"Eager Brits Snap Up NFL Tickets"!
 

That was a headline in today's local fish wrap, referring to the first regular season NFL football game outside North America.

"the first 40,000 tickets for the Oct 28 game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants at the new Wembley Stadium sold out in 90 minutes"

"the speed with which such a large number of tickets were snapped up demonstrates the great excitement and appetite for the game in this country" chortled the managing director of the NFL UK. he added "we know that the last few tickets available in the new batch will be gone very soon."

1st batch went to Brits and Europeans who were randomly selected after NFL UK received an avalanche of ticket requests within minutes of when they were accepted a few months ago.

Next tickets go on sale to Americans - 10,000 are expected to descend on London (and presumably tailgate at Wembley)

further tickets will be released to Britons next month. anticpating a sell out of 90,000

ducats go for about $90 to $180 in a 'pricing structure similar to top-flight UK soccer matches. (Spurs matches must fetch much less?)

So is this the death knell of UK soccer - i mean it's like an ageing male celebrity who casts off his aging wife for a vibrant younger lady.

I believe originally audere est farcer said he thought nobody would come to the match practically - turns out to be a poor prognosticator.

flanner - too late now to take in the cultural/sporting event of the Millennium in UK.

Brits i hear are lining up for possible NFL franchise. Sir Richard Branson apparently is in the lead. Let's see the London Virgins? And the Queen herself may make a bid - the London Royals?

*sigh* there have been several attempts to try and set this boring steroidfest in Europe and it has always died on it's arse (in fact the last British team actually played at White Hart Lane - they could have played on Hackeny Marshes for all the people who came).

The problem that NFL has is that any interest there may be over her for it never survives exposure to the real thing - it takes too long, there's too much faffing about, the players are jessies, and the referees throw hankies around.

In short - it's pants on stilts.

(And £45-90 is about 10% higher than Spurs' prices and I don't believe a word about it selling out)

Actually I went to one of these stunts at Wembley in the late 80s. A lot of my colleagues hailed from Cleveland (Ohio, though it's easily confused with its equally charmfree namesake in NE England), the Cleveland Teddy Bears or whatever they're called were playing, and we decided it'd make a jolly day out.

Wrong.

I fell off to sleep about 5 minutes into the "game" - about the longest 5 minutes of my life.

As farce says, this "they're going mad about it in Yoorup" hype pops up every ten years or so. A lot of Americans sneak back home a year or two later - a fair bit poorer, though rarely wiser. As the owners of Wembley put it: "there's one born every minute"

There'll also be an 80,000 sq ft Whole Foods on every street corner before this game gets any serious interest here: there just aren't enough big girls around.

Selling 40,000 ticjkets hardly counts as serious interest: Wembley have sold well over that for the Exeter vs Morcambe proper football match, and most people in Morcambe don't know where Morcambe is.

I've been to a 40,000+ crowd at Wembley for Enfield v Hendon in proper football.

As I said the London Knights (for that was their name - the muppets) played their American Football games at White Hart lane and it was so popular that they let in anyone with a Spurs ticket for free - and it still only got 2-3,000 people even with papering the house.

I guess a lot of people would be curious enough to go the once, but I can't see it really catching on.

I also wonder why you compare American football to soccer - they are such different games. If you wanted to predict that American Football will replace rugby, that at least makes some logical sense in that they are slightly similar games, whether we agree with you or not.

But otherwise, it's rather like saying 'ooh if scrabble really takes off in this country no-one will ever play the violin again'.

Not to mention that football is a true world-wide sport already, whereas AMerican football is a minority interest, and can you think of any examples where a minority craze wiped out a world-wide long-term interest?

Co-existance is certainly possible, but more than that? About as likely as my running a marathon.

so both of you are predicting less than a sell out at Wembley for the NFL?

I'm predicting a full house, just for the hoopla if nothing else. think they're bringing in marching bands, etc.

It will be full - but not with all paying punters.

one thing - NFL Europe is a totally different animal. The game Palenque is going on about is a regular season game between the Giants and Dolphins. So it likely will sell out quickly - that doesn't have any bearing on whether American football catches on in the UK.

It would be the same if ManU played Arsenal in Chicago - it would sell out in minutes. But still wouldn't be "main stream" in the States.

Corporate hooray henrys, I suspect. The kind of people who mysteriously magic a career for themselves out of marketing hype for precisely this kind of export (and likewise trying to replicate the Premiership in the USA) but somehow manage to walk away with their reputations (and bank balances) intact when the hype obstinately fails to become reality.

>>..In short - it's pants on stilts. <<

Careful, someone might think that's a fashion hint for how not to stand out as a tourist.

and i further predict that there will soon be British football (American) hooligans - maybe some will show up at Wembley.

I went to an exhibition game at Wembley back in the late Eighties. San Francisco v Miami with, yes, the greats Marino and Montana quarterbacking. Unfortunately, they only played the first quarter. Anyway, the stadium was sold out.

At that time, too, the television was showing an edited US football game or two a week. Each show lasted an hour -- far superior to a real-time production. As I recall, this was quite popular in the UK.

I was never a great fan, and stopped following football after Montana retired. Now I ignore all ball games of any sort and can no longer remember why I once thrilled to them.

NFL was briefly popular in the early 80's because it was well presented on telly and had a novelty value. However they started showing live games - and that killed any interest stone dead.

I'm not sure what you mean; American hooligans who follow soccer, or British hooligans who follow American football? I think either is extraordinarily unlikely, especially the latter. Why would they do it? None of the few British hooligans that are left have even the remotest interest in American football and couldn't name a team in the NFL, let alone get into a rumble over them.

Besides, they're all too busy writing their memoirs for the thug nostalgia market.

I hope for your sakes that this game is a snoozer, as 2/3 of them are (and 2/3 of the time during even the exciting ones). If it's an exciting game you might get more of it.

I think this is wholly for America's benefit. It is satisfying to the souls who run the NFL, and those who follow it, to think that people elsewhere in the world are interested in their efforts. Dog-and-pony shows like this are designed for the entertainment of Americans watching TV, not the Brits who have to suffer through the game. There will be lots of atmosphere shots of beefeaters and the Tower and some dudes in bowler hats and brollies, but few Londoners will even know the game is on.

We know very well who Beckham is over here now. He's that fellow who used to play soccer, whose new career of standing on the runway next to his vinyl wife is going great. And as predicted he has revolutionized American soccer -- the LA Galaxy are drawing 7-10,000 fans a game now!

Pausanias, what you saw at Wembley was a pre-season game. The starting quarterback, and other vital starters never pay the whole game. In fact, LaDanian Tomlinson (San Diego Chargers) doesn't play in pre-season games at all. Why? The possibility of injury, which is much greater in American football than soccer/football.

The game at Wembley this year is a regular season game and will count in the standings so you can expect to see the starters, and all the star players, incuding quarterbacks, play the whole game.

Barbara --

Thanks. Actually, it was explained to me at the time. Of course I was disappointed, as the great Montana usually came into his own only in the last few minutes. As an American living in London in those days, though, I felt I couldn't miss it.

<<< at the NEW Wembley Stadium >>>

Think you have the real reason for the popularity of the tickets

Alan - when will the 'new' Wembley Stadium open - i looked at it in February and it still looked like a work in progress??? thanks

"and all the star players, incuding quarterbacks, play the whole game."

Who? I couldn't name a single American football player. At least for baseball (Rounders for grown-ups) I can throw Babe Ruth's name out there. Can't think of another player.

In comparison, watching paint dry is thrilling.

No-one gets it, they play for 20 seconds, then stop for coffee, doughnuts (note the correct spelling)and steroids for another twenty minutes, pretty girls dancing, bad music, both teams change all of the players, followed by another flurry of lardos body-checking one another, even if they don't have the ball....What's all that about? For the effect they have on play, they may as well be fighting in the changing room.

It will never take off. Channel 4 tried it in the 80's with some retired Rugby player who was a kicker for the Arkansas Rockfarmers or something presenting.

The first time I saw anyone do the the scribbling arrows on the screen thing.

Technologically impressive at the time, but for the rest of it, meaningless.

Luddite!

Flanner, we know that it is difficult for you folks to count to four but it really is a must if you want to understand Amercian football..keep trying.