Dave’s Football Blog

A few weeks ago, NFL owners announced plans to play more regular-season games overseas, with an eye on Canada, Mexico (again), England and Germany. The push into Mexico should go much better than any push into Canada, who will likely do everything to resist America’s 4th down and tiny end zones in an effort to remain Canadian…

It’s the push into England that intrigues me the most, since nearly every popular form of football on the planet today can trace its ancestry back to the British Isles. Plus, I’m sure every sports fan in England is ready to trade in all those Manchested United, Chelsea and Arsenal (Fly Emirates, bitches!) jerseys for a Tom Brady or Ben Roethlisberger replica. I mean, if you can’t see the resemblance between those two and Beckham and Rooney, really, there’s little hope for you.

With that in mind, I thought I might give the NFL marketing machine a couple of ideas for selling its brand of football in England. As with any marketing plan, the goal is to attract not just all people, but the right people to your product, and who might be most interested in American football?

Why, rugby fans, of course. After all, American football is a direct descendant of rugby football with only a few key differences. Walter Camp created the scrimmage and the down-and-distance rules, turning traditional rugby into more of a strategic chess match — well, come to think of it, avoid using the word “chess,” since that’s kind of boring to watch — and John Heisman brought us the forward pass, but other than that, American football and rugby football have a lot in common, so grabbing those rugby fans in England will be crucial. Here’s how you do that…

I’m sure Commissioner Goodell is keeping a close eye on the rebuilding of Wembley Stadium in London, which is due (overdue, in fact) to reopen in 2007. When it’s finished, it will be the largest retractable-roof stadium in the U.K., seating 90,000. If you head to England next season, NFL, don’t go there. Instead, go here…

Twickenham Stadium is located in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and seats 82,000. Why is Twickenham (pronounced either TWIT-num or TWIK-num, though this ignorant yank isn’t sure which) better than Wembley, aside from the fact that there’s no ongoing construction and despite the fact that it holds 8,000 less than Wembley will when it’s done?

Twickenham just happens to be the home of the Rugby Football Union, the place where American football’s forefather was born. By playing in Twickenham, you’re sending a clear message to football fans in England that you understand and respect the ancestry of these games, and you can emphasize the similarities rather than the differences. You can even introduce English audiences to guys like Camp and Heisman and show them how they shaped the game in America. It’s diplomacy in action, and it will win over fans who might not have understood American football previously. What could be better?

Plus, if you go to England in 2007, make sure you do it after the Rugby World Cup, which starts on September 7 and ends on October 20. That means October 28, which would probably be NFL Week 8, might be the best date for a game in Twickenham. Here, I’ll even suggest a good potential matchup — New Orleans Saints vs. Arizona Cardinals.

Sure, the girls would go nuts for Tom Brady, too, but Leinart is an upstart playboy that would be just as popular, and having him in England with Reggie Bush, his former college teammate… well, the PR just writes itself at that point, doesn’t it? Let’s not forget the other marketable players here — Drew Brees, Anquan Boldin, Marques Colston, Larry Fitzgerald, etc.

The other benefits from having the Saints in England, aside from the possibility of U2 doing another pregame performance? The mere possibility of 82,000 drunken Brits all singing When the Saints Go Marching In as if it were their EPL team’s theme song…

Tell me that wouldn’t be awesome. You can’t, can you? Granted, you also run the risk of the Brits singing No Bush Is a Good Bush But Reggie, but they’ve been singing that song in New Orleans since the last NFL Draft, so there you go.

If I think of any other ideas, all of which I’m sure the NFL will promptly ignore, I’ll let you know…

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