NFL in England

[Firkinvald]

Recently, the NFL has reached agreement to play more games in England.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...kenham-stadium

I was wondering what that experience is like.

[scozy]

No offence, but you have forgotten to include "I have never attended a game, and am not a fan of American football."

[Firkinvald]

Originally Posted by scozy

No offence, but you have forgotten to include "I have never attended a game, and am not a fan of American football."

I suppose I could have added that, but I am trying to determine if my next visti to the UK should include attending an NFL game.

[tom the pit leader]

Have you ever seen an American football game on TV?

[mojo882]

my friend at work went to a game, he said it was great, he liked the t-shirt cannons hah, how murican

[Watcher]

Its an interesting thought but they need like 2 million fans in a local to get a team fully I think.

[tom the pit leader]

I think while the action is going, American football is more exciting than soccer. I also think the theory and strategy of American football is more interesting.


But there's a ton of down time in American football as well.

[Watcher]

I've seen both live and both are fun in their own right. I definitely ate more during American football.

and during American Baseball oh man. They don't call it a beer in every hand and a new one every few innings for nothing.

My poor younger bro was cute. He thought those 2 beers were going to be split between us. Nope. That was just inning 1.

[tom the pit leader]

Originally Posted by Watcher

I've seen both live and both are fun in their own right. I definitely ate more during American football.

and during American Baseball oh man. They don't call it a beer in every hand and a new one every few innings for nothing.

My poor younger bro was cute. He thought those 2 beers were going to be split between us. Nope. That was just inning 1.

American baseball is only slightly higher speed than my other hobby: glacier racing.

[Regent Pancras]

Football (soccer) is the prominent sport in England. No other sport comes anywhere close to either the fan-base, mass participation or media coverage. Cricket and Rugby Union are long 2nd and 3rd in popularity - although they rarely compete - Cricket is a summer sport and Rugby a winter one - in fact many towns share facilities like changing rooms between the two as they vary rarely have fixtures at the same time.

American Football has had its status raised by the annual games at Wembley and the new deal to take it to Twickenham is a very exciting one. It is still very much a minority sport with very little participation - and none in schools and colleges.

It's probably unlikely to ever get beyond that status in England - the main problem with it becoming popular is few people understand the rules even though they are quite easy to pick up once you start actually studying the game.

I think they will have no problem getting fans to go to the games at Twickenham but it is likely to be as fans of the game, not as fans of the teams playing on the pitch which takes some of the soul away.

It is unthinkable for two premiership football teams to play competitive matches overseas - the fans would be in open revolt. So don't expect Manchester United v Arsenal at LA Galaxy in the near future...