This week at the owners’ meeting in Boca Raton, Florida, the NFL is discussing the possibility of playing a regular NFL season game in China. According to ESPN, numerous teams have expressed interest in competing in China. This could occur as early as the 2018 season.
The NFL wants the game to be more global. In the past they have played preseason games in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Japan, Spain, and Sweden. Since 2007, teams travel to London to play a regular season game. Last season there were a total of three games played in Wembley Stadium. Next year the NFL has lined up three more games. Two of them will be at Wembley while the other is at Twickneham which is the home of the English Rugby team.
China makes no sense., sounds like they just threw a dart into a map. London is a lot closer to the United States. When a team travels and participates in the game, they receive a bye the next week. The home team loses a home game which isn’t fair to season ticket holders. Most are unable to attend a game in London. A game in China would mean the travel would be longer. It is much more difficult to fly to China, game plan, and have the athletes play a game. The other problem with an NFL game in China is that who knows how much interest there is in the NFL.
The NFL should try a preseason game first if there is that much curiosity. That way this won’t hurt the season ticket holders nor would the NFL teams lose a home game. They could also receive feedback from the players and the coaches to know if this is feasible to do.
What do you think of an NFL regular season game being played in China?
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