Only the 2nd time in 20 years that the 1st ranked team from both the AFC and NFC going into the the playoffs have both reached the SuperBowl........

.......joke of a sport
.......rest of the sporting world laughing at them
.......playoffs are a farce
.......not enough of an advantage given to those who finish higher
.......rewarding mediocrity

......blah, blah, blah.

Went to the Vikings/Steelers game last year as I'm a Vikings fan. The whole atmosphere pre-match and during was better than any rugby final (I've been to 3 CC's/SL final with Hull and the WC final last year) I've ever been too. Was unbelievable.
Tickets this year for Dolphins/Raiders.

By far the best nfl game I have seen out of the games that have come over here (and I have been to watch them all), when the New Orleans saints came over they put on a mardi gra show during the half time, just shows what an organisation with bucket loads of money can do.

Something special about it all.

They've only achieved that thanks to their thriving International game including World Cups where the best nations take part

Apparently there were over 18,000 unsold tickets with just days to go so who knows what the actual attendance was, certainly loads of hangers on whom get freebies..
I tried buying tickets in the mid/late 80s as I was/am a 'phins fan (for my sins), never ot a sniff.
Average ticket prices were over $3000 with base prices well over $1000
Fox sold their 30 second ad slots for £3M each...
Estimated revenue for the host city is somewhere around $500-600M.
With it gaining even more popularity over here it'll be interesting to see if the rumour of a London franchise comes about..not sure I think it'll happen tbh.

Within the next 5 years they would like a franchise, this coming from the NFL commissioner as to branch out as no one outside 'Murcia really care about their sports which I don't think they understand.

Understand it could be either the Jacksonville jaguars (their owner owns Fulham FC) or St. Louis rams only as the fact the lease on the stadium expires in a couple of years and they are 50/50 whether to renew, they moved from LA (2nd largest media area in USA to St. Louis (44th or so) as LA would not build them a stadium, whereas I think they could move into wembley without much issue.

Someone posted on another thread that it's the last chance saloon for professional RL with p&r coming back for the forseable, and I do think if the NFL manage to get a franchise over here In the next 5 years it could kill RL off all together.

I wonder if topics about rugby league are often created on NFL forums???

Yeah it's like a weekly thing on here isn't it

Yup, or the constant useless comparison with soccer.

Don't mention union whatever you do!!!!!!

Blimey, you were up early this morning.

What's the time difference over there? 10 hours or something?

And did he actually reply to you questioning him about whether he condones homophobic chanting or not?

It's something like that. Can never remember what the difference is and where, between 8 and 11 I think.



Nah.

New York is 2800 miles from Seattle and just 1800 miles from Denver , given the huge numbers of RL fans that cross the Pennines for away games you'd think those NFL fans would make an effort......

I wouldn't say I fear for rugby league as it's a sport played in the north by most Super League teams. Going to watch an NFL match every two weeks in London, if you live in Yorkshire/Lancashire, would be hard to finance.

NFL is popular enough to be a success in the UK. The three matches have sold out already for Wembley so the interest is strong enough. And for those that don't have tickets, Sky will show the match, as they show loads of NFL matches anyway.

I'd love an NFL team in London.

Would be nice if they had a uk team and maybe moved to 3 or so stadiums around the country, bet the season tickets will dwarf what football teams charge though.

Can't see that happening, Wembley is fairly quiet during the months of the NFL (Sept-Jan) whereas as the most suitable stadiums around the rest of the country are heavily booked with the football season. Unless they went for the RU stadiums (Millenium, Murrayfield).

The NFL may be popular enough to sell out 3 games as they are rare high profile events (like the six nations rugby matches), not sure that level of support would be sustainable over a season/years, most of the fans are use to watching it from their armchairs and these events cost.
To highlight this, there was an article BBC about the state of welsh RU where clubs like Pontypool are struggling to survive due to low crowds yet the millennium stadium is packed out for internationals.
High profile game, big event lots of one off supporters and armchair fans turn up but once it's back to a wet Friday most are tucked up at home or aren't interested.

Please feel free to burn me at the stake for this, I like being able to go to away matches and driving down the M62 corridor isn't too bad, hull and back is a not viable on a Friday night but nearly all the other games (except London and Catalans) are within time and budget for our family.

Even if London do get a franchise, there are only 8 regular season home games a year, can't see it affecting RL at all, I have tickets to all 3 games, can't wIt to see the Dolphins play.

I suspect that 2 new explanation teams will be introduced in next 3-4 years. London and LA

As they don't accept new teams 2 of the franchises must be moving then, still think if it does happen it is a toss up of the rams and the jaguars, I think London rams sound better than London jaguars.

Yes printer I did mean the RU stadiums considering the amount of damage an nfl game does to the turf no football team will allow them to play at their grounds, but murrayfield and millennium stadium could fit the bill also, I did used to be a Scottish claymores team in the NFL Europe before the all disbanded.

I think it could be feasible only of they price the tickets correctly, when I have been I have seen and met Germans, Dutch and Scandinavians who have come over to watch.

110 million people in the USA watched this disappointingly one sided game. That is more than one in three Americans. That is equivalent to 20 million Brits watching the Super League or Challenge Cup final. Not even English Premier League or UEFA can match that figure.

It was free to air in the USA on Fox Sports, which is owned by the same family who owns Sky Sports.

Denver Broncos quarter back Peyton Manning was completely put off his game by an aggressive Seattle defence, which is like Johnathan Thurston or Cooper Cronk or both being put off their games by an aggressive English defence.

Fortunately rugby league in the UK is sure to catch up to the NFL. That is because it is administered by far sighted entrepreneurs like Nigel Wood, who has plans, through the reversion to P & R, to open up Super League access to some of Europe's booming economic powerhouses and major population centres like Featherstone and Leigh. It won''t be long before 20 million British and 20 million French television viewers start tuning in to the big games being held at Post Office Road.

Can't see it working. Having been in London when one of the on the road games took place the amount of Americans and Germans that cam over for it was huge along with folk from across the UK. If it was to be a full time thing it would just go the way of London Monarchs

I agree with the above poster the London monarchs died a death once the novelty had worn off

The London Monarchs comparison isn't particularly fair. At the end of the day, people will pay to watch the best in the world - the Monarchs were anything but.

The difficulty of encouraging American's to live overseas, the comparable lack of media exposure and the tax system are all reasons why the NFL won't have a franchise in London.

Ergo London broncos away crew is small.....