NFL in Denmark : Part Deux – From the turn of the century to infinity ……and beyond
Last we heard from our intrepid Pats fan abroad– he was stuck in a technological time warp (1990’s) with pre/ early internet access in Copenhagen. ‘Dancing’ arrows showed game plays drawn over a 2D football field. To get the real time sounds of the game , cheers of the fans, etc– he was forced to stomach listening to Gil and Geno while being 5 seconds delay between screen arrow hightlights and the internet streamed radio broadcast. It was a labor of love having to imagine the arrow being a receiver and hearing Gil refer to the receiver as ‘David’ Branch. Or when Gil refered to the obviously disgruntled coach on the sideslines as ‘Havlicek’.
Still it was far better than just waiting to the next morning to buy a paper and see a little box score. Stats alone can be very misleading when taken out of the context of the situation at hand. (ie. An incompletion due to throwing the ball out of bounds can be vastly better than suffering a sack or worse yet, an interception).
But our boyhood Bostonian still longed for the days of real time broadcasts and Madden scribbling lines on the TV screen. Denmark started showing live in the late ‘90s the Super Bowl on a major network channel. It got some interest and seemed to grow very modestly each year. The proverbial ‘Big Bang’ occurred in 1999 when Denmarks’ local boy wonder Morten Andersen’s field goal in overtime allowed Atlanta Falcons to upset Minnesota and advance to their first ever Super Bowl. The (cheese) Danish media was quick to pounce on the story. As nothing else much of interest occurs here unless you consider ‘real news’ the newest Lego toy debut. The game drew good ratings locally and even though Atlanta lost rather resondingly – Morten Andersen did his part by being 2/2 FG’s. In the subsequent years – the local interest remained with people following Mortens’ career and wondering A) will Atlanta go back to the SB – (no). B) Can Morten overtake Gary Andersen as the all-time leading scorer in NFL history – (YES).
So just as we all grew up with a childhood sports hero (Bird, Yaz, Fisk, Orr, Borque, Pierce, etc) , the (great) Danes could learn the game of NFL while following Morten Andersens quest to be the all time leading scorer. Luckily, the following season (2000) a large TV channel founded a sister startup channel aimed at 15-30 year old men – called ‘TV2 Zulu’. It started broadcasting live the late game 4:00 pm. Which Danish time is Sunday night between 10:00 pm – 01:00 am. The 2 local announcers enthusiasm made up for their lack of expertise. During the breaks, instead of US commercials – they had the replays, game highlights, other scores and good banter between the 2 hosts. Also time to explain the game to newbees. The audience grew each year and then I believe about 2005 or 2006, they started showing live both the 1:00 pm and 04:15 pm games. While there are no real ‘sports bars’ with 10-20 different sports games going on, some of the British pubs started showing the Nfl telecast from the British Sky sports channel as there is no live soccer nor rugby occuring during that time period (Sunday night Europe time).
I think it also helped the growth of NFL in Denmark that during the last 10 years, A) the Super Bowls have been pretty exciting - unlike many in the ’80 / ’90 which were blowouts. B) Rugby & Aussie rules football is not at all popular here so not competing against that fan base like it does in the UK. C) Favorable time period Sunday nights. D) a few good consistent winning teams to ‘hitch your wagon to’ (Colts, Pats, Eagles, etc) and yet, also enough cinderella teams each year reaching the playoffs (roughly 50% turnover each year). So thankfully not like baseball which has turned into a form of oligopoly (look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls!).
While not all areas in little Denmark (5.5 million evolved vikings) received that minor network on their cable package, most did or could pay alittle extra to get it. As football is such a good sport to watch together, I am sure many young fans would watch it together increasing the ‘game viewing excitement’. Sometime around 2007/ 2008, a major TV channel (available to most all on a basic cable package) picked up the later game thereby A) attesting to the popularity , B) allowing the growth to others not exposed to it before –especially those ‘just curious’ as much easier to get hooked on something when it is being broadcast on the ‘free’ channel. Also they started broadcasting, the MNF games and have been broadcasting ALL playoff games for at least 6-7 years now.
There has been for many years some flag football leagues. And to my surprise the the real ‘helmets and pads’ version also with playoffs and championship game. I actually saw some ‘lowlights’ of the last championship game and I can say though that it resembles the talent level of a division III college. But it is a great way to get more involved – both players and fans.
I was even surprised to come out of my daughters baskeball practice recently and see a team playing on the field behind the gym. They were in full pads, had the zebras calling out penalties in English and most surprising of all – were aged 13-16! So the danish youth are especially embracing the sport.
Finally, let me just say that as a Pats fan, with the ‘Gamepass’ offer (internet streaming TV) from NFL from about 2006 onwards, I can follow every Pats TV telecast. So I am a very happy camper now – and have banished those ‘dancing arrows’ to my nightmares. Thanks for those who can stomach this long diatribe. The Readers Digest / A.D.D. version: NFL is alive and well in Denmark.
Cheers and beers, ‘Sunny’
Denmark (Due east of Scotland, north of Timbuktu)
P.S. Part ‘Trois’ : To infinity and beyond – coming soon to theater near you.
