Sirened

When the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants took the field at Wembley Stadium in London this past Sunday, it marked the first time that a regular season NFL game was ever played in Europe. It was a pretty exciting event aside from the fact that Miami ended up entering the game 0-7 and after the game was played there was a lot left to be desired. In fact, the London crowd booed while the NY Giants knelt to end the game while ahead 13-10 in the final seconds.

Giants “star” quarterback Eli Manning went 8-22 for a paltry 59 yards! Even the annual Army-Navy college football game usually features better passing efficiency, more points and greater excitement! Granted the weather was bad, but many analysts described this as one of the worst football games they’d ever seen.

On the bright side, Wembley Stadium was packed to capacity with 85,000 fans sporting attire that covered all 32 of the NFL’s franchises. The commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell was on hand and said he was pleased with the turnout and pledged to continue his commitment to spreading the popularity of the NFL to a larger international audience. He also didn’t rule out the possibility of one day having an NFL franchise in London or Berlin.

Not all the owners are impressed by the continued commitment to play regular season games in Europe though. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he would not take his team to Europe (not that he would have a choice if it was scheduled by the NFL) because he would not want to sacrifice a home game. And for a team like Dallas, especially Dallas, I could not see the fan base being happy about losing a home game to Europe.

At the moment, a lot of Buffalo Bills fans are unhappy that the team is trying to commit 2 games a year to Toronto (1 pre-season and 1 regular season game). Many fans in this smaller market feel like this may be the first step towards the team moving to Toronto entirely. Ownership however, argues that it is a way to help keep the team in Buffalo by drawing a larger audience and more corporate dollars out of Canada’s largest city. Being a loyal Bills fan myself, but also understanding this is a business, makes me think about all parties here. But personally I would be extremely disappointed to see the Bills move from Buffalo because there is such a rich tradition of the team being there and having the team is such an important part of that community. Bills fans are also some of the most loyal fans in the NFL.

So with expanding the NFL audience to other countries comes the risk of losing some of the fan base at home. As a business decision, it is very calculated and the chances of generating more revenue for the league are good, but never underestimate the power of the fans and the uncertainty of new fan bases. I will say this, when whatever NFL team loses a home game next year to be played in Europe, I sure as hell hope we bring a better product than what was displayed on Sunday.  

Image from NFL.com

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