@RantSports
Subscribe to Rant Sports news, rumors and blogs!
London Calling. The NFL London game could be scrapped
February 9, 2011 by Eric Schmidt
Filed under Latest News
The uncertainty surrounding the Collective Bargaining Agreement could have some serious offseason ramifications, but one casualty of an extended lockout doesn’t disturb me at all, no game played in London this season. Normally, the NFL would announce the two teams which play the game in London around this time, but Chris Parsons, vice president of international business told reporters yesterday that they are holding off because of the lack of a new CBA.
Parsons told reporters that the annual game played in London is going to be on hold until a new agreement between the players and owners is reached. Parsons would not reveal what the cutoff date is before the logistics for such a game to be played is, but as far as I’m concerned, cancel it anyway. Period. Scrap the entire ridiculous idea.
Every season that this game is played, fans of the “home” team played in this event are screwed out of one of their home games. There are only 8 home games, so losing a game is a big deal for fans who plan to attend their teams at home.
I realize that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wants to expand the NFL brand to Europe, eventually placing a franchise or two in Europe. This idea has been tried before with the NFL Europe league and the experiment failed. I liked the idea of the players on the teams being tied to NFL teams, giving young players playing experience in a “farm team” sense. The league produced several players which went on to have successful NFL careers.
However, it was determined that the World League, which became the NFL Europe was simply not sustainable any longer and after 490 games were played, the average attendance for European games worked out to around 19,000 per game. Those kinds of numbers will not support an NFL team.
One of the most contentious points in the negotiations between the players and owners has been the expansion to 18 regular season games. The Boston Globe reported yesterday that the real reason behind this move, is so the league can play more games overseas, eventually placing franchises in Europe and elsewhere. Mr. Goodell is clearly trying to write his legacy. Some advice for the Commissioner, simply manage the game, don’t ruin it. Leave the NFL in the United States.