# UK Dopers...excited about American football this weekend? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2007, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044 "2007-10-25T22:45:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/21 "2007-10-26T01:04:43Z")
Ack, the Australians get it too?! We’re doomed! ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/22 "2007-10-26T01:07:07Z")
'sorrite **fetus** , we’re just humouring 'em. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/23 "2007-10-26T01:11:47Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] 'sorrite **fetus** , we’re just humouring 'em. 😃 [/QUOTE] I could just picture you petting **fetus** on the head, there. Quite why **fetus** looked like Paris Hilton’s dog, I don’t know. I really don’t. **Threads about the UK: Rule 1** - they get very interesting around 1am our time. **Threads about the UK: Rule 2** - ridicule and/or Mornington Crescent is mandatory Threads about the UK: ummmmmm what huhhhh?? Edit: 2am, I had a long drive to get here. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/24 "2007-10-26T01:18:31Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] I could just picture you petting **fetus** on the head, there. [/QUOTE] Heheh. [QUOTE=GorillaMan] **Threads about the UK: Rule 1** - they get very interesting around 1am our time. [/QUOTE] **checks time** 11:13am Australian Eastern Standard Time. Aaaaaaah! ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/25 "2007-10-26T01:22:13Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] **checks time** 11:13am Australian Eastern Standard Time. Aaaaaaah! [/QUOTE] That’s it! You lot are getting pissed at the same time as us!!! ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/26 "2007-10-26T01:25:56Z")
Maybe the sort of Brits who like football aren’t the sort of Brits who would post here. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/27 "2007-10-26T01:37:06Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Maybe the sort of Brits who like football aren’t the sort of Brits who would post here. [/QUOTE] Quite. Of course, the type of folk who like proper football\* couldn’t give a toss \*Rugby union, bizarrely dominated by the most crusty upper-class English twats you could imagine, and some blokes from Wales. Go figure. Of course, proper football has carried on regardless. 3-1 over Colchester, nudging around the top 6, Norwich sinking without a trace. Loverly. Sorry, football, which football, what? Edit: and Aussie Rules, as well, and Gaelic Football, I’ll get my cousin in here if you want… ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/28 "2007-10-26T01:47:25Z")
Well, I think we can agree on what football is. I mean, why do you people want everything? We were nice enough to call our language “English”, weren’t we? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/29 "2007-10-26T02:03:34Z")
So you’ll use English spellings, too? Pretty please? Edit: Feet or no feet, as long as you answer back, you’re in the game, keep us going long enough and you’ll convice us it’s London Irish at least… ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/30 "2007-10-26T17:42:52Z")
I do find it interesting, with all the “too cool for school” posturing here, that they did sell out…so who **is** going? Displaced Americans? Curious Europeans? Is there only enough of a fan base to fill one stadium, instead of following an entire league, which is why NFL Europe failed? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/31 "2007-10-26T18:00:02Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] I do find it interesting, with all the “too cool for school” posturing here, that they did sell out…so who **is** going? Displaced Americans? Curious Europeans? Is there only enough of a fan base to fill one stadium, instead of following an entire league, which is why NFL Europe failed? [/QUOTE] This is kind of what I was getting at. I really don’t give a damn about the NFL, but I’m interested from a marketing standpoint as to how this is being perceived in England. It appears that this game managed to fill a stadium without anyone on the street even knowing it’s happening (despite what I’m sure we’ll hear from the NFL PR machine this weekend) – and I’d be curious to know how that happened. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/32 "2007-10-26T18:03:30Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] I do find it interesting, with all the “too cool for school” posturing here, that they did sell out…so who **is** going? Displaced Americans? Curious Europeans? Is there only enough of a fan base to fill one stadium, instead of following an entire league, which is why NFL Europe failed? [/QUOTE] Conventional wisdom has it that NFL Europe tanked for the same reason that MLS can’t catch on in the States: savvy sports fans have little patience for an inferior product. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/33 "2007-10-26T18:54:55Z")
[QUOTE=Ellis Dee] Conventional wisdom has it that NFL Europe tanked for the same reason that MLS can’t catch on in the States: savvy sports fans have little patience for an inferior product. [/QUOTE] MLS ‘can’t catch on’? It’s got [respectable attendance figures](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attendance_figures_at_domestic_professional_sports_leagues) compared to similar leagues elsewhere. Because they deliberatly haven’t bitten off more than they can chew, and aimed for this position, it’s achieved its initial aims. Taking American football and presenting it to Europeans is a far harder challenge than soccer in America - the latter is understood on some level by a large number of people, even if only at the level of a children’s sport. American football is way off the radar of most Europe’s sporting knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/34 "2007-10-26T19:24:53Z")
[QUOTE=Ellis Dee] Conventional wisdom has it that NFL Europe tanked for the same reason that MLS can’t catch on in the States: savvy sports fans have little patience for an inferior product. [/QUOTE] You make a hell of a point. I suspect the sportscasters on Sunday are going to be creaming their pants about how enthusiastic London is for the NFL, even though the average English “man on the Dope” has no idea the game is even happening. The sportscasters themselves will probably be attending conventions and seminars where American football will be hyped up as the next big thing to hit Europe, and they’ll be surrounded by precisely the sort of Londoners who _do_ care or have a vested interest in giving that impression–namely, marketers, advertisers and venture capitalists. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/35 "2007-10-26T19:35:47Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] MLS ‘can’t catch on’? It’s got [respectable attendance figures](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attendance_figures_at_domestic_professional_sports_leagues) compared to similar leagues elsewhere. Because they deliberatly haven’t bitten off more than they can chew, and aimed for this position, it’s achieved its initial aims. [/quote] > **[San Diego Union-Tribune](https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/)** > > San Diego, California and National News You make a point, but MLS has been suspected of inflating its attendance figures. It’s true, though, that it’s survived for over 10 years now, which means they’re a lot smarter than the American soccer leagues of years past. There’s a great documentary from last year about the rise and fall of the New York Cosmos and the NASL in general, BTW; I’ll have to find out the name for you. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/36 "2007-10-26T19:46:17Z")
The thing is, it’s not like American football is a novelty here. It had a bit of a cult following in the '80s, when (then) upstart Channel Four started showing this weird new sport live on Sundays. For a time, the man in the British street could have been be expected to know who “The Fridge” was. But the craze passed, and these days American football has a small but solid following. Maybe the entire audience of Channel Five’s US sports programmes has bought tickets for Wembley? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/37 "2007-10-26T19:55:27Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] Maybe the entire audience of Channel Five’s US sports programmes has bought tickets for Wembley? [/QUOTE] Really? There’s a channel that carries US sports? Are they showing the (baseball) World Series at the moment? ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/38 "2007-10-26T20:00:15Z")
[QUOTE=jsc1953] Really? There’s a channel that carries US sports? Are they showing the (baseball) World Series at the moment? [/QUOTE] Is that the basketball one!!!111eleven ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/39 "2007-10-26T20:05:31Z")
[QUOTE=jsc1953] Really? There’s a channel that carries US sports? Are they showing the (baseball) World Series at the moment? [/QUOTE] Yes - but showing a live match hardly eats into prime time here, live coverage tonight of the Red Sox against the Rockies starts at 1am. Edit - that’s on a regular free-to-air channel. With subscription channels (bought by most people with satellite, mainly for the football) you can get NFL, NBA, Nascar, NHL, CFL, NCAA…indeed, all the major abbreviations. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044/40 "2007-10-26T20:12:50Z")
Given that a pretty substantial number of Americans (myself included) were willing to stay up through ungodly hours of the morning to watch live 2002 WC matches, would you say that any substantial number of Britons are staying up to watch the World Series? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-dopers-excited-about-american-football-this-weekend/424044.md?page=3)