London Calling: The Globalization of the NFL

Overall, the globalization of the NFL in London would be cool. However, it is not realistic. The NFL is succeeding  in the US without it having to go to London. The organization makes more than enough revenue here due, to how popular it has become over the years.

However, the NFL is so keen on expanding its organization solely on the hope of gaining more revenue. The organization chose London because it is an "internationally renowned city", and the fact that Wembley Stadium  is easily accessible only would help bring in that much more revenue. This way people from all over Europe can attend the games. Although, this would attract all different Europeans, the likelihood of the stadium filling up like they would in the US is unlikely. The factors that are facilitating
the expansion of the NFL tends to lean towards the fact that some NFL team owner's also own a percentage of the English Premier Leagues. For example, as stated in an article by The New York Times, "Randy Lerner of the Cleveland Browns has bought into Aston Villa, and Stan Kroenke of the St. Louis Rams also owns 12 per cent of Arsenal, the North London team" (New York Times). Even though, these guys think this is the gateway into expanding the NFL in London the disadvantages outweigh the advantages of expansion. For instance, the travel time to go overseas not only takes a toll on the athletes physically, it also takes a significant amount of time out of their schedules for a single game. Not to mention, the living costs are more expensive, so the athletes salaries would have to be higher, the schedules would have to completely change just so that playing in the US/London would be possible. This is when the idea of building a facility in the US for the London team came up. Even though, that would be helpful, and logical the only place this would be remotely possible would be Orlando, Florida, but then again it  still takes away from other NFL teams.

Also, this expansions could come with serious consequences, and the consequences could really hurt the athletes. With the no guarantee of a resign of players contracts after a year could make the move and playing for the team not even worth it at all. In my opinion, no athlete in their right mind is going to risk everything for a team that might not even resign them especially with all the other disadvantages. Organizations tend to talk players into contracts that are focused on benefiting their interests more than the players. Due to, all the disadvantages of the NFL expanding into London, it is unrealistic, however the proponents will continue their campaign for the expansion.


Reference: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/sports/football/26vecsey.html?_r=0