OT: Time for Le Football

[ddaryl]

The game is gaining some popularity abroad... and in all places France.

Was shocked to read that American football is actually gaining some steam even after NFL Europe has ended

video transcript

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/07/sunday/main6183107.shtml?tag=currentVideoInfo;videoMetaInfo


Here is the video

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6183311n&tag=cbsnewsSectionContent.1



Kind of cool to believe Ameircan Football is finding a place in the World

[Scumbag College]

I saw that clip on CBS Sunday Morning (which I think is a great show.) I was amazed that they have kids that have been playing in football leagues for 10+ years over there.

They must have gotten sick of boring ass soccer.

[DraftBoy]

Not sure how much this has to do with NFL's annual European game but this is what the NFL wanted. Another market to potentially tap not just for revenue but for possible players, and even one day (way way way away) expansion sites.

[Night Train]

They probably saw a game where everyone was waving white flags in the stands.

They thought it was a mass surrender and took a fancy to it.

[kernowboy]

I saw that clip on CBS Sunday Morning (which I think is a great show.) I was amazed that they have kids that have been playing in football leagues for 10+ years over there.

They must have gotten sick of boring ass soccer.

Boring ass soccer - from a country who's national sport is baseball? ROFL

[kernowboy]

The interest in American Football in Europe is massively overstated by the NFL. It would be like the pro-game in LA, starting off with 90,000 crowds before quickly dropping below 40,000

Yes people will watch the games on TV maybe even occasionally by the shirts, but sitting over here in the UK, it is a minority sport by some considerable distance. If there is a soccer game being played fans will watch that 10x out of 10.

The only real sustainable market in Europe is Germany principally due to the US Forces based there, but in France although the NFL is making some inroads, its not gaining as quick an interest as ...... cricket LOL

Soccer (as you call it) will always be No1, as will such sports as Rugby Union in certain regions with 125 years of tradition etc.

You may get one or two kids moving to the US to some of the colleges like Sebastian Vollmer, but in most cases any useful guys playing American football in Europe will be scouted by the rugby and soccer teams. Some of them have academies where they have kids as young as 8 playing for the respective clubs academy teams.

The other thing is the franchise system is totally alien to Europe. In the UK for example, in the 120years history of the professional leagues, one soccer club has moved (as you'd see move when franchises do)

Not to say I don't like American Football, but its more likely that the USA will be conquered by soccer first.

[Scumbag College]

Boring ass soccer - from a country who's national sport is baseball? ROFL

Baseball is almost as bad as soccer.

[psubills62]

Baseball is almost as bad as soccer.

Baseball is worse than soccer. In baseball, the ball is actually in play for about 1% of the total time the game actually takes.

And kernowboy...Jack Crawford is a guy to watch out for. Originally came from England, is in his third year (or fourth, can't remember) playing football. Currently a DE for PSU, has quite a bit of talent, but somewhat inconsistent. Athletically a beast.

[kernowboy]

Baseball is worse than soccer. In baseball, the ball is actually in play for about 1% of the total time the game actually takes.

And kernowboy...Jack Crawford is a guy to watch out for. Originally came from England, is in his third year (or fourth, can't remember) playing football. Currently a DE for PSU, has quite a bit of talent, but somewhat inconsistent. Athletically a beast.

I know - The Bills pick in 2012?

Whilst the game has a small but loyal fanbase in Europe, to think it could actually challenge to be a top sport is laughable.

There is nothing to support it in schools etc, and certainly in England, after school sports activities no longer occur because of loads of Health and Safety red tape so I don't think it would ever really catch on.

The odd regular season European game will help bring extra support for some teams but really if its one game a season, English NFL fans wouldn't care less who was sent to Wembley.

[kernowboy]

And the EU would almost certainly consider the way the NFL is structured to be a closed shop and therefore illegal under European law.

[ddaryl]

Not to say I don't like American Football, but its more likely that the USA will be conquered by soccer first.


I don't doubt this for a second, and it will all have to do with greed.

Young kids today are losng access to the game due to the increasing costs of taking families to these games.

We already see more and more kids playing soccer.... many of these kids would have been the top athletes in other sports like football but are now many are growing up enjoying soccer instead.

In 20 years I feel the NFL's talent pool will be wavering while soccers popularity grows which will feed even less of a talent pool for football and more for soccer....

[Dujek]

Boring ass soccer - from a country who's national sport is baseball? ROFL

To be fair, if I was watching the Spuds I'd be bored to tears.

[better days]

I don't doubt this for a second, and it will all have to do with greed.

Young kids today are losng access to the game due to the increasing costs of taking families to these games.

We already see more and more kids playing soccer.... many of these kids would have been the top athletes in other sports like football but are now many are growing up enjoying soccer instead.

In 20 years I feel the NFL's talent pool will be wavering while soccers popularity grows which will feed even less of a talent pool for football and more for soccer....

In the 70's & 80's Soccer fans were saying just wait until all these kids playing soccer grow up, Soccer will be HUGE.

Well they have grown up, what happened?

[ddaryl]

In the 70's & 80's Soccer fans were saying just wait until all these kids playing soccer grow up, Soccer will be HUGE.

Well they have grown up, what happened?


It's different now.. You can see how much the game has grown especially for kids these days.

When I was growing up there were no soccer leagues anywhere, and none of us played soccer in our spare time.

Today that is much different

[better days]

It's different now.. You can see how much the game has grown especially for kids these days.

When I was growing up there were no soccer leagues anywhere, and none of us played soccer in our spare time.

Today that is much different

Well you must have grown up before the 70's because there were all kinds of soccer leagues back then. Two of my cousins were into it. As I said fans of Soccer were saying in the 70's & 80's in 10-20 years when the kids grow up Soccer will be huge. Well here we are & there may be some adult leagues that there weren't back then but Soccer is not huge.

[THRILLHO]

They probably saw a game where everyone was waving white flags in the stands.

They thought it was a mass surrender and took a fancy to it.

Priceless. Well done.


Cheese eating surrender monkeys.

[ddaryl]

Well you must have grown up before the 70's because there were all kinds of soccer leagues back then. Two of my cousins were into it. As I said fans of Soccer were saying in the 70's & 80's in 10-20 years when the kids grow up Soccer will be huge. Well here we are & there may be some adult leagues that there weren't back then but Soccer is not huge.

No, I grew up in the 80's and nobody in my neighborhood played soccer. Hell I didn't even know about any soccer leagues or fields in Hamburg in the 80's...


Now I see all kinds of soccer fields and leagues when I head back to hamburg for a visit

and here in Seattle people here are really into it, so much so that the Seahawks wore those awful lime green uniforms to celebrate the local soccer teams success here.


times are changing, but you keep thinking whatever you want. I see it quite differently.

lets also not forget the cost of football in the 70's and 80's compared ot the 90's and the new millenium. Lots of ordinary blue collar folk can't afford it anymore

[justasportsfan]

france would never have a teeam because of the contact. They would :surrender the minute the visiting team shows up.

[kernowboy]

Its also to do with size. American Footballers are just getting bigger and bigger and parents are fearful of harm.

Soccer can be played in a park by kids of all sizes equipped with two jerseys and a soccer ball

[Night Train]

Soccer can be played in a park by kids of all sizes equipped with two jerseys and a soccer ball

...And a drama coach, when they get bumped :up: They can be expensive.

[ddaryl]

Its also to do with size. American Footballers are just getting bigger and bigger and parents are fearful of harm.

Soccer can be played in a park by kids of all sizes equipped with two jerseys and a soccer ball

Your quote regarding scardy cat parents has a lot to do with it too..

but then again health insurace and costs are expensive so it almost dictates parents wanting their kids to play a sport they believe to be safer with less cahnce of an expensive injury

[Beebe's Kid]

Soccer will not surpass the NFL.

I am a huge baseball fan, and I don't think it is boring at all. I don't think any sport is boring if you know what you are watching. Everybody gets fired up when I say that, because they "know" baseball. I doubt it. That is because they aren't fans to the point the know tendencies or the strategy of the game. It is not a bunch of people colliding and trying to kill each other (Jose Offerman is the exception) so it will never be the darling that the NFL is. Society loves violence, and seeing people in pain. Baseball isn't the game for that. Basketball isn't the game for that. Soccer isn't the game for that... MMA is perfect for that. The NFL is perfect for that.

Europe would never tolerate the way the NFL is run, and the NFL just wants to sell what we have to them...the last thing they want is for Europe to have teams. The NFL has too many skeletons in the closet, and is a racket that we don't want to share, just market.

[better days]

No, I grew up in the 80's and nobody in my neighborhood played soccer. Hell I didn't even know about any soccer leagues or fields in Hamburg in the 80's...


Now I see all kinds of soccer fields and leagues when I head back to hamburg for a visit

and here in Seattle people here are really into it, so much so that the Seahawks wore those awful lime green uniforms to celebrate the local soccer teams success here.


times are changing, but you keep thinking whatever you want. I see it quite differently.

lets also not forget the cost of football in the 70's and 80's compared ot the 90's and the new millenium. Lots of ordinary blue collar folk can't afford it anymore

Chrysler invented the Minivan in the late 70's or early 80's (I can't remember) to appeal to "soccer moms" not football moms or baseball moms or hockey moms but Soccer moms. The perfect sport for their little boys. Non contact & they run around using up their energy. My cousins started playing in EA in the late 70's & moved to Ft Myers Fla where they continued to play. They were really into it, but aren't anymore.

What channel can I watch the Seattle Socer team on NBC? CBS? Fox? ABC? beleive what you want but Soccer is not huge as was predicted & never will be in the USA.