Maybe a London Super Bowl isn't such a bad idea afterall
By Mike Florio - SportingNews
May 8, 11:17 am EDT

Buzz up! PrintNot long ago, the possibility would have been regarded as a bad April Fool's joke. Even now, the notion sounds too far-fetched even for discussion.

But it won't go away.

Over the past few weeks, multiple reports have surfaced regarding a Super Bowl in London. As in England.

As in not in the United States.

The league consistently has denied that such a potentially bold and controversial move is under consideration. But the talk won't subside. Most recently, Alex Marvez of FOXSports.com reported the Super Bowl could be played in London as soon as 2017.

If the talk represents a trial balloon, the thing blew into small bits of shredded rubber not long after it left the nozzle on the helium tank. The notion of sending our premier sporting event to another country induces in the hard-core football fan a reaction somewhere between a cringe and an Elaine Benes full-body dry heave set to music.

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And I understand that. It was my first reaction, too.

But let's look at it more objectively. In my view, there are 10 reasons for tolerating an event like a London Super Bowl.

1. It's a one-time thing. A three-hour tour. It'll be over not long after it starts. Like surgery. Without the scar.

2. With Super Bowl tickets both exclusive and expensive, it's not as if moving the game to London on an isolated basis will keep someone who planned to attend a Miami or New Orleans or Houston Super Bowl from going to the game. Super Bowl Sunday has become a soiree for the rich and/or famous; they'll be there no matter where the game is played.

3. It'll still be on television, and it'll look like any other Super Bowl.

4. To those who say an English audience won't fully appreciate the niceties of the game, have you been to a Super Bowl in the U.S.? For plenty of the folks who finagle tickets, it's a place to see and be seen.

5. Knowing that a Super Bowl is coming to London will give folks in England an incentive to learn more about the game. It will create natural interest in the sport in the years preceding the event, and it will help the sport take a chunk out of the obsession with soccer.

6. A London Super Bowl would be the most hyped sporting event of all time, with unprecedented coverage-not just in the U.S. and Britain but in every other country. It would place the event in the running to compete on equal footing afforded to the Olympics and the World Cup, and it could elevate the game's status as possibly an international sports holiday.

7. The aftermath of the event could propel the NFL into a real competition for top sport in the world, akin to the '70s-era domestic battle between baseball and football. And why shouldn't fans of American football want our greatest sport to be the world's greatest sport? If folks can get worked up about a bunch of guys in shorts chasing a white ball with not much scoring, they'd be downright rabid about football once they give it a full and fair chance.

8. The additional revenue generated by true global expansion of the sport would transform it from a billion-dollar business into a trillion-dollar enterprise. And that would provide more money for everyone-owners, coaches, players, front-office staff and the former players who made the game what it is.

9. In a roundabout way, it's the kind of gesture that could help other countries truly believe America doesn't look down its nose at other nations. By sharing our most prized sporting event with the rest of the world, the rest of the world might think, at least for a day, that we're not a bunch of jerks.

10. It would set the stage for expansion to other countries, allowing the NFL to work its way toward a 40-team league with franchises in London, Mexico City, one or more Canadian cities and possibly elsewhere.

Of course, no amount of objectivity will change the fact that a certain segment of the population-and probably more than half of it-will continue to react negatively to the mere suggestion of a Super Bowl in London. And they'll vow to boycott the NFL if its championship game ever is exported.

And then, when the Super Bowl starts, they'll be where they are every year, eating wings, drinking beer, and watching the game.

Mike Florio writes and edits ProFootballTalk.com and is a regular contributor to Sporting News. Check out PFT for up-to-the minute NFL news.

He was one tough QB

I loved watching him play he was the type of player that would drag himself onto the field and play no matter what even if he was very injured and sometimes he played better injured. I still remember my teams Superbowl win where we stopped McNair 3 feet from the goalline... what a game that was