The NFL is smitten with Europe.
If you have a few million extra euro lying around and you are an entertainment promoter in France or in Spain, the National Football League would like to hear from you. The league is of the opinion that England and Germany cannot get enough of American football and the league is certain that Paris or Barcelona or Madrid might be the next logical place to set up shop on the European continent. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has teased Europe saying he could envision a four-team division with two franchises in London sometime in the future. That was the same dream National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern had two decades ago. That did not happen. The NFL has a four-game deal with German promoters to stage games in Munich and Frankfurt through 2025 and Goodell is of the opinion that deal could be expanded. An NFL spokesman claimed that Germany has surpassed England as the NFL’s largest European market.
Before the NFL goes into Barcelona or Madrid or Paris or Stockholm, Sweden, the league needs to do some due diligence and find partners who believe in the NFL product so much that those partners can sell American football which is not widely played in Barcelona, Madrid, Paris and Stockholm. Will there be local government support? Will there be corporate support? Just two questions that need answers. The NFL can sell its product as an annual event. Buy your ticket, watch a game, tailgate, drink, bet, scream and have an expensive five-hour day. It is just one day out of 365 or 366 except in London where its multiple games over a month of a year. Barcelona has had various forms of American football with NFL sponsored spring leagues. National Football League owners see euros in Europe, pounds in England and maybe a krona in Sweden, it is all about cash.
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Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
