The league knows it will be difficult taking the game out of the United States.
The National Football League is on its annual European tour and if it is October that means three games in London. The NFL added Dublin, Ireland to its travel plans along with November games in Berlin, Germany and Barcelona, Spain. The NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in the past has teased about putting a Super Bowl in London, England if the league puts a team in London. But the NFL’s Executive Vice President for International and League Events Peter O’Reilly has thrown cold water on the notion.
“We’re clearly focused on the near term with Super Bowls in the U.S., given the great demand and the great impact of those Super Bowls in the U.S. and the great number of both interested and fantastic Super Bowl cities. Weather is always a factor as it comes to any of our events, certainly as it relates to the Super Bowl, but it’s not the only factor. And I think, more importantly, we would look at if and when, at some point down the line, if it made sense to consider an international Super Bowl, we would look at that among many other factors.” Other factors? That is simple. If the NFL wanted to place the Super Bowl in London or Berlin or Madrid, the league would probably get an earful from Congress. The Super Bowl is pure Americana. It is a mid-winter holiday weekend although it is not a holiday. There probably would be a good number of irate people not only in Congress but in state capitals and local cities around the county who doled out public money to build an NFL stadium with the hope of landing that elusive big event, the Super Bowl. Congress created the modern NFL by approving an AFL-NFL merger on October 21st, 1966. Congress can take it away also and NFL owners know it.
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