Pats will play Bucs in London in 2009 [mergedx2]

[PatOnTheArse]

How many European football fans do you know?
I watch every Patriot game including pre-season, and sometimes that means you only have 2 hours of sleep before going to work on monday. I'm not complaning cause its all worth it. I'm just saying that there are a lot of fans like me in Denmark and i can promise you that we love the opportunity to come to one football game a year without having to come all the way to the states.
This is going to be my second Patriot game live and i cant wait! :singing:
Go Pats!

It must be annoying for US fans.

I live five minutes from the Emirates Stadium and it would piss me off if Arsenal lost a home game. Not that the Pats are losing a home game.

I would hate it if any two premiership teams went to the states to promote the game. I prefer matches being played in their rightful venues. These International Series matches have an exibition feel to them and thats a shame for me.

What are the chances of seeing this game? I got offered tickets for SD @ NO earlier this year - does that reduce my chance? What is the black market price?

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

As long as we're not the designated home team I'm cool with it. Plus it will likely be on tv for most of us not in the NE area right? I remember they showed the Saints-Chargers game here.

 

[Pass_The_Rum]

The Patriots fans may not be too upset by it, but man, I'm annoyed here in Tampa. This would have been the most interesting home game next year... now that honor goes to... Dallas, I suppose.

I suppose I should look on the bright side: the Glazers still aren't Hugh Culverhouse.

 

[NEPatriot]

I hope that we have 1 bye week to prepare for this game before flying to England.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Heck - given the traffic at Gillette and the price of parking, it might be cheaper and easier for me to catch a flight over the big pond to catch the game.

 

[Mike the Brit]

I really, really HATE this nonsense. Send an exhibition game over there if you must, but why on earth WASTE a regular season game as an exhibition event in a country where they 90 percent of those attending don't even understand the rules? I'm just glad it's not a Patriots home game, or else I'd be on the phone to Foxboro voicing my displeasure. Someone needs to put a leash on Goodell.

Oh, Tune! That's really not true.

When TV coverage started in the 80s it was really excellent at introducing the game -- the presenters took a lot of time and trouble to explain and analyse what was going on. And since then, when the main NFL (stupidly) was taken on to satellite, there's still been excellent coverage on Channel 5 with a first-rate analyst (Mike Carlson). Because they don't load up on advertising the way the U.S. networks do or break every ten seconds for "an up-date from JB in New York" and show us some guy running the ball in from three yards or plug the latest episode of some dumb reality show, there tended to be a lot of time in live games for replays and analysis. In fact, I found the TV coverage in the U.K better than in the U.S. (although obviously there was much less of it). Anyway, there's a surprising number of fairly well-informed football fans there -- even though we're getting a bit long in the tooth.

I don't disagree in the slightest that the game belongs in the U.S., by the way. I'm just happy for U.K. Patriots fans who won't be able to get to games here (he says, gloating over his tickets for the Arizona game).

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

This really sucks, but at least the Pats aren't giving up a home game.

 

[alamo]

I see this as nothing more than a cynical marketing maneuver by the NFL, and it robs fans here of one-eighth of their home season.

Not true. The reality is that probably far less than 1% of a team's fans actually attend the games in person, so 99%+ of the fans are not robbed of a thing, and in fact enjoy the novelty of a foreign game.

 

[abejarano12]

Re: NFL International Series 2009

I like that the team is going to play in England I think that team should wear the old uniforms and come to yankee doodle just to mess with the brits,but that's just me

 

[Tunescribe]

Not true. The reality is that probably far less than 1% of a team's fans actually attend the games in person, so 99%+ of the fans are not robbed of a thing, and in fact enjoy the novelty of a foreign game.

Alamo, thanks for your efforts on the guess-the-score contest. Great work. Now, to address your post: It absolutely IS true. I'm speaking on behalf of season ticket holders as a season ticket holder myself. I would be positively STEAMED having a home game taken away for this nonsensical marketing scheme. I can assure you there are quite a few thousand Bucs fans feeling the same way about now. A seven-game home season spread out over four months is not much to look forward to.

 

[TrueBeliever]

My $.02:

1) I have been opposed to these games from the start, but I do take some comfort that the Bucs will be the home team so the Gillette faithful aren't the ones to lose a game since the league continues to insist on this foolishness.

2) I guess it's better than a regular season game in China (though the one they had planned for us a few years back was in the preseason.)

3) At least this way the Pats' bye will come closer to the midway point of the season, instead of in the third week like the league has usually done to us the last few years. (Okay, that's an exaggeration, but you get my point.)

4) Back when there was still an NFL Europe, for a while there was a team called the London Monarchs, who later became the England Monarchs. I always thought it would have been a neat idea to have an exhibition game between the England Monarchs and the New England Patriots and call it the "Revolutionary Bowl" or something like that. The problem, of course, would be that even the backups on a regular NFL squad would probably have beaten the snot out of the average NFLE team.

 

[BritPat]

I really, really HATE this nonsense. Send an exhibition game over there if you must, but why on earth WASTE a regular season game as an exhibition event in a country where they 90 percent of those attending don't even understand the rules? I'm just glad it's not a Patriots home game, or else I'd be on the phone to Foxboro voicing my displeasure. Someone needs to put a leash on Goodell.

Don't be so f*cking condescending.

You'd be surprised at how big the game is over here, if you broadened your horizons a bit, you'd understand that the fans in the UK are as mad about the game as Yanks.

I doubt you've ever left your home shores with a viewpoint like that though

 

[BritPat]

OK, please shed some light on it for me. With random match-ups every year, how can that game mean anything to you beyond mild curiosity? Except for the few who peruse this board from your fine island, I've never met a Brit who understood American football or cared to.

You've not tried hard enough.

Check out http://www.nfluk.com, it's the official NFL website for UK fans. Both of the previous games have sold out in a few hours, this will probably break the record of the Chargers/Saints game. UK fans are desperate to see the games.

Their passion is soccer. I see this as nothing more than a cynical marketing maneuver by the NFL, and it robs fans here of one-eighth of their home season. Until Star Trek-style teleporters are invented, international NFL play beyond North America won't make sense. NFL Europe failed. What can this possibly lead to? Again, the only thing making sense would be if you had a professional league of your own.

I don't disagree about the marketing ploy bit, but don't imply that it won't benefit the league because it's being played out in front of people who don't understand the game. There were 1 million ticket applications for both previous games, and the sport is growing all the time over here thanks to the coverage on Sky and Channel Five.

BY the way, if NFL Europe really failed, how come there are so many NFL Europe guys playing in the league? One of them's making a run for MVP this year too.....

 

[italian pat patriot]

Re: NFL International Series 2009

Denmark too!!

from Italia too !

 

[ScottishPatriots]

I hope that we have 1 bye week to prepare for this game before flying to England.

The bye week will be AFTER the game, that is absolutely certain.

 

[PJM]

If you sincerely believe that most of the 80,000 will go in knowing the difference between pass interference and illegal contact, I will stand corrected.

I'm not sure every American on this board knows that.

There are tens of thousands of people like the international posters on the board who are NFL fanatics. We stayed up til 4am to watch games and listened to crackly Armed Forces Radio coverage before there was an internet. There are a lot more of us than you think - that's why the major cable/satellite sports channel here devotes about 24 hours a week to the NFL (four live games, NFL total Access and various NFL films items). Audience figures are about 120,000 for the games

Then there will be a lot of corporate suits who got a ticket by meeting a sales target or something and will wander off at half time. They suck but don't pretend they aren't at every sports event.

If I was living in the US I would oppose the games abroad too. I really don't believe American Football will every be a big sport here (it is a thriving minority sport but that's it). I think Gooddell is deluded (as usual). That's not our fault and the fans at the game will be fine. The coverage in the 'mainstream media' here is also becoming half competent. These games have definitely helped legitimise the game here and shut up the haters.

 

[Pats726]

Re: NFL International Series 2009

The NFL is going to announce at 1pm ET the identity of the teams coming to London for next year's game.

Educated best guess.... you're not going to like it...

Pats-Bucs

Good guess how did u know???

 

[Leave No Doubt]

This is awesome news for our fans overseas who get up at ungodly hours to see the Pats play and who contribute so much to this board:rocker: I know you guys will have a fabulous time and be loud and proud!

From a local vantage point I'm at least glad it's an away game and it'll also be nice to have a better situated bye week than the one we had this season.

All that said a trip like that is so disruptive and time-consuming from the team's perspective, even more so than a wc trip just by virtue of the fact it's in a different country. But anyway,it is what it is but that doesn't prevent BB and the Pats from "reacting" to the news LOL

London calling - Reiss' Pieces - Boston.com

As to GODell, one of the comments was sorta interesting;the person remarks on how Goodell fines the crap out of us for Spygate then goes on to choose us to represent the NFL lol. I thought that one was pretty good

 

[TrueBeliever]

You'd be surprised at how big the game is over here, if you broadened your horizons a bit, you'd understand that the fans in the UK are as mad about the game as Yanks.

But if the NFL is so popular in the UK, why weren't the Monarchs able to last?

Then again, if your country is as football-crazed as ours, maybe you didn't like the NFLE for the same reason we didn't - it was a minor league farm system with third-rate players?

I'm not arguing with you, just curious. I know there are a lot of NFL fans in Britain, but I still don't like the idea of playing games that count over there.

 

[Scouse Patriot]

Monarchs were a different period to now. Football boomed here in the 80's, reccessed a little in the 90's I believe when they went under and Berlin took over, and is now probrably at it's highest popularity. The BAFL thrives here, multiple divisions and healthy competition. You wont find many superstars but you'll find solid competition and thats what it's all about.

I totaly understand peoples view point about taking regular season games out the country, I mean if the Premier League pressed on with plans to take the likes of Liverpool games to foriegn shores I'd be p!ssed off myself, especially if it was a designated home game but I wouldn't let my anger cloud my judgement towards fans of that country. To belittle the people and say they don't know the rules or it's just a bit of fun to us is insulting our intelligence to say the least. Even if you didn't know every little detail aren't you allowed to learn? Anyways, some of the actual players don't know all the rules

If you think it's not that popular here then maybe you should come over and sample the atmosphere because you really don't have a clue. You'd be more than welcome. People who've come over have had their eyes opened to the passion of the fan base here. There was a poll last month on who had played the game and the funny thing was more a few Brits had played at a higher level than the locals.

Lets not fall out here because this is an NFL decision to take games over to London. The people here understand the frustration that will cause but what do you want us to do? If your a fan your going to be happy and go to the game aren't you? I hope you understand just how delighted I am personally to be given a chance to see the Patriots and Belichick and moaning about being over here up close.

This is a biblical event for UK Patriot fans, I just hope you know. NE is statistically the best supported team in the UK according to the NFLUK director so maybe it'll be more of a home game than a distant away trip.