I’m writing this on a Friday night, watching the opening round of the NFL. The Green Bay Packers are taking on the Philadelphia Eagles at their fortress of a homeground, Corinthians Stadium. Wait, that’s a strange name for a Pennsylvanian stadium, isn’t it?
On closer inspection, it IS an unusual name, and the game is not being played in Philadelphia, but rather 4.7k miles away in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
This isn’t the first time that the NFL has played games outside of the US, and it won’t be the last. There have been persistent rumours of even a European team joining the league, based in either the UK, or perhaps surprisingly, Germany, where the sport has a cult following. In fact, the German American Football league is the second richest league in the world, where top players can earn up to €9000 a season, which isn’t nothing, but it isn’t Jared Goff’s $53m a year either. Still, its all you can drink beer after the games, so that’s cool.
It makes me wonder if there are any other leagues that will explore overseas games. I wouldn’t be surprised in the AFL in Australia played a game or two in New Zealand, or Major League Baseball played a round in Japan or Dominica. But they big fish would be the European soccer leagues. Would a Premier League team be willing to play a game in New York for a boost in cash? Local fans might not be happy, but if they could use that cash for a star player, maybe less so?
Part of me who is the economist sees it as a great idea, and a chance to give fans all over the world a chance to see their team without getting on an airplane. At the same time, it was special to see Newcastle play at St. James Park, and wouldn’t have been the same if I had seen them play at the Citibank Arena with fans yelling “DEFENCE” every 10 seconds.
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