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The NFL has really committed towards playing annual games in London and they just held a game in Germany and it was a roaring success. I believe their aim is to further educate Europeans on the game of American Football with an end goal of locating NFL teams in Europe. They want this to be a WORLD GAME.
In the near future, I could see them add EIGHT new teams with six of the eight being International teams, for a total of 40 teams.
Football is only played once a week so the logistics are not as overwhelming as many think.
I could see the new NFL looking like this:
AFC
AFC EAST
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins
New England Patriots
New York Jets
AFC NORTH
Baltimore Ravens
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC South
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Tennessee Titans
AFC WEST
Denver Broncos
Kansas City Chiefs
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers
AFC Europe London Team Germany Team Paris Team Spain Team
NFC
NFC EAST
Dallas Cowboys
Philadelphia Eagles
New York Giants
Washington Commanders
NFC NORTH
Chicago Bears
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
NFC SOUTH
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
NFC WEST
Arizona Cardinals
Los Angeles Rams
Seattle Seahawks
San Francisco 49ers
NFC North America Toronto Team Mexico City Team New US Team #1 (San Antonio, St. Louis, Portland, Salt Lake City, Austin, Louisville, etc.) New US Team #2 (San Antonio, St. Louis, Portland, Salt Lake City, Austin, Louisville, etc.)
I think that the NFL would best succeed in gaining support among the people of Europe by embracing the culture and history of those people. But, keep things sparkly and loud at the same time. Would the Roman Colosseum have enough room to squeeze a football field into the middle of it?
The networks (since the NFC package has on average larger markets) might prefer that the new divisions be swapped (put more of the non-US markets in the NFC).
With an expansion of eight, I think it'd work better to keep the eight divisions but put a fifth team in each. With an odd number of divisions in each conference it'd mess up the intra-conference rotation (there would be one division without a mate). Going back to five-team divisions also reduces the chances of a weak team coasting into the playoffs by being the least-worst team in a bad division.
Possibly, but I just don't think of Paris as the sort of place that would embrace the wild and woolly NFL.
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I can't see an NFL team permanently located in Europe working considering travel, significant time zone differences etc. Maybe a team in Canada like how NBA has Toronto or MLB has Montreal & Toronto or the NHL teams, but that's about it. But scheduling favors those sports because they'll go on 3-4 game road trips then stay home for 3-4 games.
I doubt the NFL even cracks the top 15 for most popular sports in Europe. I could see the NFL keeping it at a few games a year for the London/Munich residents to go once & say they went to a game, & that's about it. Soccer, basketball, hockey, even cycling are far more popular.
The networks (since the NFC package has on average larger markets) might prefer that the new divisions be swapped (put more of the non-US markets in the NFC).
Come to think of it, with conference distinctions between CBS and FOX being blurred even more under the new contract, this imbalance I was referring to of the NFC package being worth more than the AFC one shouldn't matter as much now.
The NFL trying to force feed football to the world has been going on since the 8os. I remember when they used to show the European games on TV (circa early 90s), teams like the Barcelona Dragons, etc. Nobody was watching.
Yes, the NFL can now draw crowds for occasional games.. but other than league profits, I dont see any upside (for fans or game quality) in peddling American football to the rest of the world. They generally don't care about it.. it would create more travel burdens on teams, adding more teams won't elevate level of play.. it really is an obnoxious objective. I guess I'm a football isolationist, let the rest of the globe have soccer
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