National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast
The New Orleans Saints will “host” the San Diego Chargers today at London’s Wembley Stadium in the second-ever NFL regular-season game to be played outside of North America. The N.Y. Giants launched the series last season with a 13-10 win over the Miami Dolphins. NFL owners have committed to play up to two games outside the United States each season for the next four years.
Forgive my lack of enthusiasm for this event, but I’m still struggling with the concept of the Saints losing a home game at the Louisiana Superdome. I guess I feel …read more

Blogcasting the National Football League, Blogcasting the NFL
The first 40,000 tickets that were made available for the NFL’s second overseas regular-season game on October 26 at Wembley Stadium in London, England between the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints sold today in 90 minutes. The tickets were available to fans who were randomly selected from an overwhelming number of registered ticket requests. Today’s sales at Ticketmaster matched the pace at which tickets were bought for last year’s game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants. Because of the demand for tickets, the NFL has released an additional 5,000 …read more

Blogging the National Football League, Blogging the NFL
It was everything I thought it would be. And wouldn’t be. The National Football League had its historic moment. The game was, for the most part, uneventful. And we can all go home now.
The N.Y. Giants traveled 3,500 miles to beat the Miami Dolphins 13-10 in a rain-soaked slop-fest. As the weeks and months pass, I’m sure Commissioner Roger Goodell will be looking at the positives and negatives that surrounded this game. Most of the negatives, I am guessing, had to do with jet lag, transportation and the general inconvenience of traveling …read more

Blogging the National Football League, Blogging the NFL
Forgive me for not being more excited about an historic moment for the National Football League today. In a few hours, the Miami Dolphins will “host” the N.Y. Giants in the first-ever regular season NFL game played outside North America. There will be 86,000 fans at Wembley Stadium. The game will be seen in 215 countries and 39 broadcast partners will carry it around the globe in 21 languages. But do international football (not futbol) fans think they’re getting the best the NFL has to offer? The game looks like a stinker. The …read more

Blogging the National Football League, Blogging the NFL
We’re just a couple days away from the historic first regular-season NFL game played outside of North America. The game between the Miami Dolphins and N.Y. Giants lacks a tremendous amount of excitement with the Dolphins coming in at 0-7. But Commissioner Roger Goodell made some interesting comments about digital media today at “Sport 2020 – The Changing Face of the Global Sports Industry” conference from the Landmark Hotel in London:
“We will connect with more fans globally through digital media. Digital media expands the potential for communicating about our game and with our …read more

Blogging the National Football League, Blogging the NFL
As predicted, NFL Europa is history. The NFL has determined that it will switch the focus of its international business strategy to presenting the NFL to the widest possible global audience, including broader media visibility and the staging of international regular-season games. Mark Waller, the senior VP of NFL International said:
“The time is right to re-focus the NFL’s strategy on initiatives with global impact, including worldwide media coverage of our sport and the staging of live regular-season NFL games. We will continue to build our international fan base by taking advantage of technology …read more

Blogging the National Football League, Blogging the NFL
Members of the Miami Dolphins made a visit to Wembley Stadium in London a couple days ago to promote the NFL’s first-ever overseas regular season game. The Dolphins will face the New York Giants on Sunday, October 28, 2007. Naturally, DE Jason Taylor was the focus of attention because he’s the league’s defending defensive MVP and the leader of the team. But there’s more. I was reading an article at SI.com that reported PR powerhouse Rogers & Cohen were working with Jason to generate even more interest in this game. Sandy Friedman, the …read more

The game is still five months away, but fans in the United Kingdom can’t wait. The first 40,000 tickets made available for the NFL’s first overseas regular-season game on October 28 at Wembley Stadium in London, England between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants sold today in 90 minutes. The tickets were available to fans who were randomly selected from an overwhelming number of registered ticket requests. More than half a million requests were received within 72 hours of the NFL’s announcement of the game in February. Alistair Kirkwood, the managing director of NFL UK said:
“Today’s first sale was …read more

I got this press release on official “NFL International Series” letterhead today. The first regular season NFL game to be played outside of North America is already a guaranteed sellout. More than 500,000 tickets were requested by some 160,000 fans in the three days following the announcement that the Dolphins and Giants would play in Wembley Stadium on October 28. And this doesn’t even take into account the allocation of tickets to the teams and their fans making the trip from the United States. Of course, the stadium only holds 85-90,000 people, so there’s a bit of a problem. A …read more

London will be the location for the first regular-season NFL game to be played outside North America later this year. The venue and participating teams will be announced during Super Bowl XLI week. NFL owners voted last October to play up to two games outside the United States every year for the next five years, with the series kicking off with this single game in 2007. Of course, we know how immensely popular the National Football League is here in the States. But, NFL International is reaching out to the entire world. The NFL …read more