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| 10th May, 2007 - 12:52 pm | NFL.com - Americans always seem to want more pro football. Yet it's the folks abroad who might be getting an extra taste of the NFL in the future.
Although talks are extremely preliminary, the NFL is investigating adding a 17th regular-season game and playing it outside the United States. The extra game would take the place of one in the preseason, allowing every team to play once abroad without sacrificing a home match.
This year, the Dolphins gave up a home date in Miami to play the New York Giants at Wembley Stadium in London. Two years ago, the Arizona Cardinals played a home game in Mexico City against the San Francisco 49ers.
"It is preliminary, but we certainly are putting resources into pulling that together," said Mark Waller, NFL senior vice president, international. "For now, we have the one game per season or two per season outside of the U.S. But we know it can be tough on home fans since we're taking a game away.
"So we have asked how do we create more inventory without taking games away from fans? That idea came up in internal conversations and we now have an international committee of owners and we talked it through with them, and they asked us to do some groundwork."
While the 17th game won't get off the ground next season, for sure, it could become a staple of the NFL's schedule by 2009 or 2010. But it would present some significant logistical and scheduling challenges. [READ] |
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