London Calling: The Globalization of the NFL

Personally I think that the globalization of the NFL would draw away from it's identity of being "American." For starters, it's the National Football League, so there's a minor name change off the bat to the International football league. While we know it was not originally an American sport, the concept of what it has become is a huge American enterprise that runs most of what american sport is about. The drafting, the fantasy teams, the travel to see "your" team, everything included is a lifestyle for American football lovers and I don't think that that attitude could easily be emulated elsewhere. I think that identifying with a team would be difficult too for Londoner's because they would be American teams that they would be rooting for. Like the article said, it would be possible to have teams centrally located in the east coast to keep the playing field slightly more fair with the time change, but even then American fans would not be able to keep up with the season as easily, nor would London fans be able to either when games would be played in America. While the article had some good arguments, I think that Barnwell's "positive" arguments only feed into American capitalism and what it takes to make more money. As if the NFL doesn't already make enough money to sustain itself and Africa if it wanted to, broadcasting a sport in another country would bring more airtime- live or prerecorded- to American households. That would increase revenue for everyone involved, which then would increase taxes as well. With this Atlantic team needing a place to stay and more market to keep players happy both locally and away, that means that our tax dollars go to yet another extravagant playing space that will likely fail after a few seasons of players being worn after only one or two seasons from the traveling. The option of letting draft picks for a London team have better or more incentives could only be enticing to so many players to want to continue a career in the league, unless they are American in their money loving ways, of course. Not only would sustaining players be a necessary factor to keep a team there, but maintaining good records as far as wins and losses would be necessary to keeping a team there as well. People would not commit to taking time and spending money from other things in ice to see a consistently losing team play, which would highly be the case because of the athletes' home lives. As it is, all we hear about in the public sphere are famous athletes with terrible track records in relationships, and those are people who stay in the US to play their sports. Imagine the effect on players that can't commit to one continent. I think that the psyche of the athlete is being neglected and looked at as robotic. As long as they are charged (there is money being thrown at them) then they will stay committed to the sport and maintain the tasks that they are assigned. 

Also, how many teams would this then turn into? If there were to be a successful team in London, who else might want a team that would also compete in this league? The farther East the teams being established, the greater the time distance between the west NFL teams in CA and the possible eastern NFL teams in Germany. This time difference would be impossible to account for, unlike the seemingly close, "Across the Pond," that is London. At some point, Europeans would claim the teams to themselves and the game would change drastically based on the culture, as we know that happens, and then the European's would want their own NFL, sending Americans packing with no "home" to go to. That would be due to the fact that team fans in America probably wouldn't stray from "their" teams over this time and would be playing, more than likely, a different variation to the game that got them there in the first place. 

I think that while it would be inclusive of America to move teams and players overseas, there are too many risk factors involved in relocating a game that centrally identifies with one country.

Barnwell, B. (2013, August) London calling. Grantland.