NFL expanding internationally
doubledragon
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The NFL is planning on trying to expand internationally by planning to schedule games to be played in Germany, Mexico City, Canada, and South America to go along with games that have already started to be played in England.
Mexico, Germany and UK potential NFL hosts in 2022
NFL games will attract other countries to host games in 2022.
Quarterbacks Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson, the top two picks in the 2021 NFL draft, will be on the international stage this season with their teams set to play in London.
As part of the NFL schedule release, the league announced its return to London on Wednesday, with the Atlanta Falcons set to host Wilson's New York Jets on Oct. 10 and Lawrence's Jacksonville Jaguars to host the Miami Dolphins on Oct. 17. Both games will be played at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The NFL did not play any international games last season because of the coronavirus pandemic. The league had been set to hold four games in London and one in Mexico City last season.
The Jaguars selected Lawrence No. 1 overall in last month's draft after going 1-15 last season, while the Jets selected Wilson No. 2 after finishing 2-14 and trading former starter Sam Darnold earlier in the offseason.
The two games will also include two other top-10 2021 draft picks -- Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts (selected No. 4 overall) and Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle (picked No. 6 overall).
The NFL started playing games in London in 2007, when the Dolphins hosted the New York Giants, and played at least one game there every season until last year's pause due to the pandemic.
This year's game will be the Jaguars' eighth home game in London, while the Dolphins will be playing in the city for the fifth time. When the Jets and Falcons play, it will mark their second time each playing in London.
When the NFL announced the expansion of the regular season to 17 games per team earlier this season, it said the enhanced season will guarantee that, starting in 2022, each team will play an international game at least once every eight seasons. Up to four neutral-site games will be scheduled, with the initial focus on Canada, Europe, Mexico, South America and the United Kingdom. The league said interested teams also can volunteer to play home games internationally, as they currently can do. Halpin said that Germany is among the countries that could host a game in the coming years.
The entire 2021 NFL schedule will be released at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
Comments
The fans already seem to be getting pumped up in Mexico.
International travel will effect these guys especially when going into major time zone differences. If it makes money though it’s for the NFL
If the Cowboys play in Mexico, this means Jerry Jones will be even richer!
Shoot, I remember back in the 90s when they tried to start NFL Europe.
Life in the minor leagues of football, which NFL Europe was aptly dubbed, could be funny, sad, profound and ludicrous all at the same time. At its heart, this six-team league was a short-stop away from either the glamour of the NFL or the bottom of the professional football scrap pile--a crossroads full of real-life drama where the joy of "making it" was tempered by failure or injury with one misstep; where the difference between a multimillion dollar NFL contract and abject poverty may only be one play away. Just ask Super Bowl MVP Kurt Warner.
Author Lars Anderson brings to life the compelling drama of NFL Europe by spending a season with the Scottish Claymores. Anderson lived with the players at a hotel in Glasgow, Scotland, spending every waking minute with them-eating and heading out to the pubs as the Claymores made their championship run. Along with detailing the life and times of the Claymores, Anderson digs deep into the background of the players and coaches to help explain why some succeed and others fail in their quest to make it to that shining city on the hill--the NFL.
Through the eyes of Anderson, the reader experiences what it meant and what it was like to be a football player in Europe. The men that make up the Claymores are the strength of this book-a funny and complex lot that face many of the same issues we tackle every day. An inspiring portrait of both new beginnings and bitter ends, The Proving Ground will shock and delight readers, while showing them another side of the professional football player.
Of The Proving Ground, Frank Deford, award-winning author and commentator, says "Anderson deftly shows that you can take the football player out of America, but... he's the same creature, loving the game and scrambling for one more chance."
this has been inevitable for a number of years. travel logistics will make it more difficult for players, but after adding a 17th game, in theory, no team would lose a home game by traveling abroad. 8 home, 8 away, 1 abroad. it makes me wonder if this takes hold if NFL will over take NBA internationally. NBA has huge inroads in Asia already.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
They've played in Mexico City before. Huge NFL fan base there, all Cowboys/Steelers fans.
I was done there for work for a couple day a few years ago, a week before one of the NFL games was happening in their big stadium. 2016 Houston/Oakland. I flew in wearing an old Falcons shirt and the hotel guys were all asking if I was there to work the game.
A Germany game would be a jet lagger for sure.