NFL continues American football export drive to UK

clive bradbury · 10-27-12, 05:19 PM

Actually, I would argue that American Football is a significant minority sport in the UK. There are far more fans than you realise - the Wembley game is pretty much always sold out.

There are also leagues across the country, so there are also a fair few UK players, although obviously our home grown sports dominate.

We get pretty good TV coverage, too. Three NFL games every Sunday, Monday night football, and college games. All on satellite, but the Superbowl is also covered on terrestrial TV. By the way, Takeda, the scoring system is not bizarre to any Englishman - with the exception of the safety you simply stole it all from rugby...

There has been much talk about a NFL Wembley franchise, but the recession seems to have put paid to that for now. I hear, though, that Jacksonville are to play a regular 'home' fixture at Wembley in the next couple of seasons.

It is a bit of a shame that recent games have tended to be mis-matches. Not always the case, though - Saints v Chargers a few years ago was a cracker. The choice of teams recently has made me reluctant to buy tickets, as I want to see a competitive match.

10-27-12, 05:19 PM	#20
clive bradbury Captain Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: stoke-on-trent, UK Posts: 492 Downloads: 105 Uploads: 0	Actually, I would argue that American Football is a significant minority sport in the UK. There are far more fans than you realise - the Wembley game is pretty much always sold out. There are also leagues across the country, so there are also a fair few UK players, although obviously our home grown sports dominate. We get pretty good TV coverage, too. Three NFL games every Sunday, Monday night football, and college games. All on satellite, but the Superbowl is also covered on terrestrial TV. By the way, Takeda, the scoring system is not bizarre to any Englishman - with the exception of the safety you simply stole it all from rugby... There has been much talk about a NFL Wembley franchise, but the recession seems to have put paid to that for now. I hear, though, that Jacksonville are to play a regular 'home' fixture at Wembley in the next couple of seasons. It is a bit of a shame that recent games have tended to be mis-matches. Not always the case, though - Saints v Chargers a few years ago was a cracker. The choice of teams recently has made me reluctant to buy tickets, as I want to see a competitive match.