Whenever these types of games are announced my first thought is "I hope it isn't the Steelers (my favorite team)".
At some point, every team will take a turn losing a home game to the "International Series". Although, some think the move to 17 games was to eventually have every team play one international game a year and get back to each conference having the same number of home games.
My only take on this is it's always a fun little surprise when midway through the year there is a game on at 9AM
I remember reading somewhere that Germany is actually one of the few countries over there that actually has a pretty good amount of fans that follows NFL football.NFL pushing so hard to push the sport globally, even if the other countries don't care.
I remember reading somewhere that Germany is actually one of the few countries over there that actually has a pretty good amount of fans that follows NFL football.
Funny how NFL Europe was shut down in 2007 despite a league record in average attendance that year, just to show up 15 years later to play football there again.
NFL Europe gave us some great team names too.
I would much rather have them bring back the NFL Europe teams than sending two teams to play one game. I did get kind of invested in some of those teams at the time, even if the product was ok or just good enough.Some were pretty good...
Admirals
Dragons
Centurions
Monarchs
Claymores
Would rather have Washington some of those over "Commanders."
A permanent London franchise would do well as the Monarchs.
Reminds me of the proposed Intercontinental Football League from the 1970s.
Barcelona Almogovares
Berlin Bears
Copenhagen Vikings
Istanbul Conquerers
Milan Centurions
Munich Lions
Paris Lafayettes
Rome Gladiators
Rotterdam Flying Dutchmen
Vienna Lipizzaners
I would much rather have them bring back the NFL Europe teams than sending two teams to play one game. I did get kind of invested in some of those teams at the time, even if the product was ok or just good enough.
And, yes, Washington blew it with the name, just like they blow at everything else.
I was in the Caribbean years ago on a British island and went to a bar to watch Ravens Steelers MNF and a Scottish couple came in wearing Steelers jerseys, drinking heavily, and having a great time.When I was in Ireland for about a week a couple years ago I had three or four Irish people that sought me out to talk NFL/football as soon as they overheard my American accent. There are definitely people in England, Ireland, Germany, etc. that follow the NFL in a similar way to how some Americans follow the EPL and other European leagues.
Toronto would probably be the most logical pick for an out-of-U.S. market to tap, seeing how other pro teams are doing well there. London would probably do well too. Montreal is a bit of a wild card but would probably do well. I doubt Vancouver, considering how close they are to Seattle. Of course, a significant amount of logistics need to happen before it even gets that far. San Diego will probably wind up with a new team before any international teams happen.I wish they'd just expand to 36 or 40 or something...
London
Germany (somewhere, not 100% sure where)
Foothold in the European market. Put two teams in the two most football-friendly markets. Put one in the NFC and the other in the AFC so you're selling those untapped European eyeballs with both packages. Always have at least one of them playing at home on Sunday so you always have an early Sunday morning game in North America, so now you have a consistent four-game television series each Sunday.
Mexico City
St. Louis
San Diego
Austin/San Antonio
STL and SD to give those fanbases new teams
Maybe Toronto and Montreal/Vancouver if you could get away with it.
Toronto would probably be the most logical pick for an out-of-U.S. market to tap, seeing how other pro teams are doing well there. London would probably do well too. Montreal is a bit of a wild card but would probably do well. I doubt Vancouver, considering how close they are to Seattle. Of course, a significant amount of logistics need to happen before it even gets that far. San Diego will probably wind up with a new team before any international teams happen.
If the Bills don't get help with the funding to build a new stadium (it is expected they will) wouldn't surprise me if they ended up in Toronto.Toronto would probably be the most logical pick for an out-of-U.S. market to tap, seeing how other pro teams are doing well there. London would probably do well too. Montreal is a bit of a wild card but would probably do well. I doubt Vancouver, considering how close they are to Seattle. Of course, a significant amount of logistics need to happen before it even gets that far. San Diego will probably wind up with a new team before any international teams happen.
I remember reading somewhere that Germany is actually one of the few countries over there that actually has a pretty good amount of fans that follows NFL football.