You write about the NFL’s eagerness to move into international markets but its hesitancy to actually do it. Is that the Canadian story?
The Bills played a series of games in Toronto starting in 2008 at the Rogers Centre [home of the Blue Jays], but, frankly, the games were kind of panned. So the Bills backed off, and now they’re about to open a new stadium in Buffalo. [As far as expansion teams go], the owners love the number of teams right now, 32. They love the balance of 16 teams in each conference. Not to mention that every time you add a team, you dilute the equity of the existing owners [who share revenue from national TV contracts].
But you also write about the NFL not wanting to sit back and be happy with where they are.
That’s very much their mantra. But they’ve realized that if you’re going to expand internationally, the cheapest way to do it is to sell the game on TV. That’s why you’ll see the Seahawks marketing their brand more in British Columbia.
I posted this yesterday in the NFL Talk section…
Getting on the TV and marketing the NFL as an experience is what got them to where they are now. The rules do matter but not nearly as much as creating the hype around it.
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