International American Football Leagues?

Sports and the Future

International American Football Leagues?

By: Emily Forloines & Alex Wenrich

On November 21^st, we discussed the topic of “Sports and the Future.” We presented with many implications that will continue to happen in our lifetime. We believe that as a population grows the sport world will continue to grow. The middle class will not able be to attend as many games because of the rise in ticket pricing. Generation Y sports will become even more popular as the generation progressively ages. All major sporting events will become pay per view. Every season is going to become longer. The stadia will become smaller, because the owners will want fans as close as possible to the action. Baseball will have a salary cap along with other sports having a lower cap ceiling. The NFL will have more games in London and possibly have an expansion team of their own.

In 2007, Roger Goodell decided to start a tread that has been bringing in revenue like no other. The Miami Dolphins hosted the New York Giants at Wembley Stadium in London England. The Giants defeated the Dolphins 13-10. Wembley sold out, 40,000 tickets in the first 90 minutes sales opened.  The total attendance was 81,176.

The draw was so strong that Goodell made a smart choice by bringing a second annual game the following year to Wembley Stadium. The San Diego Chargers hosted the New Orleans Saints and the Saints won by a score of 37-32. This was not a nationally televised game. The total attendance was 83,226.

The Londoners demanded more from the NFL.  The NFL stated that the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would go overseas. This game was televised nationally. This particular game brought in twice as much as the 2007 game. They had an attendance of 84,254 people. The draw was the one time chance to see All-Pro Tom Brady. The Patriots won 35-7. 

Once again the NFL is going where the money is. The San Francisco 49ers won over the Denver Broncos 24-16. CBS aired the game nationally. They had an attendance of 83,941 people.

Consequently, after all the success the NFL had in London with a very constant attendance, the attendance dropped by over 7,000 people. The Chicago Bear and Tampa Bay Buccaneers drew a crowd of 76,981 people. The Bears won 24-18.

During January of 2012, Commissioner Goodell stated that the ST. Louis Rams from the year 2012-2014 would play one of its eight home games a year at Wembley for a total of three games. The Rams were not happy with this request and denied the league. This was the first time the NFL tried to have consecutive games in London with the same team. The NFL wanted the ticket sales to rise. So they remember that Tom Brady drew a large crowd so they asked the New England Patriots to face the St. Louis Rams. The Patriots won 45-7 in front of 84,004 fans.

Since the NFL’s idea with the St. Louis Rams failed the NFL asked the Jacksonville Jaguars to participate in the same trial. The Jaguars agreed to four seasons from 2013-2016. We believe that this will be the first test to see if a NFL team could be relocated or expanded overseas.

That same year the NFL made the decision to have two NFL games in London. The first of two games was the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings. I believe that these teams were an excellent selection because of the success of the Steeelers and Adrian Peterson.  The Vikings won 34-27. The attendance was 83,518 fans. The next month the San Francisco 49ers and the Jacksonville Jaguars did not disappoint. Even thought the Super bowl runner-ups took a commanding lead and dominated by a score 42-10 the fans were pleased and 83,559 fans attended.

As of last month, our theory is starting to come true. The NFL announced that a third game will be added to the NFL international series. From the looks of things we can conclude the NFL will do everything in their power to expand to London. Most professionals believe this will happen within the next five to ten years, and the Jacksonville Jaguars are the favorite to be relocated across the pond.

According to Coakley’s text in Chapter 16, page 556 he talks about the future of professional sport. He believes that each league is profit driven and will do anything to make more money. If the NFL is making more money having a team in London they will make it happen one way or another. He then mentions that leagues will start staging mega events. The NFL has already began this with the international series.