NFL heads back to London

Here’s my question: Why?

The AP is reporting that for the fifth straight year, the NFL will host a game at Wembley Stadium in London, England, when the Chicago Bears take on the Tampa Bay Bucs.

I’ll admit, it was cool the first time I saw it. And I know there is some history to the NFL bringing games overseas to the UK. But really, what do the British NFL fans– maybe spectators is a better word– get out of watching a sport they don’t know the rules to or understand? In past years, the only time the crowd showed any sort of interest was when the kickers and punters took the field. Cheerio, chaps.

Are there some genuine NFL fans in the UK? Of course. Do they make up a large percentage of the “fans” that will fill up Wembley? Of course not.

The goal, I guess, is to one day build towards having a European league that’s on par with the American league, and then having the winners of each league faceoff in a true international bowl.

Sounds great, but I don’t see it working. Here’s why: Europeans love their footy clubs because they grew up with them. Association football is often deeply intertwined with class and religious divides, and physical borders and boundaries (See: the Old Firm). Some of these teams’ subcultures and rivalries have boiled and simmered for over a century. Introduce a new sport without those deep-rooted rivalries, and well, just take a look at the empty seats during a MLS game and you’ll get the idea.

And we don’t necessarily want those same rivalries around our sport. A lot of European football hooliganism/firms/casuals/ultras/hardcores/whatever are tied to racism and fascism. The last thing we need is that spill over into American football.

I’ve been to the UK, and traveled Europe extensively. Despite what the NFL wants us to believe, Europeans do not give a damn about American football. Europeans care about our football less than we care about their football (though we’ve had some pretty good soccer teams in recent years that are worth caring about.)

I don’t have any actual numbers, but isn’t it expensive to fly an entire team, coaches, personnel and staff, over to London for a week? Is it really worth it? Will it be worth it when the novelty wears off, and attendance at Wembley begins to taper off? It’s one less game the diehard fans get to attend. You know, the fans that don’t go wild when a kicker boots the ball through the back of the end zone for a touchback.

(By the way, if you go to the nfllondon.net the lede story reads, “The 2011 NFL International Series game will see the Tampa Bay Buccaneets take on the Chicago Bears at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 23rd October 2011.”)