Five reasons the NFL should be coming to Australia, not England
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Carolina Panthers defensive end Thomas Keiser (98) chases Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford. AP Photo/The Detroit News, Daniel Mears
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This weekend, America’s favourite sport will be making its annual pilgrimage across the pond in an attempt to rake in a few bob and apologise for the NFL Europe debacle.
The game between St Louis and New England in the old dart is the latest in a long list of games to be taken to London, and with the Jacksonville Jaguars signing on to play a match at Wembley for the next four years, the English will be well serviced when it comes to getting their NFL fix.
But to paraphrase that song, what about us? Where’s our bloody match?
Sure England might have a powerful currency, huge supporter base, world class stadia and is far closer geographically to the US.
But, apart from all that unimportant level stuff, I think us Aussies would be a far better option to hosting some NFL action.
So, here are five reasons why the NFL should be coming to Australia, not England.
5. Better photo opportunities
Sports publicity rule number one when a visiting game is in town is to set up a cheesy photo shoot for star players.
Now London isn’t short of a landmark, I’ll pay that. But how does Buckingham Palace, the London Eye or Nelson’s Column compare to, say, a koala?
Exactly, it doesn’t. Organise for Tom Brady or Rob Gronkowski to get up close and personal with Blinky Bill and I can guarantee the whole junket would pretty much pay for itself.
4. Happy to board a bandwagon
One of the big reasons NFL team owners are happy for their boys to gallivant around the globe during the season is the goal of making their ‘brand’ global, much in the same way EPL clubs have done.
Now while the English market may be far bigger, are you really going to get Angry Andy from Arsenal and Terry Tough from Tottenham supporting the same team? Ha!
If any NFL team even winked slyly at Australia they would have 20 million instant fans and their quarterback would be racking up the OAMs in between getting called round the clock by Russell Crowe.
Just ask Leeds Utd.
3. Happy to put up with stupid team names
They’re pretty traditional about things in the mother country. Sure a couple of ‘Wildcats’ and ‘Lightning’ have crept into the country through Super League and county cricket, but in London where the round ball is king, most teams are named after some dire 18th century profession, with nouvea graphic designer nightmare logo to match.
Downunder though we’re not above a lurid clip-art club crest and absolutely adore ridiculous alliteration, so send Jacksonville over and they’ll be right at home.
None of that confusing promotion/relegation stuff either.
2. Better chance of securing potential talent
I don’t want to get into the whole Australian athletes are better than English, Ashes/Olympics/World Cup argument, because to date both Australian and English players have only had cameo appearances in the NFL.
In all fairness though England did have a side in an NFL associated competition for a number of years, while NFL investment in Australia talent has been extremely limited.
On top of this the fact that the top athletes in England can already potentially earn NFL style salaries in the EPL, something just not feasible in Australian sport, is another reason why NFL scouts would stand a better chance of securing the crème de la crème of our sporting talent.
Hell, we’ll even chuck in New Zealand and Samoa’s talent too.
1. Less moaning
Honestly, do NFL admin continually want to put themselves through the yearly agony of their English hosts moaning about players making divots in the surface just five months before the FA cup final, Teddy Roosevelt making too many changes to the game and the US being tardy in World War II?
It must be painful. Even C-grade American celebrities are treated like rock stars in Australia (see NRL pre-match entertainment) and our media will treat any NFL sides with the respect athletes of their calibre deserve.
So come on NFL, what do you say guys? Should I throw another shrimp on the barbie for 2013?
Ummm, guys?
Chris Chard is a sports humour writer commenting on the often absurd nature of professional sport. A rugby league fan boy with a good blend of youth and experience taking things one week at a time, Chris has written for The Roar, Rugby League Player Magazine, US Sports Downunder, the QRL and People. Tweet him @Vic_Arious
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October 27th 2012 @ 6:37am
Johnno said | October 27th 2012 @ 6:37am | Report comment
One thing that does surprise me is the NFL have never set up much scouting in NZ or even a gridiron high performance centre in NZ. SO much talant huge PI population. You’d think it would be a gold mine for them. and I am surpassed they the NFL do not attack Smaoa more formerly known as Western Samoa. Coz American Samoa has been huge production line for NFL.
October 27th 2012 @ 9:38am
MattRusty said | October 27th 2012 @ 9:38am | Report comment
Great comment, some diamonds could be in both NZ and Samoa and Tonga and Fiji…
October 28th 2012 @ 12:50pm
Chris Chard said | October 28th 2012 @ 12:50pm | Report comment
Hi Guys
i sort of touched on this topic in my article the other week http://www.theroar.com.au/2012/10/05/is-australia-a-potential-american-football-powerhouse/
Agree with what you’ve said, just competition for numbers I guess
Cheers
Chris
October 27th 2012 @ 6:54am
Monty String said | October 27th 2012 @ 6:54am | Report comment
One of the reasons they won’t come to Oz is because Aussies still call the sport gridiron. The game is played ON a gridiron, folks, and it’s called American football. And rugby and leaguies would bag it because they think padding is sissy although helmets and heavy shoulders pads don’t help the players much. The injuries are horrendous. Also, not a chance in hell of the game getting a foothold in Oz, not with three codes already in place plus a round ball code. It might work just as a one off if they played an exhibition in Hawaii on the way out. But all the way to Sydney is a long time to be away from fans and sponsors.
I was living in England during the early days of getting AF established there. The London Ravens were passable but everybody else was embarrassing. AF should stay where it is – on American TV and computer screens.
October 27th 2012 @ 9:37am
MattRusty said | October 27th 2012 @ 9:37am | Report comment
I think it might have more to do with money than what we call it. They would spend a few bucks on some PR which could quickly solve this problem if they thought it was of value.
October 27th 2012 @ 2:19pm
Chris @ the Old Barbershop said | October 27th 2012 @ 2:19pm | Report comment
It is still called Gridiron in the US as well. I think Australias’ national body went with Gridiron in their name because Australian American Football Association or whatever was a little confusing no? Especially with soccer changing their name as well.
You are right about the ignorance of padding and helmets though. I explain to people that in the Rugby codes nearly always you know where the defence will be coming from. Not so in the American or Canadien game. You may be running one way while looking for the ball coming from another and the defence can come from anywhere or everywhere.
October 27th 2012 @ 2:30pm
Ryan O'Connell said | October 27th 2012 @ 2:30pm | Report comment
It was interesting to read Colin Scott’s autobiography, in which he highlighted the myth that American football players wear padding and helmets for protection, when in fact, they wear that equipment to transform themselves into a “human missile” with the objective of causing as much damage as possible to your opponent.
October 27th 2012 @ 10:47pm
Timmuh said | October 27th 2012 @ 10:47pm | Report comment
Most of the country can’t get the name of Australian Football (also AF) right, while the other half call Rugby League “rugby”, and much to annoyance of many their following most of us call Association Football (AF again) “soccer” to differentiated from whichever football is locally dominant . What chance is there that we would get Amrican Football right?
October 27th 2012 @ 7:36am
Bob Anderson said | October 27th 2012 @ 7:36am | Report comment
Pretty funny article, I’ll admit. On the other hand, I’m an American and have grown absolutely sick of [American] football over the years. Its a three hours plus long series of commercials occasionally interrupted by 11 or so minutes of gameplay (or is it four hours by now, games keep getting longer to fit in more ads). The world already has a boring “world game,” not sure why it needs another one.
October 27th 2012 @ 10:15am
Ryan O'Connell said | October 27th 2012 @ 10:15am | Report comment
I’m sure the Barmy Army will have some ripper songs for a team called ‘New England’. . .
(Meanwhile, Aussies will be shouting “Pats, Pats, Pats, oi, oi, oi!”. . .hhmm. . . , perhaps I just have a reason for the NFL and the Pats TO go to London.)
October 27th 2012 @ 6:09pm
Minz said | October 27th 2012 @ 6:09pm | Report comment
I went to an American football match, sat next to a guy who’d been a season ticket holder since the 70s and he said the same thing. Have you tried Canadian football? I like American football, but Canadian football is better as it’s lacking the flaw you mention (plus, I’m a fan of less professionalism in sports…).
October 28th 2012 @ 12:57pm
Chris Chard said | October 28th 2012 @ 12:57pm | Report comment
Ha ha go the rouge!
Yeh Canadian football is a bloody great game, the 3 downs means there’s no wasted plays.
It’s just with all the cream going to play in the NFL it’s pretty hard for the sport to jump out of American football’s shadow
Still, go the Eskimos!
Cheers
CC
October 27th 2012 @ 8:35am
OttawaSteve said | October 27th 2012 @ 8:35am | Report comment
I think that the NFL would love to play in Oz, but there are already complaints about jetlag and London is only five hours away. No way they would play a regular season game that far away.
And note to those thinking that the NFL could mine the talent down under. For kickers, yes, but with zero experience in the game, there are very few, if any athletes that could ever play a regular position. Way too much to learn to make it worthwhile. There are Samoans in the NFL, but they play from a younger age.
October 27th 2012 @ 11:04am
Al said | October 27th 2012 @ 11:04am | Report comment
The nfl came to aus in 1999, the most interesting part of the event occurred when the crowd chanted “boring” in unison over and over.
October 27th 2012 @ 12:55pm
eagleJack said | October 27th 2012 @ 12:55pm | Report comment
I went to the game. Broncos v Chargers. Hands down the worst sporting event I have ever attended.
October 27th 2012 @ 1:30pm
Ryan O'Connell said | October 27th 2012 @ 1:30pm | Report comment
To be fair, it was an exhibition match. Considering one of the the major attributes of American football (or any professional sport for that matter) is the intensity, you shouldn’t judge the spectacle of a sport on a pre-season game.
I went to a NY Giants vs Arizona Cardinals match in NY a few years ago, and it was one of the greatest sporting events I’ve attended, despite the game itself not being the highest quality.
Having said, part of the reason the NFL is so great is how much the fans get into it. The passion rivals the EPL, or the AFL here. When you take that away, as you do when you take the game to a foreign market, you lose a big part of what the game is all about. Fans are there out of curiosity, not support.
October 27th 2012 @ 2:12pm
eagleJack said | October 27th 2012 @ 2:12pm | Report comment
Agree Ryan the atmosphere is essential to any sporting event. My experience at Homebush certainly didn’t turn me off the game. Catching an NFL game in the US is still very high on my priority list.
Years ago when in Canada I went to a Calgary Flames v Edmonton Oilers NHL game. Had zero interest in the sport prior to that. But the atmosphere and spectacle converted me and it was close to the best event I have ever been to. Im quite certain the same game played in Sydney would not have even come close to producing the same level of entertainment.
October 28th 2012 @ 12:59pm
Chris Chard said | October 28th 2012 @ 12:59pm | Report comment
Be honest Ryan, you didn’t make it out of the Tailgate party did you ha ha?
Yeh it’s a top game to see live…when I took my wife though she was a bit disappointed that there was no ‘yellow line’ on the gridiron ha ha
Cheers
CC
October 28th 2012 @ 1:58pm
Ryan O'Connell said | October 28th 2012 @ 1:58pm | Report comment
I’ve never seen anything like those tailgate parties. They’re insane. There are hundreds of people that don’t even go to the game!! They watch it on massive plasma screens attached to their trucks, whilst they get “deleted” on Buds!
October 27th 2012 @ 12:20pm
Dingo said | October 27th 2012 @ 12:20pm | Report comment
I like the last reason (#1), Less moaning.
Irony surely, Chris. You are talking about Australians you know. If whingeing ,whining and moaning were Olympic sports we would sweep the medal pool. It’s hard to find anyone these days who hasn’t got something insignificant to moan about, regardless of how minimal an impact it will have on them, let alone another sport that might be trying to generate some interest outside of its heartland.
We are all well aware of the moaning that goes on when that happens.
I’ll stop now before I’m accused of moaning about people moaning.
October 27th 2012 @ 12:34pm
Steve said | October 27th 2012 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
Great article,
as Homer Simpson used to say, it’s funny because it’s [largely] true.
The only thing you did miss out, is that in England people who aren’t interested in AF just wouldn’t watch it, whereas in Australia there’d be newspaper columns bagging it, people arguing about spectator statistics and TV viewing figures, arguments about which game is ‘the World game’, ‘Australia’s game’ and variants thereof; Rebecca Wilson would gripe about it on Offsiders; Campo would write an article about how American Football was responsible for weaknesses in the Wallabies’ passing game etc.
I think that would be enough to scare anybody off.
October 28th 2012 @ 1:02pm
Chris Chard said | October 28th 2012 @ 1:02pm | Report comment
Post of the day Steve!
I can see the headlines if the game was played in Sydney; ‘NFLs WAR ON RUGBY LEAGUE!
October 27th 2012 @ 12:35pm
Dan said | October 27th 2012 @ 12:35pm | Report comment
Time difference will be prohibitive. To roll in prime time in the US, it will have to kick off at 10am AEST.
October 27th 2012 @ 1:19pm
CPTNMRGN said | October 27th 2012 @ 1:19pm | Report comment
1. The NFL wouldn’t consider it because the travel would be extremely disruptive and undesirable to teams in the regular season.
2. The difference in time zones would wreak havoc on the scheduling for TV and many other reasons. With such drasic time difference, teams would be thrown off and definitely hindered. No owners would agree to it.
3. The one game that was played in Australia was a pretty expendable preseason opener between the Chargers and the Broncos. That’s the only type of game that they would ever have considered.
October 27th 2012 @ 2:32pm
Terry Tavita said | October 27th 2012 @ 2:32pm | Report comment
digby would make an awesome running back..