Football recieves provisional recognition from ioc

[MillerTime GFG]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I could see football working in the Olympics. All you have to do is have 5 American teams, 2 Canadian teams and 1 team made up of the rest of the world. Of course totally illegal in the Olympics, but so should football as a sport. Terrible idea, mostly driven by the NFL to try and convince more international fans who don't care that they should care (but won't). Its like trying to sell soccer to American fans, they just don't give a ####, they've shown you time and again they don't give a ####, so stop trying.

Edit: And Olympic style drug testing would ruin every NFL player who went into the Olympics. They'd all get banned for life. So absolutely no shot they play, making it even more pointless. NCAA players going? Whoop dee doo.

I totally agree with your second paragraph - the drug testing would prohibit a lot (majority) of the top talent from going.

Your first paragraph is terrible though. Creating fans abroad is a gradual process, it doesn't happen overnight. The NFL doesn't have grand illusions that after the Olympics they will have world-wide interest. Guaranteed it will be more popular after an Olympic appearance than it would be without one though. And as a previous poster mentioned, I think you'd be quite surprised as to how many cities do fully populate their local pro teams, and how many soccer fans there are in general across North America.

[GirlySports]

It obviously would be American rules. There is a Federation already. There have been 4 World Cups.

http://ifaf.org/

[Senator Clay Davis]

I suppose "don't give a ####" wasn't specific enough. For instance, while the MLS and soccer in America might be doing better....they're still doing very poorly. The last financials available show less than 30% of MLS teams turn a profit. Thats pretty terrible right there. For reference, every NFL team is profitable without playing 1 game from the TV deal alone.

Basically soccer in America might be getting bigger (relatively speaking), but it's still looking up at poker and NASCAR in the American sports hierarchy, with bowling and horse racing hot on its heels. Its no different than the UK where darts probably crushes the NFL in terms of interest, or Spain where watching people get chased by bulls is miles more important than the NFL. It is what it is.

NFL Europe was a total failure, and most of the people who go to the London games are expats from across Europe. Sure there are actual fans in Europe, but few and far between, and never enough to expand there. Here, the MLS is still not profitable. The only way it will be is by attracting huge names, which they can't because those huge names can make substantially more in Europe...because they care more in Europe. It just is what it is. Soccer might eventually pass NASCAR, which if I have use NASCAR as soccer's target to pass should sum up how unlikely it is soccer will be anything other than a niche sport in America.

[MillerTime GFG]

I don't think anyone believes soccer will ever be as big as the NFL or the MLB, but it's still a growing market. Like I said, it doesn't happen overnight. The US national soccer team is usually ranked in the top 10-15 in the world. Could you imagine if they made the quarterfinals/semis or even the finals, what it would do for the sport? It would be huge. I think they're knocking on the door.

EDIT: Though I should say they drew a group that they'll be extremely lucky to get out of.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I'd rather see the reactions from the rest of the world if the US wins the World Cup than from Americans themselves. I honestly don't think there's a country that worldwide soccer fans would hate seeing win more than the Americans, mostly because of the perception they don't care. I mean outside Canada, the United States and maybe countries like Russia, Finland and Sweden (hockey), South Africa and New Zealand (rugby), India, Pakistan and the West Indies (cricket), soccer is the most popular sport in every other country in the world. The fact it isn't even the top 5 in America no doubt would make them angry if the US won.

[calgaryred]

Olympic American football? They people complain Women's Hockey lacks competition, this is for the USA to lose, just like when pros play in Olympic Basketball, no dice. Baseball I agree with Football nope, outside the USA NFL is not a top sport. When I was in Italy I had to look on the net to see who won the Super Bowl.

[polak]

Poland actually has a pretty healthy american football league.

Their championship game sold out the New National Stadium in Warsaw that was built for Euro 2012 and the playoff got decent ratings.

Still quite a bit below Soccer and Volleyball but still.

[MillerTime GFG]

Originally Posted by calgaryred

Olympic American football? They people complain Women's Hockey lacks competition, this is for the USA to lose, just like when pros play in Olympic Basketball, no dice. Baseball I agree with Football nope, outside the USA NFL is not a top sport. When I was in Italy I had to look on the net to see who won the Super Bowl.

For what it's worth, Canada did just beat USA in the World Championships recently. I think it was U-21 or something.

So a 2-horse race

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by Locke

When does female honey wrestling get the recognition it deserves?

shows how out of touch you are as all of the world wresles in baby oil. honey rasslin only happens in north america........we would get our buttz kicked as the change in medium (oil v honey) completely changes the overall strategy of the match......