idle thoughts.....I mean....really....idle thoughts

[Joker]

nah...I'm a big Russian model fan..surely you've heard of Carmen Ivanalaya?..

 

[shmessy]

They would have to have the London team play 4 home, 4 away, 4 home and 4 away to make it work for them. They would then have to set up a home base in the states.

The London Jaguars, who will practice/downtime for 8 weeks of the season in Jacksonville.

This is probably what their new owner is aiming for anyway.

 

[Gumby]

It would take 10-20 years but, ideally, the way to set up Football in Europe is to get them to their own 32-team league. Mirror the NFL for organization of the conferences, divisions, etc. Heck, make them by country if you need to to add to the rivalries.

Once that's in place, THEN you can have the 2 Superbowl winners face each other for a real world championship game. Talk about hype.......

But....... yeah. Likely not gonna happen but you never know.

wow, what a great idea. No one has ever thought of creating an NFL league in Europe before and using that league as a catapult to build world-wide interest in the game, oh wait.....

nevermind.

(sorry for the sarcasm - couldn't resist. lest we forget, nfl-e started with what 8 or 10 teams and went downhill to 6 and then collapsed.)

The base problem is that football is NOT a youth sport in Europe. And it likely NEVER will be. I dont think you can build a league where the sport isnt played growing up. You can put it on TV - but so long as you are focused on the US market first; it will always be played in the middle of the night in Europe. THE ONLY chance you have is to put one team over there until it builds some stronger following for the sport. Then who knows.

 

[Joker]

any of you long time NFL fans really looking forward to Roger Goodell spearheading a blitzkrieg into the European "market"?

what's next after that?...an African expedition?...Christian Okoye as president of the Nigerian Nightmares of the Ivory Coast conference?

if it's only all about money then this game has STB already...I wouldn't mind one bit if the NFL remained a jingoistic enterprise.

 

[RobertWeathers]

any of you long time NFL fans really looking forward to Roger Goodell spearheading a blitzkrieg into the European "market"?

what's next after that?...an African expedition?...Christian Okoye as president of the Nigerian Nightmares of the Ivory Coast conference?

if it's only all about money then this game has STB already...I wouldn't mind one bit if the NFL remained a jingoistic enterprise.

No. I do not think the NFL will be successful in Europe. It's still a novelty which is why the attendance is so high.

The other football is what is in their blood and their true passion.

 

[Captain Cliche]

Maybe we're used to it, but the Brits complain about the massive amounts of TV commercials. After I read that I startred noticing too.

My wife (Chinese) complains it stops too much...unlike soccer.

She also sees American sports (football, hockey) as being very violent....as opposed to badminton, ping pong, soccer and basketball.

 

[DocHoliday]

Maybe we're used to it, but the Brits complain about the massive amounts of TV commercials. After I read that I startred noticing too.

My wife (Chinese) complains it stops too much...unlike soccer.

She also sees American sports (football, hockey) as being very violent....as opposed to badminton, ping pong, soccer and basketball.

Anyone have a link for british commercials?

 

[Ring 6]

I agree with almost all your musings. I have two sets of comments.

WOODHEAD
We really should extend him as soon as possible. And I do NOT want us to trade one of our running backs. We FINALLY have a solid running game, with a KR coming back next year who might contribute.

MCCOURTY
There are two keys.

First, Gregory is the key. If he is healthy, I think that the safety position is in good hand with Wilson and Gregory. Chung's health would also help in certain situations.

Second, McCourty is a solid corner. Having McCourty, Talib and Dennard as our 3 primary corners would be fine. This gives us Cole as a sub for any position and as our dime back.

BOTTOM LINE
Given a bit of health, Belichick will have revamped the 2011 secondary. Of the starting (including nickel) five, McCourty is our only carryover. Even the dime is new. Gone are Moore and Dowling. Demoted are Arrington and Chung. This is truly an amazing transformation. And the current secondary is much better than 2011, even before Talib takes the field. Extend Talib and Cole and we will be in fine shape for 2013. We even have Ebner, our developmental back for 2013 and beyond. I am NOT saying that we shouldn't be looking to upgrade in 2013. We should always do that. After all, we would still have Chung and Arrington to replace.

Where are you getting this from? Both have played virtually every snap when healthy. Last I checked message board postings dont determine playing time.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Comments on the comments:

1. My biggest problem with any expansion into Europe would be that expansion itself. I don't think the NFL should grow beyond its current 32 teams, and as far sending a current franchise over there, we need to find 2 teams to go to LA before we think about London. Besides there are only 2 teams that I can think of that one can even CONSIDER being good candidates to lose their teams, and those are Jacksonville and SD, and SD is a stretch.

2. On the other hand I can't get it out of my head how teams in a European division would grow quickly into such great rivalries. You think Boston and NYC hate each other. Try London and Paris. Berlin and Rome, etc. We don't have a clue about "rivalries" compared to the Europeans we are novices.

As far as American Football in Europe. I think they need their own League. Start out with a league of 4 teams. Say, London (UK), Berlin (Germany), Rome (Italy), Madrid (Spain). That's a good start. If american football gets really popular then they can open up another conference of 4 teams. Then they can hold their own Euro Championship.

The NFL could do like exhibition matches against the European teams during the preseason. That would give you 4 'international' preseason games to feature. And maybe after both Leagues have wrapped up their championship games, you could have a 'World Bowl' exhibition match between the champion of the NFL and of the Euro League.

 

[Kulko]

As far as American Football in Europe. I think they need their own League. Start out with a league of 4 teams. Say, London (UK), Berlin (Germany), Rome (Italy), Madrid (Spain). That's a good start. If american football gets really popular then they can open up another conference of 4 teams. Then they can hold their own Euro Championship.

The NFL could do like exhibition matches against the European teams during the preseason. That would give you 4 'international' preseason games to feature. And maybe after both Leagues have wrapped up their championship games, you could have a 'World Bowl' exhibition match between the champion of the NFL and of the Euro League.

You guys are aware, that we do have our own league over here?
The German Football League has two divisions of 16 teams each, and even the austrian footballleague has 6 teams. But as one earlier poster has noted, it is living a live on the fringe, because its just not ingrained in european sports culture. OTOH its living there for more han 20 years now.Britain seems to have 36 teams in 3 divisions.

The London game works because its once a year and even when I shell out the money only every fifth game there is enough interest in europe to generate a sellout. If the NFL is thinking its worth the money it is something i am willing to take, although my general impression is, that football is more a tv sport, because of the breaks and the missing zoom and replays.