London to Hold NFL Regular Season Game

[Shaaady Souljah]

Finally. All of our debating on American Football will start to have more relevance.... ;)

NFL to hold regular-season game in England
By PAUL LOGOTHETIS, Associated Press Writer

"London will hold the NFL's first regular-season game outside North America this year, the start of a campaign to take American football to a global audience. "There's great history of NFL football in London, and British fans have been great fans of football over the years," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday. "We're confident that this game is going be a great success in London and will be a great foundation to play more games there going forward."

The opponents have yet to be announced, but the Miami Dolphins (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/mia/) and New York Giants (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/nyg/) are believed to be front-runners for the game. The Dolphins, but not the Giants, are one of six NFL teams the league identified as potential home teams; they would give up a home game in Miami to host the contest in London.
"They are two of the teams that have expressed an interest and we'll narrow it down to which two teams will generate the most enthusiasm for the fans in London and the broader U.K.," Goodell said.
The most likely venue is the new 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium, which will open this spring after years of delays. The other candidate is 82,000-seat Twickenham, home of English rugby.
"We're looking at both venues in terms of their readiness," said Marc Waller, vice president of NFL International. "It's important that we understand terms of readiness of both stadiums and then a financial bidding process will also ensue."
The game will be held between late September and mid-October.
Goodell will announce the teams, venue and date before the Feb. 4 Super Bowl in Miami.
NFL owners voted in October to play up to two games outside the United States every season for the next five years. The London game will be the only overseas contest in 2007.
Germany, Canada and Mexico have been identified as the other top markets for NFL games outside the United States.
"We eliminated Toronto after agreeing with the Canadian Football League that we wouldn't go there because it was already hosting the Grey Cup," Goodell said. "Mexico was discussed, as well as Duesseldorf and Hamburg."
The NFL staged its first regular-season game outside the United States in 2005. The Arizona Cardinals (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/ari/) played the San Francisco 49ers (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/sfo/) before a crowd of 103,467 in Mexico City.
London hosted several NFL American Bowl preseason games in the 1980s and 1990s. The city also had the London Monarchs in the World League of American Football-- now NFL Europe -- but the team folded.
Goodell said fans have reacted positively to the league's overseas plan, even though it means some teams will lose a scheduled home game.
"There are fans here that we think will like the idea and respond to it because it puts your city on a global stage and the city will be showed as a world class city itself," he said."

[Minty]

I would piss myself laughing if they played at Twickenham. Would be an insult to the place lol

[Shaaady Souljah]

I would piss myself laughing if they played at Twickenham. Would be an insult to the place lol

i looked it up...it might end up being the place. the site i found said it holds 82,000 fans. in Mexico they were watched by over 100,000 and most games in the U.S. bring in around 30,000-50,000. So that might be a good spot. But they usually aim big when they go out of the country, so one of your beloved football spots may be used :eek: :woop:

Probably Wembley though...from the sounds of it.

[Kaens]

Maybe my view is skewed because I live here in VA and go to Skins games, but we always have 90k people and have been sold out for 20+ years straight.

[Minty]

Twickenham isnt a football ground, its home of the reigning World Champions of Rugby ;)

If they play it there then the Yanks should be made to play without padding. Would suit Wemblet tbh- lot of amateur dramatics and diving :p

[Shaaady Souljah]

i think it would be great fun to see an American Football game without any pads... and the winner could teach the Rugby Champs how to play :p

[Minty]

LOL

We play the game, you ponce around ;). None of this when the guys on the floor you cant touch him crap- thats when you get in there and twat him one :D

[Kaens]

Twickenham isnt a football ground, its home of the reigning World Champions of Rugby ;)

If they play it there then the Yanks should be made to play without padding. Would suit Wemblet tbh- lot of amateur dramatics and diving :p
Oh Christ, I've avoided this argument here on these forums thus far, but what the hell. Rugby's cool and all, definitely a nice manly sport, but the whole argument that American football isn't as manly or tough because they wear all those pads is ridiculous. The entire reason they have to wear all those pads is because it is such a violent sport. No sport matches the size/speed combination of these freaks of nature where it's planned for them to slam into each other. I don't care how tough your rugby stars are, I guarantee you that they would opt for pads if Ray Lewis was charging full speed to lay them out.

[Shaaady Souljah]

they are all tougher than all of us, both American Footballers and Rugby Ballers. None of them are pussies. :)

i do agree with you Kaens. American Football is the most physical sport out there--except hockey--and they are fully padded as well. No one calls them weak cuz figure skaters don't wear pads and they do. Ok, that was a bad comparison....but you see the point. :p

[Gunstar Chaos]

I'm pretty sure it was already announced that it's going to be Wembley. I think its a good idea for every once in a while for the NFL fans worldwide.

[PerpetualHeaven]

Oh Christ, I've avoided this argument here on these forums thus far, but what the hell. Rugby's cool and all, definitely a nice manly sport, but the whole argument that American football isn't as manly or tough because they wear all those pads is ridiculous. The entire reason they have to wear all those pads is because it is such a violent sport. No sport matches the size/speed combination of these freaks of nature where it's planned for them to slam into each other. I don't care how tough your rugby stars are, I guarantee you that they would opt for pads if Ray Lewis was charging full speed to lay them out.

Agreed. Rugby players are a lot smaller in muscle size compared to american football players. Ray Lewis, Urlacher, Napoleon Harris, etc are all players who's main focus is to smash people. They're all way bigger then any Rugby player i've seen.

Now i've played both sports, and I can't say one is more violent then the other. But saying american football players are pussies because they wear pads is crazy. Rugby is intense, non-stop bashing fest and a lot of things can go wrong.

American Football's pace is a little slower because of player stoppages and stuff but you have massive guys who focus on power lifting and they hit pretty damn hard. You have RBs + WRs who run 4.4-4.6 40s which is extremely fast, running straight into guys who focus purely on smashing peoples faces in. They don't score oh no, they smash bodies. Corvette and Brick Wall analogy comes to mind when I think of this.

Now, do I think A-Football is more violent? Yeah, I think so because the whole purpose of A-football defense is suppose to be smashing bodies. Rugby you have to be completely versatile. That's just my view though. I love Rugby, I don't watch it a lot but I used to play. Both great sports, both extremely violent.