美式足球: NFL in China?

[SeoulSoxFan]

Well, this is interesting:

@alexmarvez Source tells @NFLonFOX that #NFL could play regular season game in China as early as 2017. Handful of teams have already expressed interest

I can tell you there's near-zero following in East Asia. There are huge fan bases for the MLB, NBA, and EPL/Bundesliga, etc., but not the NFL.

Sure, there's the CAFL, an indoor football league, but it's a real reach to say an interest has taken root.

But I'm sure the Commish will lead us to the promised land. It'll just take 17 hours to fly there.

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

Breer chimes in:

@AlbertBreer League scheduled a preseason game b/w the Patriots and Seahawks in Beijing for 2007, but that was called off as NFL shifted focus to London.

@AlbertBreer NFL is reviewing options to play in China in 2018, as @alexmarvez said. I'm told it would be a regular season game.

Raiders, Dallas, Pittsburgh, and NE are all recognizable teams by a "casual" fan in Asia. So it'll be Browns vs Titans.

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

from Forbes on the CAFL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2014/08/14/will-new-china-football-league-surpass-nfl/#4a5706d0ac7f

The mover behind this breathtaking breakthrough is Philadelphia-based, American businessman Marty Judge, who is co-owner of the Arena League’s Philadelphia Soul, a professional arena football team.

Judge is no stranger to China. He and his teammates have been working intensely on this project for several years. Last November Judge sponsored the first American football game played in China, which garnered rave reviews there.

Says an enthusiastic Judge, “It’s possible that someday the CAFL could be bigger in China than the NFL is [in the U.S.]. Here there are 330 million people. In China there are 1.4 billion people, four times the number here…. With the backing of the Chinese government, the sky is the limit for how we can grow American football in the vast, untapped Chinese marketplace.”

And not only China. Judge believes the game could take root throughout Asia and Australia, where the combined population totals 3.8 billion people, expanding to 30 teams.

 

[Mugsy's Jock]

I can tell you there's near-zero following in East Asia. There are huge fan bases for the MLB, NBA, and EPL/Bundesliga, etc., but not the NFL.
.

Truth. Broadcaster TV5 couldn't sell ad time for Super Bowl in the Philippines. And it turns out the advertisers were right, as SB L barely got a rating here.

 

[bakahump]

Well, the League office and Chinese govt do operate in similar styles.

 

[dbn]

The near-zero following could be seen as a reason to play some pre-season games there. Capturing the interest of even a small percent of asian sports fans could go a long way.

 

[singaporesoxfan]

The idea of exporting American football to China has been one of my interests. Here's a few interesting articles on the state of the game in China:

Year of the Pigskin: My hilarious, heartbreaking, triumphant season with the American Football League of China - really good first person article (2014)

Interview with Edward Yang, first player of full Asian heritage in the NFL, on his efforts to promote the NFL in China (2015)

Far From Sunday's Super Bowl, A Football Championship In China: NPR story on this year's American Football League of China championship game (2016) (that URL is a lot more optimistic than the story)

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

Not only are Rams doing this summer's Hard Knocks, they also are expected to play a regular-season game in 2018 in China.

 

[edmunddantes]

Probably just a small list of concessions Kroenke is doing to maximize super bowl, and grease the wheels on moving.

 

[mauf]

I would expect the NFLPA to block this.

Is there a precedent for a major U.S. sports league with a players' union playing a game in a totalitarian state? The NFLPA will be concerned about players being detained for something they said, or facing draconian penalties for stupidly bringing banned substances into the country. Also, any benefit from growing the game in Asia will accrue far too late to fatten the wallets of today's players.

 

[DourDoerr]

Couldn't the NFLPA extract some extra bonus money for the players who make the trip? And/or perhaps extra money for retirement accounts? Given the potential size of the Asian markets, I'm surprised it's taken this long to get around to it. I always thought the physicality of the sport would be attractive to Russia too.

 

[Marciano490]

from Forbes on the CAFL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveforbes/2014/08/14/will-new-china-football-league-surpass-nfl/#4a5706d0ac7f

I love how people say this constantly like it's some great insight. Hey, we should sell our movies and sneakers to China, because there's so many people there! No kidding.

 

[B H Kim]

I would expect the NFLPA to block this.

Is there a precedent for a major U.S. sports league with a players' union playing a game in a totalitarian state? The NFLPA will be concerned about players being detained for something they said, or facing draconian penalties for stupidly bringing banned substances into the country. Also, any benefit from growing the game in Asia will accrue far too late to fatten the wallets of today's players.

The NBA has been playing games in China for a decade. (And MLB games have been played in Cuba.). And numerous professional (and amateur) athletes competed in the Beijing Olympics. None of the issues you raised have caused significant problems for any of those athletes.

 

[cannonball 1729]

Is there a precedent for a major U.S. sports league with a players' union playing a game in a totalitarian state?

You don't remember Obama going to Cuba to watch the Rays play against the Cuban National Team last year?

Also, the MLB sent the Padres and Dodgers to China in 2008. Plus all of the events that BH Kim noted.

I love how people say this constantly like it's some great insight. Hey, we should sell our movies and sneakers to China, because there's so many people there! No kidding.

Reminds me of when the Padres made an aggressive move to be Mexico's Team a couple of years ago. IIRC they even played a couple of games in Mexico City. Their reasoning, as I recall, was "Mexico has a lot of people! And they love baseball!" I think that effort lasted about one season...