London Calling: The Globalization of the NFL

The NFL is keen to expand overseas because sports and especially in America are all moving towards this idea of Globalization of the sports world.  Sports nowadays are hugely dependent and focused on money and viewership.  As much as it bothers me to say it, it seems that all the people in the sports world care about is making money.  I think the NFL chose London for several reasons.  One being that Wembley stadium houses enough fans and is a good location geographically for the NFL.  Also, London has a big concentration (from the recent popularity and attendance at the last games) and in terms of money it has been successful for the NFL, which is why some people think it should be a permanent thing.  The previously mentioned aspects are factors that are facilitating the NFL overseas and for good reason.  However, I think social media is also playing a big part in the increased amount of NFL fans and popularity in London.  One London newspaper writes about how Facebook, Twitter, and Google all have offices in Shoreditch and are helping the popularity of American Football.  One blogger in London Jamie Cutteridge and his friend David Dickson started an NFL blog called Any Given Sunday Night that was originally planned to just give people information about the game and what was going on in general.  However, the blog spiraled out of control and is now one of the main sources for fans to find out instantaneous scores, highlights, and updates.  The blog and much social media in and around London has this mentality of "no fan gets left out".  This is the type of snowball effect that has been happening since 2007 when the games started in London.  Some drawbacks to the expansion to London were brought up perfectly in the article by Bill Barnwell in which he brought up everything from travel time, affects on the players from traveling, players not wanting to live abroad, the cost of living abroad, should the teams abroad be allotted more cap room, should players get cost of living pay, players refusing to play for teams abroad, and will they even sell out the stadium eight times a year?  All these points are very valid and I think most of them are too important to try and make adjustments.  And if these adjustments were done then the game would change radically and personally I would be disappointed with Goodell and the NFL.  This dark-side aspect of the game that has been brought up before, is really apparent in the expansion talks.  This league is called the National Football League for a reason, it is an American game in which American teams play each other.  The NFL has really seen ultimate low for me personally with trying to put a team in London.  The reason this is a low is because it is another reminder that the NFL is really all about money.  And not for that love of the game that most of experienced when we were little.  The game is supposed to be pure and in the greatest sense a form of art.  The game now in the NFL is so much about money and expanding and making it so extraordinary and amazing.  However, I think the game itself is both extraordinary and amazing but its hidden behind the shadows of money, expansion, and greed.

How Social Media is Helping the NFL Grow in London