Stop Expanding the NFL International Series

The New York Jets and Miami Dolphins returned home from London, following their week four game as part of the NFL International series. The week four battle was the first of three contests in 2015, one of which will be televised online.

ALSO ON SPIN ZONE: Who are the NFL’s best QBs?

October 7th marked the NFL’s annual fall meeting, led obviously by commissioner Roger Goodell. One of the many items on the agenda was the NFL International series, and commissioner Goodell recapped the topic at his post meeting press conference:

"We also spent a fair amount of time on international. We talked about our series, our regular season games. We actually had a vote today on that, which extended our agreement to play international regular season games and expanded it also. We are going to be able to play games outside of the UK, whether it’s Mexico or Germany or other markets."

The NFL is the greatest game in the world, far be it from me to say that the world shouldn’t see it. But with that said, the world sees the game just fine the way things are. There is no need to expand the program to more games, and more locations.

More from NFL

This is not to disparage the fans from outside the United States, far from it. Watch the way they flock to the games at Wembley Stadium each and every year to learn all you need to know there. But the fact is they aren’t getting the same product they would get in the states. These teams interrupt their regular schedules to fly halfway around the world. As hard as these teams try to make it normal, it’s not normal. Their work week is not the same, and players are out of their normal routines.

Teams are bound to play with jet lag, as the Miami Dolphins did last week against the Jets. These NFL teams and players work best when they are on the same routine every week. Expanding this to more than three games is just going to take more teams off of their respective routines for a week, and give the international fans a product that just isn’t the same as an NFL game in the states.

We already have a game being exclusively televised on the computer. This is our sport. Why would anyone take an NFL game off of American TV sets? One could argue that doing this is already too much, and that taking away more games is tantamount to overkill.

The NFL still has a great deal of problems to deal with stateside. September was the first month in six years without a player arrest. The problem of domestic violence has not gone away, nor has the problem of drug suspensions, both performance enhancing and otherwise. The concussion problem has improved but not been eliminated. Roger Goodell has work to do with his league, right here at home.

The NFL doesn’t need to take more games away from its fans on home turf.

Now, is having a global footprint a bad idea? No. Far from it, but the NFL can have its influence around the globe in other ways. How? Make the games even more accessible online to the other countries. Make the games available on the web without a subscription. Let their fans see the games the way they should be, with the appropriate schedules being followed.

If the NFL wants the kids in other countries to have the game, that’s great! Sponsor teams going over there to run clinics and workouts. Teach them how great the game is. Sponsor leagues in these various countries. Baseball is played all over the Earth in professional leagues, why can’t football be the same? Let the fans in the UK, or wherever else, have their own NFL sponsored league. Then, they can have the sport they love, and teams to root for.

The NFL International series is just fine the way it is. There is no need to increase it at this time. Bring the NFL around the world in other ways.

Next: This is the best team in the NFL

More from NFL Spin Zone

Add us as a preferred source on Google