NFL In London, Is It A Benefit ?

This week London hosts the NFL encounter between the ST Louis Rams and the New England Patriots, and let me first say this is not your friendly pre season match. This is a scheduled fixture which  will count towards the end of season playoffs. You must see it as pretty weird as to why London is the host of a game that is the number 1 sport in USA and is only played professionally within the boundaries. Yes there has been rumours of a franchise moving to Canada but that is yet to materialise, even rumours of UK hosting the Super Bowl.

To the NFL franchise's  they see it as a way of branching out and attracting new customers. NFL in the UK is very popular and they are many semi pro teams around the land. A debatable question would be could the UK ever have have its own franchise, I'm not sure as to the rules and stipulations as to whether this would even be possible but theres no reasons to suggest why this concept would be nothing less than a success. Every NFL game the UK has hosted has sold out within no time at all, and due to such a high demand the NFL commissioners have announced the UK will host 2 games next year. As to whether London will be the host for both dates I'm not sure if its been confirmed but in all probability seems very likely. The ever increase of jerseys been wore in the general public has increased. Ive witnessed everything from Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jerseys, Pittsburgh Steelers snapbacks and most recently came across a Tom Brady Jersey. This is evident enough that hosting games in UK are not just having a beneficial impact towards the teams that compete, but the whole NFL as people are becoming more interested in the game and selecting there favourite teams providing more retail sales for franchises. The Uk has begun to get more TV rights to show the games, with most recently BBC showing the Monday Night Football live on the red button. Channel 4 show the late game on the Sunday / monday morning and Sky have excellent coverage of all the games. Just displaying the ever increasing popularity of the sport over here.

With the benefits, there is also a negative point of perspective. For all the american fans of the teams that are participating in the London game they are loosing out of a game. In this case ST Louis Rams are the home team. So fans of the Rams in the USA are the ones who will suffer from seeing a potential home fixture moved from the calendar. Patriots are also one of the top NFL teams at the moment and one of the biggest rivalries within the whole division so would have been a very attractive game of football, and no doubt would have been a sell out. majority of Fans of all teams have a negative view on the concept of London hosting NFL. Of which they believe it should be kept american, and if there was to be NFL in foreign countries it should be kept to exhibition matches, its a valid point as it compromises all angles. No doubt the game would still sell out but there is nothing like a competitive match to attract viewers. Other american sports such as Ice Hockey and Basketball travel to europe regular in pre season to hold exhibition matches but NFL is the only one to cater for a competitive match ups. Its not like these franchises are struggling for fan bases.  Obviously some teams have bigger demand but compared to british football where we have 90 plus teams. The NfL is compromised to a league of 32 of which some states have a population of up to 32 million.  Missouri which is the state where ST Louis originates from has a population of around 9 million, so in comparison its the equivalent of there only been 1 team to follow in London, so the fan base is there for most teams, its just about branching out to another market.

There was a debate years ago as to the primieship holding league games in foreign countries, not just america but worldwide from UAE to Australia, which received ultimately negative press. I believe this was performed in the same concept as the NFL matches coming here. Though one valid point was that Soccer is a worldwide sport played professionally whereas NFL is not so there is more opportunity for franchises to expand there business, not just in the UK, but worldwide. Whats more staggering is season calendar in NFL is a lot shorter, where here fans of the premiership are guaranteed 19 home fixtures, and the football league's 23. NFL have less than 10 home games. OK you can't get season tickets in America so your not loosing out there but you can understand the potential rage of some of the fans by having there opportunity to see the team they support cut.

Overall its a great for us fans from the UK, but you can understand the american fans opinion as I wouldn't like it if my soccer team played matches abroad. But from a business point of view it can only be positive as they increasing the infrustructure around the franchise and its a new experience for the team to play a game in Wembley Stadium, which has a bigger capacity then all the NFL stadiums in America. Though I believe the fans must come first, and there will always be more dedicated fans within your home region thats why I wouldn't oppose to it been changed to exhibition games.