Over the last few years we’ve seen the NFL try to expand outside the US, with London at the forefront of this expansion. The UK capital has hosted regular season games at Wembley Stadium every year since 2007.
This season we’ll see three regular season games played in London, with the Jacksonville Jaguars hosting one regular season game in London for four years as of last year.
So what does this mean for Australia? Could we see NFL games, even if they’re just pre-season games, being held in Australia? Can the NFL attract 80,000-plus people to a game in Australia as they have at Wembley Stadium?
The NFL has come down under before, back in 1999 when the Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers gave Sydney a taste of NFL action. It’s about time the NFL came back, right?
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, acting New South Wales Minister for Sport, Stuart Ayers, has outlined a plan to bring NFL, NBA and NHL games to Sydney on the back of the success of the MLB series last year.
Queensland premier Campbell Newman has also expressed a desire to bring a game to Brisbane, but at this point you’d have to say Sydney is more likely to get an NFL game.
There is also a petition to bring a game to Australia.
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has endorsed a game being played here, as well as Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Shariff Floyd.
If the NFL really is serious about growing the game globally, it has to show it has countries other than the UK in mind. What better way to make their mark than a pre-season game held in Sydney within the next five years?
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
Bring it to Queensland – Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane or cBus Super stadium on the GC are brilliant venues to watch anything that requires a rectangular field.
Liam
Guest
ANZ is a terrible stadium to watch anything at.
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
Melbourne has a better stadium for NFL than Sydney? LOL
Liam
Guest
Melbourne is a much better option than Sydney. Better sports culture and better stadium. An NFL game would easily get 95-100,000 people at the MCG
Jared
Roar Pro
While I love the idea, I cant see the NFL agreeing to it. At best we would get a preseason week 1 game. Australia is not a big enough market to justify it imo. The cost and inconvenience to the teams would be a very hard sell. I couldn't see owners or the players union agreeing to it. An NBA game would be so much more doable. They have 82 games in a season and only have an active roster of 12 players per team, meaning they would have more flexibility in their schedule and ease of moving a team 24 hours compared to the NFL. Plus you have the promoters dream of Patty Mills, Dante Exum and even Andrew Bogut who would draw crowds. Plus we have established national basketball competition with stadiums that would not need to be heavily altered to cater for the sport. I love the NFL but I wouldn't want a game played over here that counted in regular season or that disrupted preparation for the season for my team.