NFL Wants to Play Regular Season Game in China

The National Football League (NFL) wants to play a regular-season game in China as soon as the 2018 season, league officials have indicated at an annual meeting held in Florida, The New York Times reported.

The NFL has been active in promoting "American olive ball" in China through organized league games, notably NFL China's University Bowl flag football league and championship, and regular visits by top NFL stars, including Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Kordell Stewart, and most recently, Pittsburgh Steelers Troy Polomalu, Ike Taylor, and Ryan Clark.

“I’ve always felt if you look at what we’ve achieved in the US, if you could take just a fraction of that globally, then the upside has to be incredible,” Mark Waller, the NFL's senior vice president for international told The New York Times.

Although the league is now holding three regular season games per year in London, and staged 13 games in Tokyo between 1989 and 2005, the NFL has never staged even an exhibition game in China. One was scheduled for August 8, 2007 for Workers Stadium, between 2015 Super Bowl contestants the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, but was "postponed" and never rescheduled.

The logistics are significant. Playing an exhibition game is actually more difficult than a regular season game in at least one respect – teams are carrying 70-plus player rosters, rather than the 53 that make up a regular season squad. With a 13-hour time difference between China and the US east coast, and 12 hours during daylight savings time, scheduling for television broadcasts amenable to a US television audience will also be challenging.

Other major international sports teams and leagues regularly visit China to promote both their games and their brands. The National Basketball Association (NBA) visits China each year with the NBA China Games, and top English Premier League teams including Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur have all played against Beijing Guo'an in friendlies, as have Spanish sides Barcelona and Real Madrid.

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Photo: Rappler.com