Would’ve loved to have seen them drop the Patriots.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=122149&id=501862938&l=8732a1d13f

But I think it’s got bigger in the last couple of years. The stands were totally full at Wembley – the game sold out almost immediately when the tickets went on sale in January. It’s an 80,000-seater stadium and the last three years of the so-called “International Series” have all been sell-outs.

In terms of general popularity: there are still a lot of residual fans left over from the NFL Europe / London Monarchs era (which is why there are a lot of Dolphins fans in the UK, because Dan Marino was God during that period), but since the Monarchs closed down in 1999, I think there has been a bit of a slump in interest among younger fans, and a difficulty in attracting them to follow the game.

This slump seems to have been reversed in the last couple of years, probably partly because we now have a few NFL games broadcast in high-def on satellite TV on Sunday evenings, so people can actually watch their team occasionally. So things are looking relatively good, and more people are taking an interest.

However, I really think the NFL has got a long way to go before it can actually put a franchise in London. The general profile of the sport is pretty low – it doesn’t get mainstream press coverage (except this week, because of the Wembley game), and a lot of people dislike the game.

(You hear a lot of stupid arguments like: “American Football is a game for poofs, look at all the padding they wear! Rugby’s a game for real men!” Yeah, bozo, but in rugby you’re not allowed to tackle someone around the neck. And anyway, how does increasing the likelihood of injury make something a better sport? And if all you care about is “manliness”, why do you OBSESSIVELY watch soccer – a game which primarily involves grown men acting like spoiled babies, falling over and pretending to be hurt whenever something doesn’t go their way?)

End of rant.

Basically, there won’t realistically be a London franchise for at least a few years. If they’re wise, the NFL will keep testing the water before they actually take such a leap. For example, there is talk of playing two regular season games at Wembley each year, instead of just one. That would be a good step forward, and a good way to measure the actual demand for the game in this country – because at the moment, a lot of people go to the Wembley game because it is an ‘event’, rather than because they actually have an interest in the NFL.