N.F.L. Experiment Aims to Spread Game’s Appeal

On Sunday, the Giants and the Miami Dolphins will play the National Football League’s first regular-season game held overseas, at sold-out Wembley Stadium in London. For the most American of sports leagues, it is a trial balloon to uncharted territory.

If the game goes well — meaning, mostly, that owners of the league’s 32 teams see that it can cause a happy ruckus in London without the trip feeling foreign to the teams involved — the N.F.L. will likely play two overseas games each of the next four seasons, as part of a resolution already approved by owners.

Waller, who leads the league’s international operations, would like each N.F.L. team to play a game on foreign soil every season beginning in five years. His goal is for a team to be based on a different continent by 2020. And he foresees future Super Bowls being played in overseas stadiums, perhaps Wembley.

“I don’t think you can be meaningful forever if you’re not part of the global community, particularly in this day and age,” Waller said.

--> My friend Jayson is in London this week, covering the big European game. I'd have to ask him, but it seems to me that football (as Americans know it) won't take off in the hearts and minds of Europeans any time soon. It's basically the same concept as Americans knowing only two things about soccer: David & Beckham.

(Via NYT)