Are you bothered by this ?

Personally I think the Superbowl should stop being a traveling circus and just find somewhere and settle down.

About London, I can't fault them for it really. The NFL would love nothing more than for their game to become a global sport like soccer.

 

The more I think about it the more I don't like it. While most average fans can't get into the Superbowl already having it in London makes it almost impossible for fans of the teams in it to get to it.

Another problem is that a soccer pitch isn't the same as a football field and the games played in Wembley the conditions haven't been good. I would rather have America's premiere sporting event actually played on a field meant for it.

Also I think American football is more of a novelty to Britain and while having the Superbowl there will be lucrative it won't have the same meaning to them as it will to Americans. If the NFL wants to have a game that will be lucrative in London while showcasing the best of the NFL they should have the Pro-Bowl there.

 

Can you imagine the Champions League final being played in the USA? Of course not...so why should the NFL play the Super Bowl over there? Sure it will attract a new fan base, but it is also pissing on the current one.

 

Am I confused or is Adoo confused or am I confused because Adoo's confused?

 

They are holding Super Bowls in Jacksonville, Indianapolis, and Detroit. I'd rather see London on TV than those cesspools. And the only way any of us are seeing the game is on TV anyway. The Superbowl stopped being about the fans a few decades back. The only way you go nowadays is if you are a celebrity or TV/NFL big shot. Weren't tickets between 2 and 10 grand a pop last year?

 

I don't understand why it would be upsetting to most NFL fans if the game is held overseas. I mean the average NFL season ticket holder doesn't attend the Super Bowl anyways. Its all corporate NFL fans attending these games nowadays. What difference would it be to the home television viewer if the game was held in Phoenix or London? To me its all the same.

 

There has been thoughts about this since for Super Bowl 50. There was a hope to get it in LA but the league is loosing hope it. It may seen silly but not many teams are running to get the 50 SB simply because of the roman numerals for 50 simply L.

 

I'd rather it be held in Toronto than London if they're dead-set on having an international game. Toronto has proven that it is a market ready for the NFL and it looks more and more like the Bills will move there eventually. Secondly, it's on this continent and is "close" to Buffalo, Detroit, and New York City (at least closer than London). The only issue would be facilities; Rogers Centre is old and I'm sure the NFL would be looking for a show of support, both from fans and the city.

That being said, I've heard people toss around the idea of a few cities constantly rotating the game instead of a few outliers like Detroit, Jacksonville, and, yes, Houston (why do you think they're so reluctant to give us another one?). Cities like San Diego and Miami certainly deserve the game and get it a lot based on locale. However, I am a fan of the outlier system. I get tire of seeing Miami and Tampa Bay get the game all of the time. Some of the best Super Bowls have been played in unexpected places like Phoenix and Houston.

However, cities like the latter do seem to spend way too much money getting the game, building entertainment options that are never fully realized, and are not considered ever again. Place like New Orleans have ready-to-go entertainment districts and can support (and want) large influxes of people. Detroit? I'm not so sure.

All in all, I think the London idea is bad. Toronto (heck, even Mexico City if they're going for novelty) are better options. Both have had regular season games played there and have the facilities. London would never work as a competitive city in any American league.

 

I’m afraid that you’ve been given some very bad information about the Toronto situation. The two games held there have been a complete disaster. Neither one came close to selling out, even on paper, and the most credible reports suggest that only around 30,000 tickets were actually sold for each game, and that about 17,000 tickets for each game were handed out for free. For the exhibition game Rogers employees were running around downtown Toronto before the game handing out tickets for free to random people on the street. That’s been confirmed by a number of media people. The actual demand may be well under 30,000, however, because scalpers bought a lot of tickets and lost a fortune. For the first game there were scalpers dumping tickets on game day for 10% of face value. For the regular season game hundreds, probably thousands, of tickets were expiring on eBay without a single bid being place on them.

None of this is a surprise. Toronto is not a football city, and it’s a terrible sports city in general for any team but the Leafs. The surprise is that the NFL got involved in this. It seems to me that Roger Goodell has made some very questionable decisions in recent years, and holding the SB in London seems like another bad idea to me. I think the SB should be held in a place where the fans really know and love the sport, somewhere in the US.

 

that's the only reason i'd care....the kickoff time. otherwise, it's just another super bowl i'd be watching on TV.

 

I am quite sure the kickoff time would be set up for the United States. I don't know where adoo got his 11:00 PM EST kickoff because that would be around 4:00 AM in London.

 

some people are upset about them moving a revenue generating event for american cities to a foreign city especially when close to all revenue for the league is generated over here.

 

I'm guessing he meant 11 a.m.

Super Bowls traditionally start around 5 pm here (central time), right? So that means it starts at 11:00 pm. London time, right?

My guess is we'd be looking at a noon kickoff...which means the NFL doesn't get its all-day Super Bowl media pre-game blitz.

 

it seems to me it would just start earlier in the day. not sure where adoo got his times.

 

Thanks for clearing that up. I had no idea the attendance was so low, especially considering the rumors always circling the Bills. The media paints a picture here that Toronto supports most teams (the Blue Jays have been around for a while and the Toronto FC is one of the best fanbases in MLS), but I've also heard that it was Leafs first, everybody else second.

 

I don't think so - when they do events that are expected to have large american audiences (boxing matches come to mind) they will start them late in local time.

 

I think it is much adoo about nothing.

 

I think the adoo is well deserved. Let the NFL become established in Britain and then talk about it. In other words, let them earn a Super Bowl.