nfl.com
By Albert Breer
NFL Media reporter
A potential return to Los Angeles dominated the headlines leading
into the NFL Annual Meeting earlier this week. Inside the room, owners
were apprised that the league is being just as aggressive beyond the
borders of its home country.
The NFL's efforts in London are still at the forefront, to be
sure, but are only part of the equation now as the league is moving to
broaden its efforts internationally. As the league sees it, the next
group of countries to zero in on are Mexico, Canada and China, and it
won't stop there.
"The work we're doing now is to ask, 'How do we accelerate the
agenda in Mexico, Canada and China?'" said Mark Waller, NFL EVP,
International. "Those would be our next stage, and we have offices in
those three countries. And then, after those, where should be our focus?
I think we've concluded that Brazil and Germany are the next two
frontier markets, which is where the Pro Bowl idea comes from."
The league has, indeed, considered moving the February 2017 Pro Bowl
to Brazil, in an effort to introduce the game and its stars to the
world's fifth-largest populace. Germany, on the other hand, is developed
as a football-watching public well beyond needing that, and will soon
be in consideration for a regular-season game.
With that in mind, here's a look at where things stand following the owner' meetings ...
» Asked if the NFL remains on track to reach its goal of having a
team full-time in London by 2022, Waller responded, "Absolutely." Had it
not been for the Rugby World Cup, the league would've gone to four
games in London this year, so it's a good bet that happens in 2016.
Also, the NFL has a base of 40,000 fans who bought tickets for all three
games for this year. The vast majority of those 40,000 are local to
London, and bought tickets for all three games last year, which, in the
league's eyes, represents the formation of a potential season-ticket
base.
» The NFL sent a team to Mexico City two weeks ago to visit
stadiums in the area, and left knowing that work still needed to be
done. But the league is now starting to look at expanding the International Series
to include regular-season games outside the U.K., with 2017 being a
target, and Mexico and Germany are the focus of those efforts. In
Germany, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf are the likeliest sites, with Berlin
and Munich also under consideration.
» Additionally, the league is starting to look at options to bring
some form of preseason football to Mexico in the short term -- it could
be a team having a part of training camp there, it could be a set of
scrimmages.
» The overriding issue in Germany (which had five of six NFL
Europe teams, and has produced NFL players) remains television
distribution. The league has been able to get its playoff games and the Super Bowl on the air, but has struggled to find a carrier for the regular season.
» Development in Canada remains steady. Meanwhile, the focus in
China is on media rights, particularly digitally, with the league
looking to distribute its product online.
The easiest way to look at this -- the NFL is comfortable enough
with its growth in the U.K. to start similar projects elsewhere.
All three games in London have sold out, and part of the
logistical problem there has been mitigated too with two resolutions
passed in October that will help facilitate the growth to more than
three games over the next few years.
The first one stipulates that if teams are relocating -- and one
or two very well may be in 2016 -- they have to give up a home game in
each of their transitional years, the seasons between the move being
announced and a new stadium opening. The second says that teams that win
a Super Bowl bid have to give up a home game within a five-year period.
Both should help keep the well of teams going to London (or
elsewhere) from running dry, and allow continued growth as the league
works toward a permanent franchise in the U.K. And of course, the International Series
has moved to a phase that will test how a full-time franchise there
would work, with the introduction of back-to-back games and a division
game this year, and the possible addition of a December game and removal
of the automatic byes afforded to traveling teams soon.
"We're testing it from a fan standpoint, from a stadium
standpoint," said Waller. "Will the field stand up? We've had issues
there, so this year will be big playing the games back-to-back. The rest
of the work is internal, on what to do next. We're thinking through the
next steps."
And clearly, all of those steps are being taken forward.
