FantomBr wrote: I think that a Pro Bowl would be possible, not a super bowl, it would be the same as wanting to play the UEFA champions league finals somewhere out of europe... just doesn't make sense

If they had the probowl in England it would go against the whole reasoning of why they are not playing it in Hawaii anymore. It's to much of an expence for the NFL to foot the bill.

pstimpel wrote: destroying dreams....

Kind of like you destroying hair styles.

pstimpel wrote: SteelerSal wrote: pstimpel wrote: destroying dreams.... Kind of like you destroying hair styles.

Or scissors!

Only just noticed this thread.

Admittedly, I am not old enough to remember when American Football was popular in the UK. However, I have grown up in the generation of the thing they call 'game consoles'. The majority of children are not interested in sport as much as they used to be. I understand that I am making an assumption here, based purely on the children in my hometown, but they would rather sit in and play games. Sure, there is nothing wrong with that, but it is killing sports at the grass roots level.

That being said, I cannot see a London franchise until the interest in the sport was much bigger, including grass roots. I am friends with a few players who respresented the British Bulldogs in the States (Not sure when it was), and like you would imagine, they hardly matched up to some of the mediocre players out there! Now I am not suggesting that a London team should be full of domestic talent. I am just suggesting that the game needs to be embraced and publicised more to the British public before something was/is to happen.

Take basketball for example. NBA, NBA-D and the big Europe leagues. It just seems to work and should be a model for which the NFL should consider (albeit, a lot less games etc).

I also think that the superbowl should stay in the US. This is the place where it belongs to. And I say that as a german.

But what really has to be done by the NFL is talent fostering of foreign talents. Basketball in Germany draw the attention when Detlef Schrempf played in the NBA. Now with Dirk Nowitzky it's even greater.
Formula 1 became a favourite of the Germans when Michael Schumacher became a Superstar. Same for Tennis and Boris Becker and Steffi Graf. Same for Boxing and Henry Maske and the Klitschko brothers.

And this the only way (imho) for the NFL to grow in foreign markets. Get some foreign talents and make them great.
I like the Sebastian Vollmer pick by the patriots, I really do. But we need more than O-Liners. We need Safeties, Linebackers and Tight Ends. A european quarterback would be a dream though.

But to do that the NFL needs to assist the european leagues. A european top team would not even have a chance to beat a US college team at this time, no way.

And when this is done he NFL could expand to europe. But not earlier.

Greets
Lucky