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An entire NFL Division overseas?

Mr. Scot

By Mr. Scot,
in Carolina Panthers

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

Posted
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Arthur Blank sees the possibility of more than one London team

 

Blank told Peter King of TheMMQB.com that the fans in London are continually supporting American football, and they’ll support a team of their own.

“The games in London, I think are a tribute to the NFL, a tribute to the fans there, the quality of the game—and I think that it’s proved conclusive that fans will come out when they see the real players playing games that are really meaningful, as opposed to NFL Europe,” Blank said. “So I think—and all three of the games for 2014 sold out immediately, 240,000 tickets—the league, as you know, has been in discussion about a fourth game, in discussion about games beyond that. There’s been discussion about potentially having a franchise in London. I’m very optimistic.”

In fact, Blank even thinks there might be two NFL teams in London.

“I think it will start with an increased number of games. That will be translated into a very successful series of games, and eventually, I think a franchise. And maybe more than one. London’s a big city,” Blank said.

Blank also suggested that London might not be the only overseas city to have an NFL team.

“The approach that the international committee and the commissioner have taken is, ‘Let’s do London right, and then move from there to potentially somewhere else.’ I’m sure there are wonderful cities in Europe, and elsewhere,” Blank said.

 

In the Peter King MMQB article that was the source for this piece, Blank says he also sees "one or more" teams in Los Angeles and states that the European expansion is "not as many years away" as people would think.

 

So we now know that Falcons owner Arthur Blank is one of the owners making a big time push for a full-time London team, and per his own words even more expansion than that.  Ironically enough, in the midst of all this he mentions to King that you have to be wary of overexposure :blink:

 

Michael David Smith sums the story up pretty well in his last paragraph...
 

Perhaps one day the NFL will have a full four-team European division. Most American fans wouldn’t like it, but the NFL’s owners love the idea of tapping into the European market.

 

All indications are that the fans aren't the only ones who hate the idea.  Players aren't that high on it either.

 

So are Blank and owners like him disconnected from what the fans and players think, or do they simply not care?

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Growl Grand Master

Growl

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So how many years of these new teams over there sucking because nobody wants to play for them will have to go by before Goodell tries to implement some program that mandates players play for a European club at some point in their careers, all to rescue his beloved moniez from the sure fire loss in revenue that would occur with each consecutive losing seasom.

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Mr. Scot Grand Master

Mr. Scot

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Blank's argument is that this is different from NFL Europe because it features the 'real players'.

 

The flipside argument is that right now this is just a one or two time annual event over there.  Getting support for something like that is a lot different than getting people to buy season tickets on an annual basis.

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Razeyfingers Newbie

Razeyfingers

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Im sorry but let me make one quick point here for you all that think this would be a good idea. America is numero uno right? If you were say, a commissioner of the top soccer league in Europe, dont you think a team in the US would be. . idk FUGGIN OBVIOUS. How much money does this country spend? Whats the #1 sport in the world?. . yet we dont have an "English" premier league team?

 

It doesnt matter how much they peddle to the Euros, this will never work. If soccer cant accomplish that with countries right next to eachother then football isnt going to make it happen either. Your country either has its own league or it doesnt, period.

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