PatsBlog: A Patriots Blog

The NFL announced today the shutting down of NFL Europa, leaving many German fans without their pigskin fix.  Going the way of the dodo, the XFL, Professional Women’s Soccer, the Canadian Baseball League, the Negro Leagues, and the United Soccer League.  The NFL brass put a positive spin on the decision saying that more focus will be put on the top flight NFL playing regular season games abroad. 

          The concept of spreading American football abroad intrigues me and I see a connection between this and the development of soccer in America.  World class soccer teams come every summer for exhibition games in New York, New England, Utah, Los Angeles and other places and people do follow soccer leagues in Europe on cable.  But the real hope for more interest in American soccer is the success of the MLS.

         Having more regular season NFL games played abroad can help but it can only be a stepping stone to create a large enough market for domestic leagues abroad, with domestic talent from those countries participating.  I think this is definitely an uphill climb for the NFL, since European cultures seem to only agree on soccer and, to a lesser extent, basketball, and both those sports have a similar structure. 

        I do hope more people abroad can learn the game because it is great fun to watch. As the most popular sport in America I can’t see any reason why more people around the world should not catch on to football. 

       After all, its a hell of a lot more entertaining than cricket.