World Is Beginning to Catch On as the N.F.L. Returns to London
LONDON — N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell says he remembers the early stages of trying to showcase American football internationally. In 1989, the league played an exhibition game in Tokyo, and the fans were not exactly locked in on the action.
“The officials threw a flag, and the crowd would clap,” Goodell said.
Two decades later, there is a greater awareness of the game itself. On Sunday, the N.F.L. will play a regular-season game in London for the third consecutive year as the New England Patriots face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Wembley Stadium. The league’s increased presence here has prompted speculation that it is considering moving a franchise to London.
“I think it should,” the Patriots’ owner, Robert K. Kraft, said. “I really believe it would be the right thing to do sometime in the next decade, that there should be a franchise here. We’ve had great support here and in Germany. We look forward to seeing what happens.”
Away from the throng of cameras, Kraft pointed out that his opinion did not reflect the N.F.L.’s, but his comments did start conversation. Goodell was more pragmatic when discussing European expansion earlier Friday morning. In a meeting with a small group of reporters, he stressed incremental expansion. That includes N.F.L. owners approving that the league play two games overseas next season instead of one.
And if they do, where will the games be played and at what point of the season? Both could be held in London, where Kraft said tickets sold out within a half-hour for the Patriots-Buccaneers game. Goodell also mentioned Manchester and Scotland as possible sites for one of the games.
While open to the idea of expanding to Europe, Goodell did not have the same fervor or timetable as Kraft.
“If we play multiple games here and we saw that reaction continue to grow with the games, then you would probably put yourself in position that you would be comfortable that it could support a franchise on a full-time basis,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to see. How far will this go down the path? No one knows the answer to that question.
“But if they continue to react in a positive way, then it may be a possibility.”
Goodell said it was unlikely the N.F.L. would host a Super Bowl here. It is rare that a Super Bowl is awarded to a stadium that does not have an active N.F.L. team, he said.
Just how much resonance a star like the Patriots’ Tom Brady has overseas is unknown. Brady said that he vacationed here about four years ago and that he was recognized on the street only by Americans.
N.F.L. players lack the global identity of soccer and basketball players, but their popularity is starting to grow.
Still, Brady is only the second-most-recognizable international icon in his home, trailing his supermodel wife, Gisele Bündchen.
“I think it helps Tom’s international cache, but I think it helps his personal being more,” said Kraft, who attended the couple’s wedding. “He’s really grounded, and I think he made a great personal decision.
“They’re quite a unique and special couple who are really not like celebrity couples. They can go into the spotlight, but they’re very private people and family-oriented.”
Brady was the only Patriots player to wear a suit on the red-eye flight to England. He said that his decision was more out of habit and superstition than wanting to look sharp upon arrival. When told that receiver Wes Welker teased him, saying that the Patriots were going to play a game, not visit the London Stock Exchange, Brady jabbed right back.
“I don’t take fashion advice from Wes,” he said with a smile.
Brady said he was skeptical of the N.F.L. ever expanding here, but did say that he hoped the league’s recognition had grown.
“Hopefully with the last few years with the N.F.L. being here, it’s created some excitement,” he said. “I know the players are really looking forward to the game. It’s a unique experience.”
Even the often curmudgeonly Patriots coach, Bill Belichick, put on a smile for the international news media on Friday. At a news conference at the Brit Oval Cricket Ground in the Kennington section of London, Belichick seemed to embrace the moment. He said, while next to an oil painting of the 19th-century cricket pioneer Henry Marshall, that in his 35 years in the N.F.L., he had never been to a similar facility.
“I love coming to London,” Belichick said. “If we get to play a game across the ocean, I’d rather play it here than a lot of other places.”
Whether the league can establish a firmer presence here, however, remains to be seen.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/sports/football/25london.html?hp&ex=&ei=&partner=edition.
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