The NFL has work to do before it goes overseas

This upcoming August, English soccer club Tottenham Hotspur will open its massive new stadium. But what makes the new 64,000-seat facility noteworthy is the large fingerprint left on it by the NFL.

Unlike most soccer stadiums, this new venue will have locker rooms designed for American football games, as well as a retractable football field underneath the soccer pitch. The NFL’s $13.3 million contribution to this overseas stadium is a major move in the league’s mission toward international play.

Since 2007, the NFL has played some regular season games in London. However, the recent spike in investments and general interest in the international series are signs the NFL is determined and committed to having the NFL expand abroad. The idea of there being international franchises and weekly games played overseas is no longer a dream but instead a real possibility.

The idea is wonderful, but some serious challenges are facing the NFL’s lofty dreams of expansion.

The first is that of logistics. Travel and the extra preparation of playing a game abroad (that likely cuts into a team’s regular season routine) will frustrate many players and coaches. Right now, current players often complain about having to play a game in England, and it makes sense. Being a professional athlete and playing football at the highest level are not easy tasks. Introduce jetlag and the chaos/stress of traveling into that and the already physically demanding sport becomes miserable.

To accommodate the players, wonky scheduling and logistics of an overseas game, the NFL would need to have a more flexible and considerate game schedule, possibly using their Thursday or Monday night slot for overseas games. That way, teams playing overseas could at least have the reward of a slightly longer break between games. Another option is to give any team playing overseas a bye week following the game.

Another concern is viewership, with the existence of time zones being the NFL’s archnemesis. If you live in San Francisco and want to watch a traditional 1 p.m. kickoff in London, you’re going to have to get up at 5 a.m. PST, and a 6 p.m. kickoff in London is 10 a.m. PST. Now go the other way. If you live in London and want to watch a game starting in Seattle at 1 a.m. PST, it will be 9 p.m. for you. What about an 8:30 p.m. prime time Sunday night game? Forget about it. Nobody in England is staying up until the early hours of Monday morning to watch a game.

What is the solution then? Well, last season the NFL had a deal with Twitter where they made their Thursday night games streamable online, and it was awesome. If you want to maintain interest abroad, you’re going to have to make the games themselves easy to watch online and available at different times, such as the next day.

A final concern is acquiring and keeping fans. Fans abroad lack the history and emotional connection that comes with having a team in your city for decades, the bond many form when growing up with a team, through the ups and downs. It is this loyalty and deeper connection that keeps people coming to Cleveland Browns games, despite an atrocious last decade of performance. It’s what gets Buffalo Bills fans into the stadium in December when it’s a slushy and gray 20 degrees and the snow is coming down sideways.

The solution? The NFL will have to focus on the entertainment aspect of the game. With many of the procedures and rules of the game being up for debate, the league should take this chance to speed up the pace of play and make the game more engaging, instead of a four-hour tractor pull. Make the games interesting, and fans will come back.

The idea of the NFL becoming an international league is now even closer to becoming a reality. The thought of an overseas franchise is awesome. However, there are still a variety of hurdles the league must successfully overcome if it wants to see its audacious plans achieved.

Andrew Hall is a UF management senior. His column focuses on entertainment.