NFL to have regular season in London

[jstnrgrs]

link

This is suprising to me, since earlier in the season, the question was asked about how much Brits care about American football. The concensus answer was that they don't.

What do those of you in the UK think about this?

[AJW]

A stupid idea it will really piss off the fans of the two teams who play. They won’t be able to go to the game with out spending a fortune. I’m sure there are a few hard core America football fans in the UK who will be thrilled to see a live competitive match, a few expat Americans who can get a little taste of home. The rest of the crowd will go to see something a bit different and wont have a clue what’s happening or why play seems to stop at random intervals. I imagine it will have all the atmosphere of a preseason friendly. Either that or the crowd will just cheer and yell at inappropriate moments and fail to notice anything skilful or cleaver but unspectacular.

[TheNoodleMan]

Serious competitive disadvantage for the teams that have to go, especially whoever gets shorted a home game.

Its all about the $$$$$$

[gusmahler]

The crowd in Mexico City was really into the game when AZ played SF two seasons ago. They didn't cheer in the same way American fans did, but it was relatively loud. Plus, they had an absolutely huge crowd (over 100,000) in a country that doesn't care about American football.

Still sucks for the team that loses a home game, though.

[Fallen Hero]

[ QUOTE ]
The rest of the crowd will go to see something a bit different and wont have a clue what’s happening or why play seems to stop at random intervals. I imagine it will have all the atmosphere of a preseason friendly. Either that or the crowd will just cheer and yell at inappropriate moments and fail to notice anything skilful or cleaver but unspectacular.

[/ QUOTE ]

even if the sport isn't very popular I'm pretty sure they can come up with 100k knowledgeable fans

[jstnrgrs]

[ QUOTE ]
The crowd in Mexico City was really into the game when AZ played SF two seasons ago. They didn't cheer in the same way American fans did, but it was relatively loud. Plus, they had an absolutely huge crowd (over 100,000) in a country that doesn't care about American football.

Still sucks for the team that loses a home game, though.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm pretty sure that American football is more popular in Mexico than it is in the UK.

Also, I think they have said that they want the home team for these games to be a team that doesn't sell out its games. If you can't sell out your games, then I don't feel to bad about you loosing a home game.

[PokerFink]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, I think they have said that they want the home team for these games to be a team that doesn't sell out its games.

[/ QUOTE ]

Teams with less than 99% home attendence this past year:

Atlanta 98.9%
NY Jets 98%
KC 98%
Miami 97%
San Fran 97%
Dallas 96%
Pitt 96%
Indy 95%
New Orleans 94%
Detroit 94%
San Diego 93%
Chicago 93%
Oakland 93%
Jacksonville 91%
Buffalo 85%

Logically, the NFL would want a team that doesn't have serious Super Bowl aspirations, so that knocks out Indy, San Diego, Chicago and perhaps Pittsburgh. It would be unfair to New Orleans. So that leave the Falcons, Jets, Chiefs, Fins, Niners, 'Boys, Lions, Raiders, Jags and Bills.

Attendence Linky

As an aside, there are 13 teams that are listed above 100% attendence, and only 1 team (St. Louis) listed at exactly 100%. I know the Eagles added standing-room tickets this year which pushed their attendence over 100%, but what gives with the other teams?

[AJW]

[ QUOTE ]

even if the sport isn't very popular I'm pretty sure they can come up with 100k knowledgeable fans

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you? How many knowledgeable cricket fans do you think you could find in California?
Here's a little unscientific test of Grid irons popularity
Guardian Sports Monday 15th 20 pages
Pages 1-10 football
Page 11 half football half tennis
Pages 12-14 rugby
Page 15 mostly cricket some snooker some rallying
16 F1 golf and darts in equal proportion
17 half the page horse racing the other half given in equal measure to NFL Athletics and Skiing. The NFL and the skiing are out sourced to Reuters. The only sports to get less coverage are sailing and domestic basketball though they do get their own journalist assigned to them.
Digging around on the internet I do find that American football has been played in Britain since 1983 though never professionally. Here’s a picture of last years final notice the excited and knowledgeable crowd.

[niss]

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NY Jets 98%

[/ QUOTE ]

???

From the Jets' website:

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The New York Jets are sold out on a season ticket basis. There are NO individual game tickets available on sale from us. If you are not a season ticket holder, you may join our Waitlist. There are currently over 10,000 people on our Waitlist.

[/ QUOTE ]

The fact that a team does not have 100% home attendance on average is not unreasonable.