Found this on the O’s website, http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/latest-nfl-news/story/7027l
Apparently the NFL is really considering this big time as the article states,
According to the Sunday Telegraph, the NFL has assured London officials that their city will host the Super Bowl as early as 2014. An official announcement is expected at some point in the next 12 months.Curious as to what everyone else thinks?
Per NFL Radio this is only a rumor. Wonder how they run the time difference if they did. That’s 5 hours ahead for the east coast and 8 ahead for the west coast. I don’t see it happening but if it does I want the bald Irish guy from ESPN Soccer to be one of the play-by-play callers.
I understand that the NFL wants to make American football more globalized, but seriously, outside of the United States…who cares about American football? see: failure of NFL Europa.
Yeah, I know they’ve had big attendances for the games played at Wimbley, but for the fans of teams that have season tickets and go to all the playoff games, many wouldn’t be able to make the trip across the pond to see a Superbowl that their team was playing in. If I wanted to go to a Superbowl in Miami or Tampa or even Arizona, its a lot more economically do-able than a trip to Europe. my .02
I think if they want to go global they should start in their own back yard. Toronto or Mexico City make more sense to me.
Toronto for the Super Bowl is a horrible idea.
[QUOTE=wayton5646;406005]Toronto for the Super Bowl is a horrible idea.[/QUOTE]
Not if you want to put an NFL expansion team in Toronto, which they do. Also, they have a domed stadium so it would be like SBXL in Detroit.
I wish every team played a preseason game internationally. A lot of fans don’t go anyway and are forced to buy tickets if they are season ticket holders. It would give cities across England, Germany, Spain, Mexico, and Canada (there really aren’t any other countries that have much of a following) the opportunity to see NFL teams without the American fans that support the team having to give up much of anything.
The Superbowl should never be played anywhere except America unless Canada ends up with an NFL team.
Terrible idea.
I’m not even sure I want people in other countries watching preseason games. Preseason games suck. I don’t want that to be their impression of what our sport is.
Ummmmmmmmmm…Let’s not rule out Rio as a Superbowl site. January is Summer in South America and the time zones are close enough for TV purposes!
In fact I think the Niners need to schedule a tourney down there! Any Sport!
They also know how to advertise Non-alc Beer!
[QUOTE=49RFootballNow;406006]Not if you want to put an NFL expansion team in Toronto, which they do. Also, they have a domed stadium so it would be like SBXL in Detroit.[/QUOTE]
Toronto Bills
[QUOTE=pcon;406015]Toronto Bills[/QUOTE]
I thought the Bills fixed their home attendence problem last year. More like an upgraded Argonauts when L.A. gets an expansion team. The other candidates are San Antonio, Memphis, Orlando, Mexico City or, believe it or not, TWO expansion franchises in L.A.
A team in S.A. would struggle in my opinion as they would have to compete against the Cowboys and Texans. The Cowboys have a huge, loyal following and I just can’t imagine S.A. being able to generate enough fans. I could be wrong though, Texas is a huge state. I think Memphis is an awful idea. Orlando is as well as Florida already has two teams. I think Toronto and L.A. should be the two locations for future expansion.
[QUOTE=Niner National;406022]A team in S.A. would struggle in my opinion as they would have to compete against the Cowboys and Texans. The Cowboys have a huge, loyal following and I just can’t imagine S.A. being able to generate enough fans. I could be wrong though, Texas is a huge state. I think Memphis is an awful idea. Orlando is as well as Florida already has two teams. [B]I think Toronto and L.A. should be the two locations for future expansion[/B].[/QUOTE]
I agree, but don’t rule out Mexico City. The NFL is very high on getting into Mexico and the entire nation (and its TV audience) would be able to focus on one franchise. Not sure you would get the same value with Canada/Toronto.
49xtimes and I were just talking about this. He made a good point in that Mexico while Mexico would draw a lot of fans, there are a lot of problems there right now that may make players hesistant to play there.
[QUOTE=Niner National;406024]49xtimes and I were just talking about this. He made a good point in that Mexico while Mexico would draw a lot of fans, there are a lot of problems there right now that may make players hesistant to play there.[/QUOTE]
A franchise would be at least 4 years away. Mexico City has a lot of upside for the NFL and potential players.
the supper bowl needs to be played in the US.