The NFL wants to make American football more global. Regular season games for the past eight years have been played in London, England. Last year there were three games played. The same is true for this year. In week 4 the New York Jets will face the Miami Dolphins. Week 7 the Jacksonville Jaguars host the Buffalo Bills. The last game in London this year is week 8 when the Detroit Lions face the Kansas City Chiefs. The NFL might add more games internationally.
The NFL has talked about the possibility of playing some of the regular season in Mexico. According to NBCsports.com, NFL Mexico Director Arturo Olivé said, “We’re taking steps in the right direction so that eventually, this platform [of sponsors] which we have reconstructed will enable us to talk directly to the NFL in New York about the possibility of staging games in Mexico.”
This would make more sense than London. A flight there takes about a day. Then there is jet lag and players getting used to the time change. The week isn’t the same as a normal game week. It’s not really convenient. Teams who play in London receive a bye the next week to recover. Mexico isn’t as far as London. Players and coaches wouldn’t have to worry about jet lag since most of the country is in the Central Time Zone. They could have a normal workweek.
NFL Spokesman Micheal Signora said, “We are pleased with the growth in fan demand and the increased partner support we have enjoyed in recent years. With this in mind, we are actively assessing the opportunity to play games in Mexico. We have visited several stadiums in recent months, and are analyzing what needs to be done to bring games to Mexico.” Mexico hasn’t hosted an NFL game since the 2005 season when the Arizona Cardinals beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-14. According to the bleacherreport.com, it was hosted at Estadio Azteca, home of the Mexican National soccer team. 100,000 plus were in attendance. Mexico isn’t the only location that the NFL is looking at to host. The other sites are Brazil and Germany.
NFL regular season games shouldn’t be played internationally. The home teams lose one home game. Instead of 8 they only play 7 on their own field. Fans can’t really go and they pay full price for season tickets. It’s also a loss of revenue for the vendors.
The NFL games in London aren’t supporting NFL fans. The problem with doing these this is who can really watch them? Kickoff is at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time. It’s not bad for people living in that time zone but others may not see it at all. In the Pacific Time Zone that’s a 6:30 a.m. start, whereas NFL regular season games start at 10:00 a.m.
If the NFL wants a presence outside the U.S. why not only preseason games in these places? Fans and venders won’t lose a home game. These countries would still get to watch NFL football. It’s still real even though it wouldn’t count in the standings.
What should the NFL do about playing games internationally?
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