NFL Europa to Be Shut Down
Commissioner Calls Move "a Sound Business Decision."
The move comes roughly a week after more than 48,000 fans attended the World Bowl title game in Frankfurt, Germany between the Hamburg Sea Devils and the Frankfurt Galaxy (the Sea Devils won 37-28).
The league consisted of 6 teams; five of them in Germany and one in Amsterdam. Rosters consist primarily of second and third team players from NFL teams but also include a mix of players from around Europe.
According to the NFL.com report, the league is making the move as part of an effort to develop a new international business strategy and concentrate its resources toward playing more regular season games outside the United States. NFL Europa was reportedly losing $30 million each season even though fan attendance has steadily grown.
Team owners voted last October to play up to two games outside the United States. The first of these games will be played this season in London and will feature the Miami Dolphins (who are losing one home game) and the New York Giants. The league has also briefly discussed the possibility of extending the regular season to 17 games and having each team play one game a year either in Canada, Mexico, or in Europe.
The league began in 1991 as The World League of American Football and had 10 teams. After shutting down for two years in 1993 and 1994, the league was restructured to six teams and plays with the same basic rules as the NFL does; except overtime in NFL Europa isn't sudden death like it is in the NFL.
Even though the league wasn't successful financially, it did prove to be a solid farm system for NFL teams looking to develop players who they drafted or signed out of college but weren't good quite good enough for the next level. Some of those players, who later became stars in the NFL, include quarterback Kurt Warner (who won a Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams, along with two League MVP titles, and has started for both the New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals), Jake Delhomme (starting quarterback for the Carolina Panthers) and kicker Adam Vinatieri (who has won Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts).
Published by Steve Helmer
Steve is a married father of two who has lived in Wisconsin most of his life. Even though he comes from a long line of military veterans, he chose not to follow that path and instead earned a Bachelor's degr... View profile
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3 Comments
Post a Commentthis really doesnt surprise mt all that much. i remember when they put some of the games on NFL Network. they werent very entertaining
There is some talk that some of the owners want to form a farm league in the United States; replacing their current practice squad system. But, I think that would be a bit pointless. Yes, guys like Kurt Warner and Jake Delhomme found success in Europe but they are the exception. The bulk of the players who play over there are lucky if they even make an NFL roster.
If it ain't broke, why break it? I guess those seldom used players in NFL have to go and play AFL, but that's different again. And there's effectively no special team plays, and the teams there is smaller again.