SuperBowl to head out of US?

[LadyStanley]

Holding a Super Bowl outside the US is a possibility, NFL Commissioner Goodell says

The NFL's aggressive international growth plan could include holding a Super Bowl outside the United States for the first time, Commissioner Roger Goodell said Saturday. Goodell has shot down the idea in the past, but he told a fan forum in London that it's a possibility. “We’ve always...

sports.yahoo.com

Goodell says maybe

Have to wonder how sponsors feel about that.

Click to read more...

 

[HisIceness]

I have a feeling that wouldn't go over well.

 

[CTHabsfan]

Holding a Super Bowl outside the US is a possibility, NFL Commissioner Goodell says

The NFL's aggressive international growth plan could include holding a Super Bowl outside the United States for the first time, Commissioner Roger Goodell said Saturday. Goodell has shot down the idea in the past, but he told a fan forum in London that it's a possibility. “We’ve always...

sports.yahoo.com

Goodell says maybe

Have to wonder how sponsors feel about that.

I can't imagine sponsors being on-board. Official kickoff time is 6:30 PM Eastern and gameplay typically starts about 20 minutes later due to pre-game ceremonies. A game starting 6:50 PM in London starts at 1:50 PM in New York and 10:50 AM in Los Angeles (or 12:50 PM and 9:50 AM if in Germany or France). There's no way you could have a game in Europe where fans would want to attend while being shown in primetime in the States.

 

[Brodie]

There is no way to televise a game whose primary audience is in the United States at a reasonable time from the UK. You would have to shift kickoff to 1 pm EST at the latest, which is 10 am PST. You'd tank the ratings and the value to advertisers.

Like every other idea Goodell has on the next phase of international growth, this is riddled with logistical issues and will perpetually remain a "maybe in 10 years..." concept. The simple reality is that Goodell is continually out over his skis on this issue and he will likely have retired long before any of the fundamental problems with further integrating overseas markets can be resolved (and it isn't clear to me that the next person in his chair will have the same gung-ho obsession with growing the game that he does). Expanding the schedule to 18 games will allow for additional European games per season, which will likely remain lucrative for the league. That will probably be enough for the foreseeable future.

 

[GKJ]

The US sponsors won’t care, whichever ones do will lose their place. The game will lose zero ratings by starting earlier. Might even do better since people won’t have to stay up as late, and whichever fans win can celebrate earlier. Fans getting from the US to the game, that will be a pain. But they won’t be when they’re sitting on the plane headed for Europe.

 

[Bjorn Le]

If Godell is saying this, it’s a pretty good chance the NFL already knows what years they will want to try a London Super Bowl. Could even be in the first year of a London expansion team or the year before a London expansion team starts playing.

Since the Super Bowl is on Sunday, it is not really a problem to have the game start midday.

Anyways, the NFL seems to have very long timelines for things they’re interested in. This is likely something, if it were to happen, were to occur in the early 2030s.

 

[CTHabsfan]

The US sponsors won’t care, whichever ones do will lose their place. The game will lose zero ratings by starting earlier. Might even do better since people won’t have to stay up as late, and whichever fans win can celebrate earlier. Fans getting from the US to the game, that will be a pain. But they won’t be when they’re sitting on the plane headed for Europe.

The Super Bowl is typically the most-watched TV program in the U.S., and it has consistently been the most-watched U.S. TV program, year after year. The NFL would make kick-off earlier if they thought it would result in even better ratings, since they would be able to command even higher ad rates. Fair to say, the NFL doesn't agree with your opinion on game time.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

I doubt it. The NFL loves flexing their muscles with the Super Bowl and exerting extremely generous deals out of local municipalities to host them. London is way too big and the NFL is way too far down on their radar for the city to give enough of a **** to give anything to the NFL more than an affirmative nod. The NFL suits aren't going to get the royal treatment they've gotten accustomed to from American cities that want to host.

 

[GKJ]

The Super Bowl is typically the most-watched TV program in the U.S., and it has consistently been the most-watched U.S. TV program, year after year. The NFL would make kick-off earlier if they thought it would result in even better ratings, since they would be able to command even higher ad rates. Fair to say, the NFL doesn't agree with your opinion on game time.

The networks want to do 8 hours of pregame and have a strong lead out. If airing the game earlier, with an international audience engaged, because they’re at an international site, they’re going to do what they are going to do. They could air this game at 4am, and it will still be the highest rated program in the US. Doing something like this is an investment, and would likely be worth it in growing an international audience.

 

[Takuto Maruki]

Like every other idea Goodell has on the next phase of international growth, this is riddled with logistical issues and will perpetually remain a "maybe in 10 years..." concept. The simple reality is that Goodell is continually out over his skis on this issue and he will likely have retired long before any of the fundamental problems with further integrating overseas markets can be resolved (and it isn't clear to me that the next person in his chair will have the same gung-ho obsession with growing the game that he does). Expanding the schedule to 18 games will allow for additional European games per season, which will likely remain lucrative for the league. That will probably be enough for the foreseeable future.

And this is what gets me about the 'international growth' aspect of it all. Forgetting that most of the 'international growth' comes from American servicemen and their families in specific hot spots with US bases (so specifically Germany, South Korea, etc) or states that are defacto American colonies (American Samoa, etc) how much more do you realistically think you can grow in these places, considering that Canada and Australia already have their own forms of football, and don't exactly want to have the mothership utterly trample and make those forms of football moot?

So much of the NFL's desires for international growth just seems to me like trying to fight God (or in this case, actual logistics and time zones) and also sequestering the Jags to London twice a year because Shad Khan has his fingers in the pie of Fulham.

 

[Brodie]

After reading some of these replies, I went back to the archives to find lots of posters in this very thread credulously discussing how the NFL was *guaranteed* to have a team in London by 2022... in threads more than a decade old. None of this stuff is new, and it's frankly hilarious that some of you have thought this was imminent for the past 15 years. Here is what I said 9 years ago(!) on the subject:

there is only way for the NFL to grow the sport and it's power internationally: spread these regular season games around, like the American Bowl was spread around (this was the original plan for the International Series before Goodell became obsessed with London) and invest like hell in developing infrastructure. But that isn't sexy and it doesn't allow you to dream up a scenario where football is in the Olympics within your lifetime, so it doesn't fit with Goodell's egomania.

Lo and behold! There is no London NFL team, there has been no movement toward a London NFL team. There has been no London Super Bowl, there has been no movement toward a London Super Bowl. Instead the boring, logical and extremely practical idea of more games overseas in more markets is, indeed, proving to be the best path toward increasing revenue and slowly growing the sport.

 

[Brodie]

So much of the NFL's desires for international growth just seems to me like trying to fight God (or in this case, actual logistics and time zones) and also sequestering the Jags to London twice a year because Shad Khan has his fingers in the pie of Fulham.

There were reports a long time ago that Goodell's pitch to owners had more or less boiled down to "see how English soccer teams are the most well known and valuable sports brands outside of the NFL? Well, if we get into the English market, that'll open us up to China and Africa and the Middle East by proxy!"... it was a silly idea then, it's an even sillier idea now. I've always maintained it was only a matter of time before the owners wised up and started asking why they should pin all their international growth hopes and dreams on one city in one country when evidence already suggested there were markets in Latin America and Germany. And here we are... with the NFL finally doing the thing they should've done a decade ago and tapping those markets.

At the end of the day, getting to see a cavalcade of teams come through London and Berlin and Mexico City and Rio every single year is a better bet than saying "hey London, ready to get hype for your big rivalry game with Indianapolis and a full slate of AFC matchups?!" ever would be. This way, you can get Packers fans on the continent to spur demand when they're overseas, Steelers fans when they are, Patriots fans when they are, etc. The value is MUCH greater.