Wembley, the home of American football

I really hope the NFL thing comes off as I think taking England on the road and not just for friendlies is the best way to boost attendances and improve the atmosphere the San Marino game would have been much better in a sold out 40'000 arena than a half empty Wembley.

Sadly I can't see it happening, NFL goes through phases of popularity there was a time late 80's early 90's when it was everywhere you couldn't move for 49'ers, Bears and Dolphin merchandise and everyone thought they had finally cracked it but that soon faded and I think it will again. I don't see the market for a London Franchise being sustainable once everyone has got over the initial hype.
 
*looks shifty*

I think its a great idea. How many fans around the country complain because England play in London and its too far to travel? Especially those midweek matches.

I like NFL when I get the free time to watch a game, been doing so since mid 90's.
Football is my preferred sport but I'm getting a bit bored of it recently.
 
JOSH86 said:
Brilliant, apart from the Cup/league finals Wembley is hardly used. (for sporting requirements)

The national team is boring as hell, NFL is a great game which is growing in popularity in the UK.

I'm all for it tbh - £3m wow that is some damn good revenue! Shame I never had the chance to play as a kid, would have loved to give it a try!
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This

Why waste Wembley on the England team when no-one wants to pay to watch them anymore?

I think this is a fantastic idea
 
jonneymendoza said:
big money in football also and more popular.

NFL appears bigger and more £££ because its more centric . Football is a world sport
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It's funny that the rest of the world doesn't even accept it as football.

It'll be a shame if it goes to the NFL, it'll be a waste of a good stadium.

MW
 
And they've done it again..

If the pitch is it bad state again, the players should refuse to play, it not only looks extremely bad on England it puts players at risk of injury.

MW
 
I think them refusing to play is best for everyone involved, saves a lot of people (although rapidly decreasing) watching 90 mins of pure ****

3 more games announces for next year, can't wait
 
That is true, although a churned up pitch is only likely to add to the poor performances and decrease turn outs even more.

Why don't the NFL play on artificial pitches ?

MW
 
I've been to five NFL games at Wembley and intend to go to another three next year. There's nothing better than seeing Wembley stadium packed full of passionate fans for a big event.

There haven't been any significant pitch problems since Wembley switched to a synthetic weave. It's a big fuss about nothing.
 
Majority of them are turning to Turf pitches now Stateside (even most soccer programs).

I coach high school soccer over here, this year we had a turf pitch installed at our school (with only like 700-800 students.
Get this - cost about $950k !!!!!
Mind boggles what they spend on sports over here.
 
Clipsey said:
Majority of them are turning to Turf pitches now Stateside (even most soccer programs).

I coach high school soccer over here, this year we had a turf pitch installed at our school (with only like 700-800 students.
Get this - cost about $950k !!!!!
Mind boggles what they spend on sports over here.
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They seem to have a sense of civic pride which extends beyond the massed ranks of NIMBYS here, cowboys stadium was largely funded from a tax voted for by the people of dallas, can you imagine the reaction here if that was tried?

The facilities are mental, was watching some college football and the had an arial shot of ohio States stadium, it's bloody massive, also they have a big athletics stadium built next to it and a rather large indoor arena as well.

Even the smaller. Schools have decent facilities, my little sister is at St leo in tamp, which is not a big college by any means and their sports. Facilities rival anything but the very top prep teams in this country.

Wembley never should have been built so hopefully this will give the England team the ability to play somewhere where people will actually be able to go and watch.
 
Clipsey said:
Majority of them are turning to Turf pitches now Stateside (even most soccer programs).

I coach high school soccer over here, this year we had a turf pitch installed at our school (with only like 700-800 students.
Get this - cost about $950k !!!!!
Mind boggles what they spend on sports over here.
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Crazy industry over there, because they are "kids" they exploit the living hell out of them. College football, basketball and then soccer a massively distant third has so much money from tv deals but players don't get paid, and there isn't a staff like an NFL team has in terms of potentially hundreds of extra staff. Basically the schools make a killing off exploiting their players, who often end up injured or hurt and losing scholarships but have nothing to show for it.

Then the whole thing of preventing players even accepting gifts from big teams. If they allow that they effectively accept the concept that the kids deserve something for playing, at which point the jump to actually paying the players is dangerously close to taking basically all the tv money away from the schools(and everyone else involved) and putting it in the players pockets.

Facilities, spending on sports on schools in america is insane as a result. All chasing big money in which their overhead costs are almost non existent, great facilities and recruit the right players and a school can make loads of money.

I mean it's good for the players who end up being picked up by big teams, but everyone that doesn't(which is the massive majority) have basically been completely exploited.

The number of big stadiums in high school sports is pretty insane, lots of them put league 1-2 clubs to shame.
 
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