Comments on: American football is coming to India

By: avoodi

avoodi — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:26:27 +0000

No matter what everyone says about India being 3rd world , 4th world country and all, and no matter if its true.. Fact is – as someone above has already said. There are PLENTY Of NFL Lovers in the country already , one part of that population is the “Returning Indians” (who have stayed in USA for years and migrated back to India) .. all of they (which Includes me) are dieing to watch the games live (or even recorded ) … till 2007 i suppose “Ten Sports” used to show some games but then from 2008 no channel shows them.
If the above news comes good , then I will be very happy ; but i doubt that since its already Oct 2011 and the news was from Aug 2011 and still no sign of any game on any channel here ..
btw :who ever says that the sport might not get popular here for sure – might be in for a surprise , yes cricket is religion and all but the young generation is very much open for other sports .. check out NBA trp’s … check out European football trp’s .. what i mean is- when i was growing up , probably 1 out of 10 kids wanted to play something other than cricket – but now that ratio has gone up to atleast 5-6 out of 10 !! .. so i am sure the NFL broadcasters will not be disappointed …

By: bombayjon

bombayjon — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:45:14 +0000

Awesome. My dad lives in Mumbai so I am now officially a fan of the Mumbai Gladiators.

fritzerland, thanks for the great commentary and the good word about the Indian people. I hope you are having a great time there. Although I think you are right, I am really hoping that we can export this great sport around the world, especially India.

By: rajbais

rajbais — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 03:31:44 +0000

BTW, I meant “for independence”!

Ditka & Jaws are CRAZY to have faith in India as a “Football Country”!

By: rajbais

rajbais — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 03:31:08 +0000

I am Indian!!!! So I know it will fail!!!

Football in India will suck bcuz there are too many vegetarians an they don’t like “ass kicking” sports!! They’re not physical!!!

Hell! Indians are so wimpy instead of riots we let ourselves get hit by sticks as a way to protest 4 independence!!!

By: gojags

gojags — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 02:57:34 +0000

Great news for the football fans in India. I would contemplate moving back to India for good if this happens. Football is one thing I thought I would miss the most if I move back to India that I have enjoyed the most. I tried subscribing to NFL Video streaming in which I could get the games for one team and it didn’t work out good in my last visit. You might want to know that there are lot of people who were in America moved back to India for good and have addicted themselves to this great game. Plus the 1.2 Billion people, if NFL can sell the game to 100 Million people it would be a great success. Also there are avid sports fan in India who follow Indian cricket. So there is a logical reasoning to sell this product to a country that is fast growing.

By: hermanspeewee

hermanspeewee — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:59:21 +0000

I go to India every year. American football has no hope of supplanting cricket. It’s the only sport people will care about. It’s a religion. American football requires coaching, proper nutrition, and desire to play or watch, which are all lacking in India. Epic fail written all over this. No one will watch.

By: kadavenskd

kadavenskd — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:10:40 +0000

@buckybadger

I was born in India, and trust me. It IS 3rd World. Just because it has one of the worlds largest (and fastest growing) economies does not mean that India is not a poor country. The disparity between the rich and poor is more pronounced in India than maybe anywhere else on Earth. There have been some major strides in infrastructure in the big cities (i.e. roads, bridges, malls, parks etc.) but the majority of India still lives like its the 19th century. That said, I’m not sure football will catch on. Indians love their cricket…

By: kmart0319

kmart0319 — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 21:48:19 +0000

@Chocopoppy
I never said I was worried about the NFL leaving. I just think that no matter how much money the NFL takes in, Nothing will stop the owners from holding a city hostage unless they get a new stadium, new deal, etc.

By: ed1311

ed1311 — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:59:10 +0000

I think i remember plans about making teams in different european contries which still participated in the NFL, and i really liked that idea .. i wonder if the long travel overseas for every game not played at the homefield might be too big of a problem, but if it could work i would LOVE it!

By: theravishingrachelnichols

theravishingrachelnichols — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:56:09 +0000

@poodawg

Dude, Housh is not from India, his family is from Iran.

By: scudbot

scudbot — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:48:07 +0000

15 hours + connector flight time each way in the air to play a preseason game. I nominate Vince Young’s Dream Team and the New Jersey B team.

By: all4patriots

all4patriots — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:27:33 +0000

Apu says:

free squishees from the Quik-E-Mart on the day of the India league Super Bowl

By: horatio69

horatio69 — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:22:55 +0000

India vs. Pakistan in anything (cricket, soccer, lacrosse, snake-charming competitions) is akin to Eagles vs. Giants, or Packers vs. Bears. Except that the losing side is prone to lobbing a few artillery shells over the border afterwards.

By: granadafan

granadafan — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:22:27 +0000

“buckybadger says:
Aug 3, 2011 2:17 PM
@winkeroni, India has one of the fastest growing economies right now. They aren’t 3rd world like so many want to think.”

Have you ever been to India? It is still very 3rd world and one of the dirtiest places on earth. I do a lot of business in India and shudder every time I have to travel 30 hours to get there. SOME segments of the population may be getting rich, but there is still a massive disparity in wealth and the govt just doesn’t give a darn about the poor. The cities allow herds of cattle to roam the streets because they’re sacred fer chrissakes.

By: dino2997

dino2997 — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:17:32 +0000

It’s a great idea! American football is a great sport that we all love so why not see it expand into Asia. Europe obviously failed but Asia could thrive.

Wow…sad to see all the racist jokes on here.

By: madenatewell

madenatewell — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:09:50 +0000

They may as well send players over there to play for a lesser price…works for every other business lol

By: pencepost

pencepost — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:08:33 +0000

I spent four months in India, during the 2008 NFL season. I tried to get some Indian friends to watch Bears games with me, and they tried but weren’t interested. (Don’t respond with a Bears joke please)

On the other side of the coin, I went to a couple cricket games with them, and was extremely bored.

In other words, American football in India would probably succeed about as much as televising cricket in the US.

However, if you lined up Team India vs. Team Pakistan, it doesn’t matter what sport they are playing, you could still get a billion people interested.

By: chocopoppy

chocopoppy — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:30:07 +0000

@kmart0319: “Please explain to us Knuckedraggers how expanding the NFL or a subsidiary in any way “relieves thousands of fans in (Oakland, Buffalo, JAX, MINN) from losing their team to another market.”?”

The ability of the NFL to bring in additional revenue via foreign markets, foreign TV dollars, or even a $1B London or German expansion franchise fee, helps prop up the profits of the NFL owners and makes it less likely that they’ll jack your $75 ticket to $125, less likely that they eventually scrap pr trim back the free over the air TV games in favor of a PPV system, and it may even give enough $ to a struggling owner to help him stay in Jax, Buff, etc.

I will grant you that the last point may not be strong because you could say that a franchise could also be lost to a move — e.g. Tampa Bay to London Buccaneers, but I think you get my point.

Besides, what do you care if the NFL works on some foreign ventures? Has one game per year in London really affected your life? You mouthbreathers need to put down your cheap beer and chill out — it’s not like someone is saying
we’re taking the NFL away from America.

By: turk2875

turk2875 — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:22:14 +0000

Come to Turkey!!!!

By: ed1952

ed1952 — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:15:21 +0000

I can already picture the maharajis riding elephants onto the field during halftime.

I love stereotypes…

By: realnflmaster

realnflmaster — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:12:15 +0000

What does this have to do with America’s Team, the Dallas Cowboys?

By: stealersfannot

stealersfannot — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:10:56 +0000

Umm… their national sport is something that requires 90% of the team to stand around or sit on their arse 90% of the time.

They drink coke between innings.

Even the stereotypically “athletic” Punjabis can’t hold their own against a college football team, much less the calber of the NFL.

The plan must be to replicate NFL Europe. ship a buncha slackers that couldnt make it on NFL rosters off to India and hope it attracts a robust viewership.

By: jblah

jblah — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:59:27 +0000

@scomibord …They will have belly dancers instead.

By: poodawg

poodawg — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:55:20 +0000

TJ Houshmanzadeh is all excited.

By: skimbell

skimbell — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:51:22 +0000

American football has never really caught on overseas... You know what? Overseas football, no matter how hard the media tries to tell us otherwise, has never caught on in America either. Why don't you stop jerking around and leave American football in America, and whatever the hell that other football is-leave it where you found it.

By: scomibord

scomibord — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:48:09 +0000

Will cheerleaders have red dots on their foreheads?

By: fritzerland

fritzerland — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:44:22 +0000

As an American living in India, I just can’t see this coming to fruition.

1) Soccer–the world’s most popular sport by far–hasn’t taken hold. India routinely loses matches to “powerhouses” like Bahrain. And with a population of 1.2 Billion, they still can’t qualify a World Cup team.

2) India is a third-world nation. A million times over. Sure, they have rich, global elites on top of their food chain, but there are more people living in poverty in India itself than the entire continent of Africa.

3) You can’t even watch the NFL in India. Not even on satellite. The Super Bowl is the ONLY game televised all year.

4) India is not an easy place to do business. It was one of the most corrupt places on earth; its endemic. They’ve been four *huge* scandals there this year, including the Commonwealth Games. India isn’t plug-and-play.

5) Can the wisecracks about Indians. They’re generally nice people, if not a tad dishonest.

Namaste!

By: kmart0319

kmart0319 — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:41:49 +0000

@Chocopoppy – Please explain to us Knuckedraggers how expanding the NFL or a subsidiary in any way “relieves thousands of fans in (Oakland, Buffalo, JAX, MINN) from losing their team to another market.”?

By: j0esixpack

j0esixpack — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:38:22 +0000

1.2 billion people!

That means in India, if you’re a one in a million type of person, there’s still 1200 people EXACTLY like you.

By: vikesorgtfo

vikesorgtfo — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:37:15 +0000

vhy are dee games not flee?