The NFL held another regular season game in London today between the San Diego Chargers and the New Orleans Saints. The game sold out for the second year in a row and was truly Last year's game turned out to be a low-scoring, defensive battle so was it a coincidence when the NFL decided to pit two of the most prolific offenses in the league for this year's game? Not at all and those teams delivered exactly what the NFL wanted, an exciting game. The fans in London even got to see a safety! It's still hard to tell what they are trying to get from these games. Obviously they are trying to spread their brand across the world but plans to place teams in Europe have never been talked about like by other leagues (NBA, Arena Football). There were talks last year about the possibility of the Super Bowl being played in Europe at some point in the distant future. Next year will see an exhibition game played in Beijing, China. I believe China is really the marketplace that the NFL needs to focus more on. While games do sell out in London, it was apparent during the NFL Europe years that Germany is truly the only European country that enjoys American football.
The idea that I find most interesting is that of having every team play a game outside of the United States. Instead of having 4 preseason games and 16 regular season games, teams would play 3 preseason games and 17 regular season games, with one of these games being played in another country. Other sites that could host these games include Germany, Mexico and Canada. This is concept is very intriguing to me. I believe this is one idea that could actually boost the popularity of the sport around the world.
How do you feel about teams playing regular season games in other countries? Post in the comments section and let your voice be heard!
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