Around the league

By JOANNE KORTH, Times Staff Writer
Published October 28, 2007

Shrinking the big pond

The NFL makes history today when the Giants and Dolphins play at Wembley Stadium in London, the league's first regular-season game overseas. The foray is part of the league's plan to go global. Granted, NFL Europa folded this year after the feeder league didn't gain a foothold, but now the NFL is sending A-list talent. Okay, maybe the 0-7 Dolphins aren't the best way to sell the product, but did you see the 26-foot-tall Jason Taylor robot, below, in Trafalgar Square? The chaps in England are bound to fall in love with America's most popular game.

10 reasons the NFL will be a hit in London

1 The NFL is America's most popular and successful sports league but has few remaining markets to conquer in the United States. To grow, the NFL must go abroad, and commissioner Roger Goodell is committed to cultivating an international fan base that would increase merchandise sales and television revenues.

2 Andrew Lloyd Webber reportedly working on a new theme song for Monday Night Football.

3 Confused fans expecting a "football" game flock to Wembley Stadium in anticipation of a low-scoring contest. The Dolphins do not disappoint.

4 London-born Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora is tied for the league lead with 8.0 sacks. Umenyiora lived in London until he was 7, when his family moved to Nigeria. He didn't play football until the 11th grade, after his family settled in Alabama, proving it's never too late to catch NFL fever.

5 London has a Big Ben; the NFL has a Big Ben (Ben Roethlisberger). It's the perfect gimmick for the next matchup.

6 In 2005, a regular-season game between the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers drew a record crowd of more than 103,000 people to Mexico City's Azteca Stadium. Fans cheered at all the wrong times, a sure sign they did not understand the game, but they cheered loudly. In London, the language barrier is much smaller.

7 Wembley Stadium, nicknamed "The Home of Football," holds 90,000. Today's game is sold out, with 40,000 tickets sold within the first 90 minutes of becoming available last spring.

8 Warm beer not a problem.

9 Compared to Queen Elizabeth II, Giants coach Tom Coughlin is a warm, fuzzy guy.

10 The NFL does not set out to fail. When Goodell hints at the possibility of playing a Super Bowl overseas, he has already decided it will happen. Super Bowls are booked through 2011.

[Last modified October 27, 2007, 17:15:46]