NFL a hot ticket in London

[AR182]

i read that there is talk that the nfl is thinking about eliminating 1 pre-season game & adding a 17th game with each team playing 1 game in a foreign country...i can see why with the speed of ticket sales for this game..


First regular-season game overseas selling well


LONDON (AP) -- The first regular season NFL game outside North America is shaping up as a hot ticket.

The first 40,000 tickets for the Oct. 28 game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants at the new Wembley Stadium sold in 90 minutes Wednesday.

"The speed in which such a large number of tickets were snapped up ... demonstrates the great excitement and appetite for the game in this country," said Alistair Kirkwood, managing director of NFL UK. "We know that the last few tickets available in this first batch will be gone very soon."

The first batch of tickets went to fans in Britain and the rest of Europe selected randomly from registered ticket requests.

Sales in the United States to Giants and Dolphins fans are expected to begin within a week. Further tickets will be released to fans in Britain next month.

About 10,000 fans are expected to travel from the United States, a fraction of the anticipated sellout crowd of 90,000.

Prices range from about US$90 (euro66.50) to US$180 (euro133), using a pricing structure similar to this weekend's FA Cup final between Manchester United and Chelsea.

 

[AR182]

Adding a 17th game is a negative...

Adding a 17th game is a negative...

i basically agree with this guy...

Adam Schein / FOXSports.com


As early as the 2009 season, we could be looking at every NFL team playing at least one game abroad. Places such as London, Toronto, Mexico City, Berlin, could be hosting a regular-season game.

The league could also add a 17th game to every team's slate.

I have major problems with this plan all around.

And if you survey players, coaches, and fans alike, they're not going to be happy with the implementation.

There are so many logistical and travel nightmares in the plan. One part of the plan that has been discussed is having Wembley Stadium in London house a game every month during the NFL season. Don't you think it would be a major disadvantage to the teams traveling abroad in December, in terms of messing up their practice time and their routine? And that's in addition to the jetlag and clock adjustment associated with such a trip.

Coaches shouldn't have to have their practice schedules disrupted by a trip abroad. It's bad enough that teams have to go on the road in December after just a day-and-a-half of practice to accommodate Thursday night football. A trip to another country is absurd.

Part of the plan that has been floated out there is that the league will cut the number of preseason games to three. So starters, who barely play in the preseason games, will now have to throw their body around for an extra four quarters? What about the injury factor?

It's one thing when you have to go cross country to Buffalo or Seattle. Flying to Berlin is a totally different set of circumstances.

And when are these games going to start? Will the start times for the games in London and Berlin, and maybe China and Japan, be chosen to accommodate the new fan bases in other countries or the die-hard viewing public back in the United States? Since you know this move is solely about money, you know the answer. I have a problem with NFL fans in American being forced to watch their teams at odd times. There is a five-hour time difference between the east coast of the United States and London. It's six hours in Berlin. That's insane.

The league is brilliantly and crisply divided up into four quarters right now. Think of the drama over the final four games that gets the deserving teams into the playoffs. You don't need to give a team, like the Bengals or Broncos last year, an extra opportunity to salvage a season. And the league schedule is perfectly divided right now. You play six games within your division, then eight games against two assigned divisions and finally two based on where you finished the year before. I like the fact that there is no more "last-place schedule" with parity so in vogue. Adding a 17th game would give the schedule another game based on the records the year before and that's foolish.

And a 17th game would equal a significant change in scheduling. For the last few years, no NFL game has been played on Labor Day weekend. And that was a shrewd adjustment. Families take one last summer weekend with the kids before school starts. Historically, attendance and ratings numbers were relatively poor Labor Day weekend. So the NFL rightly made the adjustment to start after Labor Day. And now that intelligent line of thinking will go out the window to add a 17th game. Or if the league continues to start its slate after Labor Day, the idea has been floated that maybe the NFL would give up the bye week in between the championship games and the Super Bowl. But given the money the networks paid for NFL rights, it's doubtful they'd be particularly happy about giving up the Super Bowl during February sweeps. So there's a flaw in that plan.

In talking to Roger Goodell at the NFL draft, I know how strongly he feels about growing the game globally. And I believe in globalization of the NFL. But you can do it via the preseason, with a game or so abroad every year.

I dislike the current concept of two teams every year playing a game abroad. The Dolphins fans lose a home game this year. And the Dolphins are the only team that won't get eight home games. That disrupts competitive balance.

You surely don't have to mess with the NFL schedule to promote the game in other countries.

The NFL is king right now. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel.