London Market/ ELF/ NFL

Why is the London market so valuable to the NFL and the upstart league ELF hasn't placed a team in London yet? Bulk of ELF teams seems centered in Germany and Austria with a team in Instanbul. If football has any presence, due to the NFL, why pick Istanbul over London? Why pick Wroclaw, Poland over London? I just get a sense that football just isn't growing in London the way it is in Eastern Europe. I think it's good the NFL is finally going to Germany. Just by the looks at the ELF standings, there's roughly 7 German teams. Germany just appears to be the backbone of football growth in Europe.

ELF Divisions

North: Berlin Thunder (Germany); Leipzig Kings (Germany); Hamburg Sea Devils (Germany); Panthers Wroclaw (Poland)

Central: Frankfurt Galaxy (Germany); Stuttgart Surge (Germany); Raiders Tirol (Austria); Vienna Vikings (Austria)

Southern: Cologne Centurians (Germany); Rhein Fire (Germany); Barcelona Dragons (Spain); Istanbul Rams

France, UK, Belgium and Nordic countries are glaringly absent. I have seen U17/U19 games that featured teams from those countries so there's at least club level youth football there.

NFL should be going to Austria, Spain and Poland and leave UK alone. If the UK hasn't caught on yet, it's probably never going to. NFL been doing games there for nearly 15 years now.

I'm definitely curious to what guys like @UKSheffieldSteeler think.

 

I just think it's not baring any fruit. If ELF has thought of 15, counting the 3 named expansion teams for 2023, other cities before London then what good is it? It's obvious that central Europe is much further along without NFL games being played. London will probably get a team in there at some point since that league wants to expand to 20 teams. But again, Istanbul and Milan before London raises an eyebrow.

 

Here is the answer 2 Your Questions....

 

Yeah I don't disagree with what you're saying. The presence and standard of our own American football is none existent in the UK.

I guess as always it comes down to money. London is a global city, English speaking, fantastic stadia and importantly can produce/host sporting events that are globally watched. The money that our 'soccer' generates dwarfs that of Germany, Spain, Italy etc. Don't know if it is directly linked but the amount of American money in soccer is huge now too, many top teams are now owned exclusively by Americans (Chelsea being the latest after their £4Billion takeover). I can only see this increasing ties with the NFL and US sports in general. Again it's all money.

 

I do know that at least at the college level there's football being played in England. I saw a few of the games when I was working overnight. It seemed like 1/4 of each team were American born players that made it to England for whatever reason. They're probably NAIA or D3 level kids. The crowds seemed to be what you'd see at small HS's, which isn't a bad thing. It was mostly parents and gf's of the players and casual sports fans, I'd assume.

I definitely see London as a global city and English speaking city. But I can counter that with Berlin, Paris, Rome and Madrid are global cities and are cities that are English speaking with stadiums that could host games. The beauty of Europe, that you'll never find in the US, is that the average European speaks 3 or 4 languages. I found myself in small towns or large cities and nearly everyone spoke some level of English. It would be akin to going to Beaver Falls, Pa or Indianapolis, IN., and realizing 1/2 of the people there spoke some level of French and/or Spanish.

Speaking of American investment in soccer, Peacock (NBC), FOX and ESPN are pouring tons of money into EPL, La Liga and Bundesliga, and are getting relatively good ratings for that timeslot (mornings/early afternoon). I have to think that it's only a matter of time before those aforementioned networks see the profitability in soccer in the US and start pumping $$$ into the MLS. I could see the MLS getting a TV deal close to that of the NHL, which would give all the teams the capability of being on par or better than Serie A in Italy, which would probably be about above average in the EPL. The salary cap allows for parity so the bottom rung would be far better than the bottom of Serie A, but the top rung of MLS would be slightly worse than the top of Serie A (if that makes sense).

 

I agree, when NFL cities lose these home games, hard working people in these cities lose income, think, bartenders, waitresses, hotel workers, concession workers
Etc. Etc.