NFL Commissioner Goodell Wants More London Games
Added on Oct 23, 2011 by Jack Thurman in
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He may have been playing to his audience in England, but NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is hoping to see more NFL action there. Speaking at a press conference before Sunday’s Tampa Bay Bucs/Chicago Bears game at Wembley Stadium Goodell said that he hoped to have certain teams play ‘regularly’ in England in an effort to determine if London is a viable location for a NFL franchise.
Sunday’s game will be the fifth regular season contest held in London and Goodell would like to see the league be a regular fixture there:
“We want as many teams to come over. We want to see the more popular teams come over. Should we focus on just a couple of teams as consistently coming back here to build a fan base around those teams? The Bucs are coming back now for a second time in a five-year period of time. And the idea is, will that allow them to build a fan base quicker?”
Goodell praised the Glaser family who owns both the Tampa Bay NFL team and Manchester United of the English Premier League:
“Obviously, the Glazer family has an interest over here with Man U. And I think they want to see the Bucs become a global franchise. And I think that’s a great thing for Tampa. I think it’s a great thing for the NFL.”
Ticket sales are down slightly this year though definitely solid. As of Saturday, 75,000 tickets have been sold for a stadium configuration seating 82,000. Goodell suggested the lockout was to blame:
“We started late. But we’re thrilled with our ticket sales. We obviously love to sell as many as we have, and we’re still selling.”
Goodell said that there are no plans on the table to expand the NFL’s presence beyond England, but that eventually they’d like to be a factor in the European sporting scene:
“We want to bring our game to continental Europe. The issue is, we want to make a success out of it in the U.K. We think this (London) has got all of the basics that we need to be successful. It’s got an advanced fan base, a strong media market, a great stadium. We have a long history here. So all those things contribute, let’s make it work. And if we can be successful here, then we can take that model, potentially, to continental Europe.”
The Bears are currently a -1′ point NFL betting favorite in Sunday’s game with Tampa Bay.
