(July 13, 2014 at 6:28 pm)Polaris Wrote:(July 13, 2014 at 6:22 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: NFL Europe. Yeah, completely different league. I have no idea what league the U.S. ones played in, but it wasn't NFL. OK, looked it up - WLAF.
You do realize that these things are different from NFL (without the qualifier), right?
They were actually the NFL, but just labeled differently to hit the markets where the usual NFL teams were not located and they didn't have to do some stupid restructuring like they did when they added expansion teams to the AFL/NFL lineup (Seahawks used to be in the same division as the Raiders for example). They failed miserably because those states cared more for high school and college football than the NFL, so they packed up and went abroad.....they ended up doing better overseas than in America (at least a few were just renamed, so technically more like 12 actual teams failed instead of the 18 I listed).
There were several non-affiliated professional American football leagues (and countless teams associated with those leagues) that ended up failing as well during the same time, but since they weren't part of the NFL, I did not include them.
In 20 years, NFL won't be as popular as MLS.
Yes because it is a more complex game than soccer. Not talking likes or dislikes here. It still is a much harder game for outsiders to grasp because it is much more complex than the stopping and starting the rest of the world is not used to. It is a metaphor for war with the complex strategy of chess. Both take talent to play, but American football is deeper in strategy and positions and rules.
I agree, it would not shock me if the NFL waned or died out completely.
