I've been thinking for a while now it would be a pretty good idea to help grow the sport here a little more, what do you guys think? The NBA has had regular season games in Europe and plan to do it more in the coming years with some games in other places as well..

I think it would be a big hit for select games like say El Clasico in Cowboy's Stadium which is one of the nicest in the world.. Texas has a huge latino population and is close to the boarder so it would still have that "Spanish feel", plus the general public would be interested I'm sure..

Any thoughts?

Good idea? Yeah, sure. Only problem is that it's pretty evident that UEFA and FIFA don't give a F about North America...

They like money don't they?

They already do this.

zarola wrote:They already do this.

pretty sure he meant league games not friendlies

IDK about league games, but definitely friendlies. League games don't make too much sense. At least in the states, it probably wouldn't be worth it. People just don't follow it as much. Friendlies are different though.

@Zarola - Like Tonger said, I'm talking about competitive games

@ Barca2011 - I think people are more likely to take interest in a meaningful league game than a worthless friendly at the beginning of the season (which is what they have now)...

In thinking its a good idea but I don't think in reality it would. I live here in the US and I would be thrilled to get such a game but I don't think the locals, ex Madrid or Barcelona, would be too thrilled.

In baseball they have played regular season season games in Japan. As a fan of the teams that played in does games I wasn't happy about it.

Sorry official games should and will only happen in their country.

Doesn't make sense to have a German League game in north america does it

And North America is way too far away to have games played there... Players will be suffering from jet lag.

With the issues of a heavy schedule and player fatigue I doubt that it would be easy to encourage big clubs to buy into this idea. If they were perhaps scheduled at the beginning of the season then perhaps the teams would be less apprehensive, however this also reduces some of the spectacle, especially if the games were grouped in one month of the year instead of having a true league feel.

Some mid-table teams who don't face the issues of playing in several competitions might wish to make some money however, though it's still strange to play league games in another country where they have no emotional attachment to the spectators.

platter suggested that once and the whole sporting body blasted him for being a greedy bastard

Swagg_Johnson wrote:I've been thinking for a while now it would be a pretty good idea to help grow the sport here a little more, what do you guys think? The NBA has had regular season games in Europe and plan to do it more in the coming years with some games in other places as well..

I think it would be a big hit for select games like say El Clasico in Cowboy's Stadium which is one of the nicest in the world.. Texas has a huge latino population and is close to the boarder so it would still have that "Spanish feel", plus the general public would be interested I'm sure..

Any thoughts?

No, no and no. BAD idea.

US has already hosted a WC and featured in the last six (including 1994 WC as host). MSL has lots of (aging) European stars. Even after all these, if there is problems in making football (more) popular, then there are some serious issues. It's the proverbial 'you can take the donkey to the water but you can't make it drink' . Staging games like Barcelona-Madrid, Liverpool-ManU, CL/EL finals will only deprive the real stake-holders.

Baseball is an obscure game compared to football. Apart from US, it's popular in only hand-full of nations (Venezuela, Cuba, Japan). ICC (International Cricket Council) tried this by staging games in US, UAE, Canada and barely improved the game in those countries.

7amood11 wrote:And North America is way too far away to have games played there... Players will be suffering from jet lag.

It wouldn't be a yearly thing for teams.. Like one year it could be Real-Barca, the other Milan-Inter..

"Soccer" will be the most popular sport in parts of the USA over the next 20 years.
1.Baseball is dying, most of the young guys don't care for it. I'm a NYer 19 years old.
2.Basketball is really exciting but it takes forever (3 hours each game and 7 games to see which team qualifies) + being "non black" gives you a statistical disadvantage.
3.No one cares for hockey except white people.
4.Football is only 3 month.
The main reason that holds football back so much in the states is the media mockery. They have this weird obsession with the words "soccer is long & boring". They don't realize that a NFL game is only 12 minutes + 2 hr 48 mins of commercials.
Basketball game is only 48 mins. but some how they make it into 3 hours.
I hate the interputions of the game.
Most of all they don't understand the strategies and the genius of how a team operates.
But honestly, I don't want it to be popular in the US, have you heard what american commentators sound like?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9bH5w9azb0
yeah...........awful
Plus, you think fifa is money hungry, you should see the super bowl commercial prices.
I can see it now barca is passing the ball in midfield. The game goes to commercials 10 minutes later, Messi is in the box and scores. 2 Commercials 2 min later. Replay of goal. Barca again have the ball passing it back and front. Game goes to commercial. Repeat process.

Dude........less stereotypes, no?

Me and my cousin actually used to follow Hockey.