Dizzytheegg Posted February 25, 2014 Report Share Posted February 25, 2014 Think this is the start of a move to a London NFL team? https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AmericanFootball_UKParliamentSurvey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrD Posted February 25, 2014 Report Share Posted February 25, 2014 Just did that. Interesting survey. put in stuff about developing it at a grass roots level and at schools and communities etc... would like to see an nfl team here though got tickets to see the dolphins v the raiders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrD Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 would really like to see american football getting bigger here. hopefully with the increased profile of the NFL this will assist it, rather than hinder the development of the sport. Seen this video today of the japanese x league - which is like a semi-professional gridiron league that plays by NCAA rules. Would love to see our game develop along those kinda lines me and a few mates have decided to try and get some 7 a side street american football happening in the summer. We already got roughly ten players signed up so only need maybe four or five to make this happen. if anybody is interested let me know - a couple of us have some experience playing rugby, but none whatsover have experience of playing american football -- should be a laugh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackpool Jags Posted March 5, 2014 Report Share Posted March 5, 2014 Good luck with your venture, Mr D. There's some bits and pieces on You Tube on basic coaching which you and your mates might find useful, although I'm struggling to post links from this tablet thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrD Posted March 5, 2014 Report Share Posted March 5, 2014 (edited) Thanks BJ - aye me and my pal on friday night were drunkenly trying to put together a playbook and coming together with some nascent rules.. thinking maybe there should be a minimum of 3 players on the line of scrimmage to give some protection for a quarterback to make a play, but other than that dont have a scooby. thinking of maybe making a 'soccer' penalty be the touchdown conversion. we are planning on playing it at queens park which i think will look a bit bizzarre in the summer! what do you think of having a pitch of 80 yards and having 3 downs as a starting principle? Edited March 5, 2014 by mrD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougie T Posted March 6, 2014 Report Share Posted March 6, 2014 I don't agree with having a franchise in London. To me it just wouldn't be the NFL anymore if one of the teams came from outside the US Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kni Posted March 8, 2014 Report Share Posted March 8, 2014 I don't agree with having a franchise in London. To me it just wouldn't be the NFL anymore if one of the teams came from outside the US Honestly, it's far from clear that a London franchise would be viable in the medium to long-term. A couple of games at Wembley in the autumn is very different to a full NFL schedule. Would Wembley be available for a full season, including play-offs? The alternatives are not readily available, e.g. there are local restrictions on the number of events that can be played at Twickenham. There are a lot of other sporting events that would be competing for the sporting fan's cash at that time too, e.g. Masters tennis at the O2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrD Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 Honestly, it's far from clear that a London franchise would be viable in the medium to long-term. A couple of games at Wembley in the autumn is very different to a full NFL schedule. Would Wembley be available for a full season, including play-offs? The alternatives are not readily available, e.g. there are local restrictions on the number of events that can be played at Twickenham. There are a lot of other sporting events that would be competing for the sporting fan's cash at that time too, e.g. Masters tennis at the O2. yeah i think itll be a kinda half franchise where a team will be based in both london and florida, due in part to the jetlag problem which will only be sortable if and only if supersonic travel came into being. don't think getting a stadium would be a problem though as there is competition for getting NFL games in london, a city that one would think is big enough infrastructure for an extra set of events. think also the fact that nfl games can attract a european auidence will ensure there is enough fans to go and see the game - although whether one can get people to gain an alligience to one particular team is another issue - i mean are people who have been say long term 49ers or dolphins fans gonna change to the jaguars or the buccaneers who look as if they would fill the franchise void? that i think will be the real challenge... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrD Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 I don't agree with having a franchise in London. To me it just wouldn't be the NFL anymore if one of the teams came from outside the US Yeah i would much rather seeing the game being developed from grassroots to above to support a few pro teams that have mainly european players in the future. would probably take 20 years plus probably. better starting with the grassroots rather than something like nfl europe. if i was in CFL id be looking to expand the markets for that sport by getting involved in european gridiron at grassroots level... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackpool Jags Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 what do you think of having a pitch of 80 yards and having 3 downs as a starting principle? A shorter pitch sounds ok. Not sure about the 3 downs thing - I'm pretty sure that's the way it is in the CFL. The pitch dimensions are a slightly different in Canada too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrD Posted March 10, 2014 Report Share Posted March 10, 2014 only reason why i was thinking 3 downs was because, lets face it, we aint gonna be like pros in defense so id imagine getting yardage shouldnt be as much of a problem. in which case could end up like basketball where each alternates a drive with a score! 3 downs might make that more difficult... guess we'll just have to tweak it if and when we get this up and running! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambies Lost Doo Posted March 10, 2014 Report Share Posted March 10, 2014 Here are some teams that could help you. Strathclyde Uni had a good setup as it used to get old gear from The Claymores although that was a while ago. The Claymores used to get about 20k attendance which was decent so it was a shame when they closed down the franchise. If you want a laugh search for Glasgow Diamonds on youtube and there is a song from them. 1980's classic as Glasgow tries to be "glamorous" America. Never seen so many moustaches since I read an Andy McNabb book. http://glasgowtigers.info/ http://www.piratesfootball.co.uk/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky jag Posted March 24, 2014 Report Share Posted March 24, 2014 Just did that. Interesting survey. put in stuff about developing it at a grass roots level and at schools and communities etc... would like to see an nfl team here though got tickets to see the dolphins v the raiders. me too man, can't wait for it, goin to be a crackin weekend 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrD Posted April 28, 2014 Report Share Posted April 28, 2014 Here are some teams that could help you. Strathclyde Uni had a good setup as it used to get old gear from The Claymores although that was a while ago. The Claymores used to get about 20k attendance which was decent so it was a shame when they closed down the franchise. If you want a laugh search for Glasgow Diamonds on youtube and there is a song from them. 1980's classic as Glasgow tries to be "glamorous" America. Never seen so many moustaches since I read an Andy McNabb book. http://glasgowtigers.info/ http://www.piratesfootball.co.uk/ cheers for that info, and sorry for the long time to have a response. been snowed down with family and university matters and have been avoiding this forum to stem my propensity to procrastinate. Thats pretty mental that they couldn't sustain a franchise with a crowd of 20,000 at the claymores. i mean thats bigger crowds than most spfl teams and on a par with CFL crowds. Wonder if they had kept it going they might have started to break even.... Yeah, i probably will end up contacting the tigers or the pirates and maybe go along to one of their tryouts if i cant get this 7 a side thing organised. Been reluctant to contact them for tryouts as im thinking that 35 is probably too old to start a new sport, and i was shit at sports anyway even in my younger years... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrD Posted April 28, 2014 Report Share Posted April 28, 2014 me too man, can't wait for it, goin to be a crackin weekend dunno who im going to support. i think i might go for the dolphins as my dad is a gloria estafan fan and she has shares in the dolphins i think... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Taylor Posted May 4, 2014 Report Share Posted May 4, 2014 The 20k crowds for the Claymores had gone by the end and the average was down to about 12k and a lot of that was comps to schools - The money required to run the team was huge and the NFL wanted to cut costs and get the teams closer together. German crowds were big for most of their teams so that made sense to base them there economically but no sense for any other reason. In the end the NFL just didn't see the home based players coming through in any numbers through the NFLE and lost interest. The London franchise will happen as they are selling 70k plus tickets every game so far which would be on a par with the biggest teams in the NFL. Whither that will be enough to see it though is all dependant on people switching their current loyalties long term. MrD maybe have a look at flag football rules which are already there - there was a couple of flag teams in Glasgow area (Hornets, I think was one) not sure if they are still about. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrD Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 (edited) just saw this post there - sorry for the late reply. I think the NFL are going about things the wrong way at the moment. I think a London team will give more exposure to a british audience and may generate some growth but i think long term people aint going to be interested if there is no grass roots exposure to american football. Probably the NFLE showed was that teams showcasing players who were not good to get into the 32 proper NFL teams not very inspiring, i think a lot that makes sport exciting to people growing up is the idea that they could play in the professional set up and have opportunities to play it as a kid. A london franchise wont really inspire people in that way when they realise watching that sport that there is no infrastructure to develop gridiron players outside of the USA. If the NFL were to sink a couple of million into the grassroots of gridiron in the UK every year to develop it as a sport alongside having a franchise then maybe over the years there might be significant market growth happening. Since they are so profitable, it wouldnt be difficult to do that as a long term investment. The USA national team games in the world cup had a greater TV audience in the US than the world series. That fact, conjoined onto the the development of parents discouraging their kids from playing american football due to the concussions issue meaning a decline in quality could be on the cards in ten years or so, are going to have to make the NFL consider itself as a player on a global market where soccer is the king. They are going to have to find new markets to offset a relative decline that may take place in the USA in the next 20 years or so, or they could find themselves being akin to the CFL if not careful!! Might try for the pirates next year if i can get my fitness levels up. might look at the hornets too for flag football likewise. Edited July 12, 2014 by mrD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambies Lost Doo Posted July 18, 2014 Report Share Posted July 18, 2014 The NFL is unbelievably successful and profitable so I would not be taking them for mugs. Flying from East Coast to London is same distance as flying East Coast to West Coast inside the USA. Teams only play 8 home games before the play offs so the season is relatively small. They have gradually increased the NFL games from 1 to 3 and they are selling out in Wembley. Being based in London makes sense. You have 10 million people within an hour travel. You have 65 million in the UK. And you have easy transport and capacity for hotels for European based fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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