I’m sure this opinion will be popular. Look. I miss the hard hitting old time rock em sock em football just as much as the rest of you guys. I put on the pro bowl for 10 minutes and was absolutely disgusted with that flag football ,all the players laughing it up every 10 seconds,I mean people actually paid money for this crap? And flag football is going to be an Olympic sport?
Now with all this being said.....this is a business. The job of a business is to make money. Hopefully do it with ethics’s,create employment,put out a good product,be an asset to their community,treat and pay their employees well,and very importantly in a business....not remain stagnant.
Without the expansion,which in turn created big money tv contracts,exposure,big time marketing who knows if the Steelers build Heinz field. Who knows if they would have survived. Things change.
While many cringe at these international games,look at the money it brings in. Look at the excitement it creates for a city like Rio,a city like Frankfurt,Mexico City. Also look at the economic impact it brings to those cities. The jobs it creates.
Once again...it’s a business. Like other business franchise don’t expand their product out of the states? Yea right. The NFL has a stringent vetting system in place. Not to mention the cost of a franchise team. It shall be interesting what it looks like 100 years from now.
How many jobs does one NFL team create for a city? The ripple effect is humongous.
The trick will be not to water down the product. And with the international exposure,surely there one day will be many non Americans playing pro ball. Look at Baseball. Look at a roster and birth places. The NHL the same thing.
Is the product better or worse for it? The quality?
I could go on and on about this. It’s always easy to be critical of other people’s business. Sitting on the sidelines. Heck....I do it all the time. So many say....that’s it! I won’t buy any more tickets,merchandise etc. This game is bull ****!
Rodger has ruined it!
In 2023.......93 of the top 100 watched tv programs were NFL games.
On this very forum a couple years ago,when it was announced they were going to play the Black American Anthem,many on here said...that’s it! If they do that,no more watching or support of the nfl for me! How’s that working out for you?
This game is more popular than ever. I’d say the one disconcerting stat for the NFL is that every year in the USA football enrollment for boys has been dropping. While internationaly,while still in its infancy, leagues are popping up,more and more interest is being created. Coincidentally happening with NFL games abroad? With the huge reach of Streaming,with anyone being able to watch any game?
Globally I’d say the NFL has never been more popular and is slowly but surely setting up for the Walmart motto of Global dominance. They have a long,long way to go to even come close to Soccer. But it definitely looks like it wants a bigger piece of the pie. After all....it’s a business.
Just a little bit of rambling in the off season.
One day way down the road when I’m long gone the SB will probably be a North American League vs the winner of Europe league or Asia league or whatever it will be. It definitely will be international.
