Hacker: Super Bowl

Every year, the NFL game at Wembley seems to sneak up on us, providing a week of build-up guaranteed to include pundits speculating as to the viability of a permanent franchise in the capital. And it’s not idle chat from Sky Sports News commentators looking to fill time. Important people within the NFL have mentioned the idea, including commissioner Roger Goodell and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Before I comment any further, I should probably let you know a few things. I am not an expert. I am an American. I love football. And I think this is a terrible idea.

Not that we’re in any danger of this happening, because if there’s one thing the folks who run the NFL aren’t, it’s stupid. According to a BBC article that ran in 2008, Goodell said: "It would be a great thing for the league. If the response keeps continuing this way, that's a realistic possibility." By saying something like this, Goodell ensure that the (very) energetic base that loves American Football in this country continues to treat this game like a second Super Bowl. Only problem is that, at its heart, the Wembley game is little more than the sporting equivalent of the American exhibitions that we used to hold in Moscow to show the poor, miserable Russians that they were missing out on things like microwaves and dishwashers.

Except the folks in the United Kingdom aren’t suffering from lack of choice when it comes to sporting options, especially in London. And, trust me, from someone who really enjoys football, maintaining enthusiasm over the entire 16-game season is difficult, even for Americans. If American Football in London loses its novelty factor with 8 games a year in that stadium, I fear Wembley will become little more than a second Jacksonville Municipal, with thousands of empty seats marking the country’s apathy.

However, the idea of hosting the Super Bowl in London sounds fantastic. If the city and the media can get as fired up as they do for one game between the peerless Patriots and the woeful Buccaneers, imagine the hoopla for the showpiece game. Wembley is certainly a worthy venue for such an event. In terms of a live event, the security and logistics for the Super Bowl are on par with, if not more complicated than, a Champions League Final. And if cities like Detroit, Jacksonville, FL, and Houston, TX, with their great traditions of hosting worldwide events, can pull off a Super Bowl without much of a hitch, then why not London? It has the stadium, it’s got the transport links, and it’s got the hotel rooms. Having a Super Bowl would be a breeze after hosting the Olympics. And the parties would likely be legendary.

Hosting a Super Bowl is the logical conclusion to the NFL’s experiment in Britain. It’s one game, there’s no chance of the product becoming stale, and the NFL wouldn’t tick off an entire American city (whichever city loses its team to London). I’d love to see it.