A British Super Bowl? [J. Mark English]

Two weeks from now the Giants will be heading to jolly old London, some ways across the pond that is the Atlantic Ocean, to square off against the Miami Dolphins.

This is all well and good, but the Dolphins lose a home game, and can the average fan in Miami travel to London afford to see their team play?

While you ponder this notion, think about what could happen down the line if the NFL dreamers have their way. The Super Bowl could be coming to a European city over there... Most likely in London.

This is from the Press Association:

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell believes London is a candidate to host a future Super Bowl, an event that has never in history been held outside the United States.

"There's a great deal of interest in having a Super Bowl in London," Goodell said in a news conference Monday in Phoenix, which will host the 2008 Super Bowl. "We'll be looking at that."

The Miami Dolphins and New York Giants are due to play at Wembley Stadium in London on October 28.

It will be the second regular-season game the NFL has played overseas after the fantastic success of a game between the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals in Mexico City in 2005 - a contest which attracted an NFL record 103,467 fans.

Goodell said that, regardless of whether an overseas Super Bowl were to happen, more regular-season games are in the pipeline.

Comment -

Grrrrr. Not sure how I feel about a Super Bowl in some far off land. Football (as we know it to be called) is an American institution. Let them have cricket and soccer and whatever else the Brits play. Can't we please keep football over here?

Its not like we've tried to steal away cricket from the Brits and host the Ashes over here in America. I fear that the NFL is getting a lot out of control.

(Please note I am not disregarding the significant profits the NFL sees in making the game international...its just the principle that bothers me.)