The Student of the Game

The Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers were two of 2005’s worst teams in football in the second-worst division in the league, the NFC West. To even the non-NFL inclined, the Cards are famed as one of the worst-run organizations IN ALL OF SPORT (until this past off-season anyways) – including hockey teams. The Niners, while once models of greatness as the first franchise to achieve 5 Super Bowl victories, have eroded from their treasured status and are now more “Fool’s Gold” as far as any hope for advancement or evolution into a revitalized team. When these 2 cellar dwellers met for their first match-up of 2005, it didn’t make sense that it would be an event of possible momentous significance . . . at first glance it certainly fits snuggly in the, “Who gives a flying [BLEEP!]?” category.

It’s not just one reason why this game was significant . . . more like 103,000 of them. That’s the number of fans who appeared at the first NFL regular season game held outside the United States in Mexico City. And this for two of the most “El Crappo” teams the league had to offer. It boggles the mind what could have happened if they sent a Bengals/Steelers or Pats/Colts contest.

But why is it so important that the NFL shows success outside of the U.S.? Because it offers proof and precedent to expand the sport into foreign countries makes more business sense then trying to alter the seemingly perfect 32 team structure which features 8 divisions each with 4 franchises. Rather than try and force an entropy-ridden expansion into the twice-failed L.A. market (which has seen the exodus of the Rams and Raiders organizations), perhaps the NFL already has a frame-work in place for expanding south into Central and South America and/or perhaps merging with the CFL to create a North American Football league — a NAFL

And why not? The Super Bowl already receives world-wide attention being broadcast to 30+ countries this past year and continuously expanding. What’s the “foreign” viewer turn out going to be should a country’s home team actually have a stake in the NFL World Championship? With the teams in the NAFL (assuming the CFL finally does give in to a merger) travel won’t be much more difficult than it was before in terms of distance and dealing with time zone changes and can act as a frame work to create interest and buzz to expand the NFL Europe league separately.

As Europe’s contingent expands from the current 6 team make-up (5 of which are in Germany — the 6th in Holland) they could form up into a greater sized league and possibly expand into a 10-20 team league. While, at present, this appears to be a difficult prospect to foresee considering the lukewarm interest in some of the previous teams as the Barcelona Dragons, perhaps the NAFL success would be the vessel from which the NFL Europe can create interest across the pond to bring forth a successful venture despite the presence of the crowd-pleasing power of Soccer leagues with which the NFL Europe must compete.

Once NFL Europe is a 16-ish franchise venture, the next area to expand to would be Asia/Australia. How would the NFL kick-off a major expansion on the Pacific Side? The gate to the region would be through Japan. In addition to the Japanese tendency to consume American entertainment, the NFL currently plays an annual preseason game in Tokyo. That, with the US service men and women stationed in Japan (which is also a contributing factor in the success of German franchises in NFL Europe), are parts to a formula for a strong Pacific foothold. Then through China, Singapore, and possibly South Korea and Russia the expansion can continue as the buzz for the Pacific American Football League (or for our purposes the PAFL) grows. It may even work out that Asia’s league is developed BEFORE the NFL Europe league reaches its desired scope.

Now without going into African or Middle Eastern expansions into the sport which also toss in politics as a difficult factor to throw into the mix, the league including the 3 Major continents of the world pose some basic problems present in any world wide sport — Travel, Time Zones, and Language Barriers.

Fans may shout for and demand inter-league play . . . they want to see how the Pittsburgh Steelers stack up against the Shanghai Dragons (for example). Regardless of whether the game is held in the Steel City or at one of the cultural centers of China, there is plane fare for coaches, players, staff and equipment that add up quickly. An expense that will make the prospect of this game rather impractical at first glance and virtually impossible for the Terrible Towels to follow as visiting fans. Then there are the time zone changes that have players on the field trying to muster adrenaline and intensity when they are usually under their blankets counting sheep and catching “Z”s. And with the on-the-field challenge of their bodies’ internal clocks thrown out of whack, the language barrier makes for difficulty off of it.

So is international play out of the question? As far as the regular season goes . . . perhaps — but what about a tournament? — An International Super Bowl? Where champions of the various leagues collide in a month long tournament at a host country?

The 3 hypothetical leagues can send 2 representatives each and 2 international wild cards to be determined by record and performance within their respective leagues. (Inevitably they’ll be some snubs, but that’s the kind of thing that creates buzz, hype, and tickets sales). So with 8 teams and 4 games — the Super Bowl would cease to be merely the single evening that boasts the highest television rated sporting event year in and year out, but a festival that could at least one day rival the World Cup in prowess.

I understand that I have made some rather gross assumptions and that there are some practicalities that would have to be obviously worked out within each team’s and league’s birth as well. Will investors buy? Will big foreign corporations sponsor? Will fans truly become interested? Will there be enough talented players to actually make for strong competition? Can these leagues find their own respective “Tagliabue”s to make real the aforementioned vision?

If the answer to all these questions turns out to be yes, the process will still take years and possibly decades to develop as all the details such as stadium construction and player scouting are worked out, planned and completed. But maybe one day you’ll remember this article while tuning in with your grandkids from a nursing home as the referees rob the Tokyo Tsunamis of their first World Championship in Super Bowl LXLI as they lose to the Mexico City Aztecs.