Football In Jolly Old England
Now that the Pats are home from their splendid experience across the pond against the Junior Varsity Buccaneers, I think it would be appropriate to make some observations about the NFL's obsession with American football in London, and their desire to put a franchise there. Only in America do we associate football with pigskin. Football means soccer everywhere else in the world but here. This is the main reason why football wouldn't work in the UK. It's not part of the culture. There are no Pop Warner or youth leagues in London, nor are there any High School programs that I know of, and there certainly is not any college football. It's just another chance for the owners to cash in on another marketing opportunity. And for those of you who work in Marketing, you know how often the truth is up for interpretation. So they want to put an expansion franchise in London. Before they do, I have some questions I'm sure every football fan is asking themselves:
Could Plaxico Burress stay out of trouble considering the fact that not even police carry guns in London?
Would the Gatorade buckets be filled with strawberries and cream?
Would British players wear two mouthguards because they have bad teeth?
Would the parking lots smell like fried fish?
Would fans buy beer even though its warm and called bitter?
Do the bloody players have to clean the bloody blood off their own bloody uniforms?
Could teams like the Cowboys and Bengals(the All-Convict Teams) deal with pubs closing at 11PM?
I think we can all agree, sarcasm aside and NFL owners excluded, that the NFL in London is a bad idea. For starters, travel would be a 12 hour flight each way for teams like Seattle, Oakland, San Diego, and San Francisco. Not only that, if they do have an afternoon game in London, say 1PM, people on the West Coast would have to be ready for kickoff at 5AM on a Sunday. Yeah that'll get good ratings. There's no benefit for players either. The only ones, who benefit? Surprise, the owners. And even Bob Kraft is pushing the NFL in London idea, despite the fact that he won't give up a home game. Could that be because every game since 1994 in New England has been a sellout, and Kraft would also lose over 1 million dollars in parking revenue? Having lived in London myself, I love England's grandest city. Not for American football though. Try something else NFL.
Could Plaxico Burress stay out of trouble considering the fact that not even police carry guns in London?
Would the Gatorade buckets be filled with strawberries and cream?
Would British players wear two mouthguards because they have bad teeth?
Would the parking lots smell like fried fish?
Would fans buy beer even though its warm and called bitter?
Do the bloody players have to clean the bloody blood off their own bloody uniforms?
Could teams like the Cowboys and Bengals(the All-Convict Teams) deal with pubs closing at 11PM?
I think we can all agree, sarcasm aside and NFL owners excluded, that the NFL in London is a bad idea. For starters, travel would be a 12 hour flight each way for teams like Seattle, Oakland, San Diego, and San Francisco. Not only that, if they do have an afternoon game in London, say 1PM, people on the West Coast would have to be ready for kickoff at 5AM on a Sunday. Yeah that'll get good ratings. There's no benefit for players either. The only ones, who benefit? Surprise, the owners. And even Bob Kraft is pushing the NFL in London idea, despite the fact that he won't give up a home game. Could that be because every game since 1994 in New England has been a sellout, and Kraft would also lose over 1 million dollars in parking revenue? Having lived in London myself, I love England's grandest city. Not for American football though. Try something else NFL.
Woah,Matty is blogging again. Will wonders ever cease. Hooray! Happy Halloween! Lots of good blogginess here Matty, strong work.
ReplyDelete