Goodell: Superbowl in London?

[joedekock]

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — A future Super Bowl champion may someday be crowned overseas in a game witnessed predominantly by a foreign audience, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday.

"There's a great deal of interest in holding a Super Bowl in London," Goodell told reporters. "So we'll be looking at that."

The commissioner said London's new Wembley Stadium would make a great candidate for pro football's biggest matchup, given the enthusiasm overseas for the game.

The NFL has been expanding its overseas presence for years by televising games in Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom. It has held preseason games in numerous countries and in 2005, the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers played the first regular season match outside the United States.

The game at Azteca Stadium in Mexico drew the league's largest crowd to date, Goodell said, with 103,467 fans in attendance.

On Oct. 28, Wembley Stadium will host the first regular season NFL game outside North America.

It took just 90 minutes to sell the first 40,000 tickets for the Oct. 28 game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants. Goodell said that event organizers have sold 95,000 tickets in all.

Goodell spoke about the possibility of a British Super Bowl after a luncheon Monday in Scottsdale sponsored by the host committee for the 2008 Super Bowl in Arizona.

He said Arizona has done an "A-plus" job of getting ready for the Feb. 3 game at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb. The location of Arizona's previous Super Bowl in 1996, Sun Devil Stadium at Arizona State University in Tempe, was criticized for its lack of restrooms, limited skyboxes and crowded concourses.

Goodell said in the past, a lack of a decent stadium hurt the state's chances of hosting more Super Bowls.

But the University of Phoenix Stadium, which opened in 2006, is "a state-of-the-art facility," he said. "It gives an experience that I think our fans appreciate."

Goodell: Super Bowl may someday be held in London - USATODAY.com

 

[joedekock]

Personally I think this will piss off a lot of NFL fans. In a sense a lot of fans the Giants and Dolphins are pissed that neither of them can go see their team live that weekend they are in London. I have not heard one Giant or Dolphin fan say they like the idea of one of their regular season games being played over seas.

I have no problem if it is a pre-season game, or any other type of exhibition. But if the team features the New York Giants, and Miami Dolphins and it is a regular season game, it should be played in Miami or New York... period.

I don't even like how the Superbowl is played at a rotating stadium basis. The NFL does not do it because they want a Neutral site, they are doing it for Revenue. They get a ton of money from these cities that are hosting the superbowl, because the city's benefit from the tourism. If the superbowl was simply held at one of the featured teams home stadium, the NFL cannot make money on the bids of the hosts because it will be a given.

I am also sick of how the Superbowl game itself is two weeks away from the AFC and NFC championships. This again is so the NFL can get more revenue. The longer they wait the more stupid "punt pass and kick" competitions and other useless junk they can set up at the superbowl site and make money off of fans.

Make it the way it used to be. No fancy halftime show, the teams play the following week of their conference championships, and they play at one of the teams home stadiums.

NASCAR has been burned by becoming too greedy. They have empty seats in the stands at over half of their tracks, and less viewers on Television which will result in less money in renewed contracts when they expire. What burned them was their "race to the championship", removing some races from tracks that had two races a year, and making the rules and fines stronger so that crashes are less frequent and violent.

I am not saying the NFL will fold or anything, I know that NASCAR is a distant second to the NFL as a spectator sport, but if you start making the game about money and not what the loyal fans want, you will lose them.

 

[Ramy]

If it's a Super Bowl anywhere other than an American city then I won't watch it no matter who is in it.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

I'm with you Ramy on this one.

 

[Jimbo]

I agree with all of you :up

Very good post Joe !

Jimbo

 

[GeorgeLV]

If it's a Super Bowl anywhere other than an American city then I won't watch it no matter who is in it.

Did you boycott the World Series when Toronto won it in '92 and '93?

 

[jshecket]

If it's a Super Bowl anywhere other than an American city then I won't watch it no matter who is in it.

The super bowl will never be played in London for this simple reason: time zone.

Even if you schedule kickoff for 9 pm local time, that would be 1 pm on the west coast. TV will never allow the Super Bowl to begin that early. Perhaps they would tape delay it like the Olympics, and that would be a disaster.

But, if the league brass is willing to play the game at that hour, why not? Tickets for the Super Bowl are so out of reach to the common fan anyway that they could play the game on the Moon and it wouldn't make a difference to me. It is always in a warm weather city in the south or in a dome, so how about a cold, outdoor venue? I'd prefer Cleveland or Green Bay but Wembley is 90,000 seats, like a college stadium, so more people would be able to go.

Let's just see how they do with the regular season game first.

 

[Ramy]

Did you boycott the World Series when Toronto won it in '92 and '93?

That's different. There are actually MLB teams there. There are no NFL teams in London the last time I checked.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Even the MLB has gotten greedy with Wild Card and the play-offs.

It used to be which ever team was in 1st place at the end of the season would go to the world series.

Its all a big money maker to create more games and charge more money!

 

[jshecket]

That's different. There are actually MLB teams there. There are no NFL teams in London the last time I checked.

It's also been played in Palo Alto and Pasadena. Last time I checked neither of those is an NFL city.

If I'm the NFL I'm calling you on your bluff.

 

[Jimbo]

It's also been played in Palo Alto and Pasadena. Last time I checked neither of those is an NFL city.

If I'm the NFL I'm calling you on your bluff.

Are you SURE that the LA Rams or LA Raiders were not there at that time ?

Jimbo

 

[Ramy]

It's also been played in Palo Alto and Pasadena. Last time I checked neither of those is an NFL city.

If I'm the NFL I'm calling you on your bluff.

Those are American cities which I said earlier.

 

[jshecket]

The LA Rams were playing in Anaheim and the LA Raiders were playing at the Coliseum.

Either of those stadiums would have been perfectly capable of staging the Super Bowl, just as the Rose Bowl would have been, and is today, capable of hosting an NFL team. But the NFL, in all their wisdom, placed the Super Bowl in a non-NFL venue.

 

[joedekock]

It's also been played in Palo Alto and Pasadena. Last time I checked neither of those is an NFL city.

If I'm the NFL I'm calling you on your bluff.

That is still an American city that bids to the NFL against other city's. The NFL picks their superboowl sites based on A) has it been played there recently, and B) the highest bidder.

As I said before, it is all about money for the NFL.

I love Roger Goodell and how he is being tougher and cleaning up the image of the NFL. We all know how the "gangsta", and law abusers in the NBA have put that league into the toilet as far as ratings, merchandise sales, and ticket sales. David Stern let it go for far too long before he realized that the "hip-hop" crowd is a very small demographic in this country. Now the mountain for the NBA is a hard one to climb.

Anyway, I give Roger all the credit in the world for cracking down on the problems with the NFL that Tagliabu would not, but lets keep the NFL an American sport for the Americans. There is already and NFL Europe.

I agree with an earlier poster about playing a game in Green Bay, or another cold weather city like Pittsburgh. But again, there is a lot less money in this because at the superbowl there are attractions that the NFL sets up all over the city for the entire two weeks between the conference championships and the superbowl game. In a cold weather city, it makes it harder for fans to park and walk outdoors.

Detroit did not make as much money as the NFL hoped it would two years ago.

 

[vurbano]

Asinine idea. Maybe they should run the tour de france in California?

 

[rcbridge]

Until you have a team or two based in London (or anywhere outside the USA) this is a stupid idea!!!

I don't mind an exibition game but the Super Bowl!!

 

[Ramy]

There is already and NFL Europe.

Not anymore there isn't. They killed it this past year.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

It's also been played in Palo Alto and Pasadena. Last time I checked neither of those is an NFL city.

If I'm the NFL I'm calling you on your bluff.

OK. How about the NFL is played in America. All the franchises are in America. The Super Bowl is an American tradition. The American economy supports the NFL, and the NFL should keep the money the Super Bowl brings to the host city in an AMERICAN city. We had the Super Bowl in Detroit recently, and the money that poured into the Detroit area was incredible.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

That is still an American city that bids to the NFL against other city's. The NFL picks their superboowl sites based on A) has it been played there recently, and B) the highest bidder.

As I said before, it is all about money for the NFL.

I love Roger Goodell and how he is being tougher and cleaning up the image of the NFL. We all know how the "gangsta", and law abusers in the NBA have put that league into the toilet as far as ratings, merchandise sales, and ticket sales. David Stern let it go for far too long before he realized that the "hip-hop" crowd is a very small demographic in this country. Now the mountain for the NBA is a hard one to climb.

Anyway, I give Roger all the credit in the world for cracking down on the problems with the NFL that Tagliabu would not, but lets keep the NFL an American sport for the Americans. There is already and NFL Europe.

I agree with an earlier poster about playing a game in Green Bay, or another cold weather city like Pittsburgh. But again, there is a lot less money in this because at the superbowl there are attractions that the NFL sets up all over the city for the entire two weeks between the conference championships and the superbowl game. In a cold weather city, it makes it harder for fans to park and walk outdoors.

Detroit did not make as much money as the NFL hoped it would two years ago.

Joe, I guarantee you that Detroit would be more than glad to host another Super Bowl. This did a lot for Detroit. You had to see it for yourself, to truly understand this.

 

[joedekock]

[/B]
Joe, I guarantee you that Detroit would be more than glad to host another Super Bowl. This did a lot for Detroit. You had to see it for yourself, to truly understand this.

I agree... I am not saying it did not help. I go to Detroit often, and remember all the construction on Woodward ave. and other parts of Downtown to get it ready for the Superbowl.

But have you been there recently? Its back to the same way it was before. The only difference is the streets and building faces look better.

You have to go there when there is not a Tigers game, a Lions game or an event at the Fox. Then it is scary to be down there. Even Greek Town is getting scary to walk down lately.

If you are down there for a game then there are plenty of cops walking around and enough of a crowd, where there is much more safety.