NFL International to Focus on Global Impact: NFL Europa Discontinued
Blogging the National Football League, Blogging the NFL
As predicted, NFL Europa is history. The NFL has determined that it will switch the focus of its international business strategy to presenting the NFL to the widest possible global audience, including broader media visibility and the staging of international regular-season games. Mark Waller, the senior VP of NFL International said:
“The time is right to re-focus the NFL’s strategy on initiatives with global impact, including worldwide media coverage of our sport and the staging of live regular-season NFL games. We will continue to build our international fan base by taking advantage of technology and customized digital media that make the NFL more accessible on a global scale than ever before and through the regular-season game experience. NFL Europa has created thousands of passionate fans who have supported that league and our sport for many years and we look forward to building on this foundation as we begin this new phase of our international development.”
In addition to the 2007 game in the United Kingdom (Dolphins vs. Giants), the NFL is preparing to stage regular-season games in future seasons in Germany, Mexico and Canada, with Germany being a strong candidate to host a regular-season NFL game in 2008.
I don’t like the idea of playing regular season games outside the U.S. because it means fans are losing an opportunity to see their favorite team play a home game. I’m a Vikings fan. I’ve always been a Vikings fan. And if I lived in Minnesota and planned to attend all the Vikings regular season home games (there are only eight), I know I would be upset if one of them was rerouted to Europe for the benefit of NFL International. I know what the NFL is trying to do — to broaden the fan base on a global level — and I’m all for it. But when they do so at the expense of the fans here in the U.S. who helped make the game what it is today, it’s upsetting. Without the support of the fans here in the U.S., the NFL ceases to exist. When you take away one of the few opportunities a fan gets to see their team play at home, even if it’s just one game/year, it’s troubling.
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1 opinion for NFL International to Focus on Global Impact: NFL Europa Discontinued
fool
Nov 30, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Every article reporting the demise of NFL Europa mentions that “the NFL was losing $30 million a year.” H*ll, that’s chicken feed.
A single team loses that much just in productivity when a couple of starters get injured. $30 million is less than one million bucks per NFL team. They could probably cut out the cigar-bar at one of the owner’s meetings and save that much.
There’s got to be more to the story than losing a paltry $30 million a year.
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