GMT or whatever it's called is 4 hours ahead of Eastern. Any other week you would be right.

 

[Mike the Brit]

I'm pretty certain 1:30 p.m. London time = 9:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Otherwise it would be 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard time.

The normal time difference is definitely 5 hours (though there is often a week or so when it is out of sync because one has switched from summer time to winter time and the other hasn't).

As for "prostitution" -- to me, that means selling something that shouldn't be bought or sold. The NFL is and has always been a business. Trying to start a franchise in London is an incredibly stupid business move, but having a few NFL games in Europe to try to stir up interest may be a smart one.

 

[Tunescribe]

The normal time difference is definitely 5 hours (though there is often a week or so when it is out of sync because one has switched from summer time to winter time and the other hasn't).

As for "prostitution" -- to me, that means selling something that shouldn't be bought or sold. The NFL is and has always been a business. Trying to start a franchise in London is an incredibly stupid business move, but having a few NFL games in Europe to try to stir up interest may be a smart one.

No real argument here. But doesn't the idea of hawking a "season ticket" package of three games fielding six different teams smack at least slightly of a cynical money-grab? Remember, they're taking away home games from three NFL cities to make this happen. This leaves three fan bases with two preseason games and just seven regular-season games because the league wants to push its popularity in a foreign country. If Kraft ever does this with a Pats game, I'll be bullshytt. But you know it's coming.

 

[Patjew]

I took the kids to London last week and the jet lag lasted one day there and we had none on our return. Granted we're very used to traveling, but this is hardly different then going BOB to SAN.

 

[Jackson 2]

Capitalism. Whatever a free market will bear. I look at it as no one's being forced to buy the package.

 

[Mike the Brit]

No real argument here. But doesn't the idea of hawking a "season ticket" package of three games fielding six different teams smack at least slightly of a cynical money-grab? Remember, they're taking away home games from three NFL cities to make this happen. This leaves three fan bases with two preseason games and just seven regular-season games because the league wants to push its popularity in a foreign country. If Kraft ever does this with a Pats game, I'll be bullshytt. But you know it's coming.

Yes, I wouldn't be happy, but seeing tiers of empty seats for some games (Pats-Houston?) makes me think that selling out in London may be better than not selling out elsewhere.

I do think that a lot of the success of the London games is due to their novelty value and that it could fall away very quickly.

As for the league wanting "to push its popularity in a foreign country", that's no different from just "wanting to push its popularity", surely. Why the league should want to do it is obvious (I think) -- it wants international sponsors and merchandise sales (look at British soccer clubs and their following in Asia). But there are lots of ways to achieve that that don't alienate U.S. fans.