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2007

The NFL decides to change the name NFL Europe to NFL Europa



2007
Saturday, February 24th, 2007
Posted by Mike Sando @ 12:36:53 pm

NFL Europe has announced some allocations. For Seattle, that includes DT Lynn McGruder and LB Tony Robinson (Amsterdam Admirals), QB Travis Lulay and CB Dennis Davis (Berlin Thunder), and Jason Murphy (Frankfurt Galaxy). Recent NFL Europe players have not impacted the Seahawks.

Tuesday, May 15th, 2007
Miles from making an impact
Posted by Mike Sando @ 01:36:37 pm

I keep getting NFL Europe updates showing how Seattle's allocated players are faring, only to realize that these players almost never make an impact in the NFL itself.

The Hawks have allocated 83 players to NFL Europe since 1995. Of the 55 allocated since 2002, Alain Kashama and Jason Willis are the only ones to play in regular-season games for Seattle. Each played in one game.

A few of Seattle's early NFL Europe players made an impact, but Jon Kitna and James Logan remain the only ones to start games for the Seahawks. Kitna started 33. Logan, valued mostly on special teams, started four. The Hawks' 2007 allocations included Dennis Davis, Travis Lulay, Lynn McGruder, Jason Murphy and Tony Robinson.

http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/seahawks/?cat=90

 

Closing of NFL Europa sad move for Japanese players


By JACK GALLAGHER

What began auspiciously long ago ended in profound disappointment recently when the NFL decided to close its six-team European circuit.

Jack Gallagher

After a 16-year experiment, commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL team owners shuttered NFL Europa (NFL Europe in past seasons) and along with it the hopes of globalizing American football in a big-time manner for the foreseeable future.

The decision was pawned off on the NFL's intent to begin playing regular-season games outside North America and the fact that the NFLE was continuing to lose money — reportedly to the tune of around $ 30 million a year.

"A foundation of American football fans in key European markets has been created and the time is right to shift our strategy," Goodell said in a statement, while noting the decision was strictly a business one.

The NFLE — or what was left of it — began as the World League of American Football in 1991 with 10 teams in five countries. Franchises were based in London, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Montreal, New York, Orlando, San Antonio, Sacramento, Birmingham, Ala., and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

I was fortunate to have been involved at the outset of the WLAF as the director of public relations for the London Monarchs, the league's flagship franchise, where I worked for the first two seasons.

Those were exciting times, as there was great optimism that interest in the sport was sustainable on some level in international markets over the long term.

The Monarchs went 11-1 that first season and won the inaugural World Bowl before a crowd of more than 61,000 at Wembley Stadium, where the team averaged more than 40,000 fans per game. On the surface it seemed as if it was the start of something big, but almost from the moment the final gun sounded on the first title game, the league's troubles began.

News photo
Noriaki Kinoshita, seen here playing for the Amsterdam Admirals this season, was invited to training camp by the Atlanta Falcons after gaining exposure in NFL Europa, which folded June 29 after 16 years. KYODO PHOTO

The NFL team owners, always a curious bunch, began hedging their bets on the WLAF over money concerns.

It would seem logical to deduce that starting a pro football league in five countries, with players primarily from one (the United States), would take time and patience, as well as a significant investment.

Each NFL team was asked to contribute $ 500,000 annually — a drop in the bucket even in those days — toward the development of the WLAF. With this money, plus television contracts with both ABC and the USA Network, the league appeared to be starting off on the right foot.

However, the NFL team owners, apparently lacking any understanding of the economics of starting a new business, began to complain loud and long about the losses the league had incurred in its first season and tried to shut it down.

Guys like Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, who once famously proclaimed, "I go to bed thinking about making money and I wake up thinking about making money," clearly cared nothing about developing the NFL internationally.

In fact, after that first season, when rumors surfaced that the WLAF might be shut down, Jones was quoted as saying, " . . . they were looking for a way to make the murder more palatable."

So, you see, this league was doomed from the start.

I have often asked myself, "Why start a new endeavor like this and then give it lukewarm support and a halfhearted effort?"

It is a question that remains unanswered to this day.

The biggest problem was that WLAF and later NFLE never had a clear mission.

Was the goal to try to grow the game overseas?

Or develop players for the NFL?

Or make money while doing both?

The league played the 1992 season and then was "suspended" for two years, before returning in 1995 with a six-team, all-European team format, which it retained through this year.

But it was never the same. The European fans are sophisticated, and taking something away, then bringing it back and trying to insist it was better was a bad idea.

In England, where soccer was going through a down period when the WLAF started, a little thing called the Premier League began in August of 1992, and commenced a climb that would make it the most popular pro sports league in the world.

At the same time, American football became an afterthought in the UK and Europe. When the league returned, attendance dwindled, teams moved and at the end five of the six teams were in Germany.

The sad part of this whole scenario is that in countries like Japan, which has seen 32 players participate in the NFLE since 1996, including the likes of Masafumi Kawaguchi, Masato Itai, Nachi Abe and Noriaki Kinoshita, the path to playing the game at the highest level is now severely obstructed.

Kinoshita, who was invited to training camp by the Atlanta Falcons on Wednesday after being named to the All-NFLE team two straight years as a special teams player, is a case in point. He is getting his shot to become the first Japanese to play in the NFL because of the exposure he received while playing for the Amsterdam Admirals.

From this point on it is going to be very difficult for a Japanese player to go from a tryout camp straight into an NFL training camp and on to a team roster. With the NFLE there was the chance that a player could develop with game experience — like Kinoshita did — against guys who were already in the NFL and someday have a chance to make it all the way.

"It is disappointing that the NFL Europa folded before the essence of American football, one of the greatest sports of the world, is understood in Europe," said Kawaguchi, who played seven seasons for the Admirals, when contacted about the move. "The NFL Europa was one of the gateways for Japanese football players advancing to the NFL."

The NFLE, had it been organized and run with proper commitment from the start, could have served two purposes — to provide fans in international markets with their own teams, and develop talent from those countries who could play at home and maybe some day in the NFL.

While the NFL won't be a part of realizing this vision, my feeling is that within a year or two another group will try to bring American pro football to some major markets in Europe.

Next time around it is imperative that the ownership be local, the goal be clear, and the message not be convoluted. Those involved should love the game first, and have deep enough pockets to worry about the bottom line a distant second. 

(The Japan Times Online: Sunday, July 8, 2007)

NFL Europa/Cessation of operations

On September 11, 2006, NFL Europe officially re-branded itself as NFL Europa.

On June 29, 2007, NFL officials announced that the league would be disbanded effective immediatelycalling the decision a sound business move that will allow for a stronger international focus on regular-season games outside the United States.

The announcement came less than a week after the Hamburg Sea Devils beat the Frankfurt Galaxy 37-28 in the World Bowl championship in Frankfurt in front of a crowd of 48,125.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell thanked the fans for their support but said it was time to develop a new international strategy, terming the move to fold NFL Europa the "best business decision." The league reportedly was losing about $30 million a season.


 

NFL Europa closes

National Football League

 

The NFL has determined that it will switch the focus of its international business strategy to presenting the NFL to the widest possible global audience, including broader media visibility and the staging of international regular-season games, and will discontinue NFL Europa.

"The time is right to re-focus the NFL's strategy on initiatives with global impact, including worldwide media coverage of our sport and the staging of live regular-season NFL games," commented Mark Waller, senior vice president of NFL International.

"We will continue to build our international fan base by taking advantage of technology and customized digital media that make the NFL more accessible on a global scale than ever before and through the regular-season game experience. NFL Europa has created thousands of passionate fans who have supported that league and our sport for many years and we look forward to building on this foundation as we begin this new phase of our international development."

Last October, NFL owners passed a resolution to stage up to two international regular-season games per season. The new international series will launch on Sunday, October 28 when the Miami Dolphins host the New York Giants at London's Wembley Stadium.

In addition to the 2007 game in the United Kingdom, the NFL is preparing to stage regular-season games in future seasons in Germany, Mexico and Canada, with Germany being a strong candidate to host a regular-season NFL game in 2008.

NFL Europa began in 1991 as the World League of American Football, with 10 teams competing in the United States and Europe. After a two-year hiatus (1993-94) following the 1992 season, the league returned in 1995 as a six-team, all-European venture, with five teams in Germany since 2005, and has existed in that format through its final season in 2007.

www.nfl.com

The passing of NFL Europa shouldn't be taken lightly

Brian Baldinger By Brian Baldinger  |  NFL Network

The news blurb passed quickly. After a 15-year run, the NFL finally pulled the plug on its spring developmental league in Europe, NFL Europa.

It had been rumored for years, but somehow the negotiating prowess of former commissioner Paul Tagliabue would always intercede and save the league.

No such luck this year. Most football fans read the blurb, shrugged their shoulders and said, "Too bad." Most didn't even register a hint of emotion.

That is, unless you were somehow affiliated with the league, possibly one of the 226 alumni of the league who played in the NFL in 2006. There was a deep sense of loss if you were one of the 110 NFL referees that have officiated games in NFL Europa over the past decade and a half.

John Gichigi/Allsport / Getty Images
Brad Johnson calls signals as a member of the London Monarchs in 1995.

Eulogies were exchanged via the phone lines and the Internet if you were one of dozens of FOX announcers or production people who honed their craft in the little football league in Europe.

The super success stories of NFL Europa will never die. Kurt Warner and his accomplishments are forever part of the league's folklore. Jake Delhomme and Brad Johnson are other popular examples of what this league could produce that NFL teams struggled to provide.

But after covering this spring developmental league for the past 11 years, I have a few more shining examples, stories you may not have followed.

Brian Waters from the Kansas City Chiefs went to play for the Berlin Thunder in 2001 as an unheralded center, a position he never played before. A fullback and linebacker for North Texas State, he signed with the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent.

Chiefs president Carl Petersen saw some athletic ability and high character in Waters and signed him and sent him to Europe. Waters started 10 games that spring at center and got a feel for the offensive line. He showed up at practice every day with a thousand-watt smile and worked his butt off.

Waters went back to Kansas City with more confidence than ever, earned a spot on the team and went on to become a Pro Bowl guard.

LaRoi Glover was a fifth-round draft pick of the Oakland Raiders in 1996 from San Diego State. He was measured at just under the 6-foot barrier and barely 280 pounds. The Raiders released him, saying he was too small. The New Orleans Saints picked him up off the scrap heap and allocated him to the World League of American football in 1997.

I first encountered Glover as a member of the Barcelona Dragons in a small seaside hotel in Sitges, Spain. His look was workmanlike, steadfast, focused. In fact when he spoke, it had none of the relaxation of his Mediterranean surroundings. He was downright serious. After several Pro Bowl appearances over the last decade, his appearance and approach is just as serious. That "too short" label didn't hold him back.

Then there was my visit to the film room of the London Monarchs in the spring of 1998. In the middle of the dark, dank, leaky, mildewed, cold room sat a cranky projector on a card table with an operator that was just as cranky.

Coach Jim Tomsula's defensive line had had a bad practice, and he was ripping them apart in between spits to his spittoon. Out of the side of his mouth, in his unmistaken Pittsburgh accent, came the knurled question, "Whaddya think about Big Brit?"

Tom "Big Brit" Tovo was a 6-foot-5, 310-pound, 20-year-old English kid, raw on football experience, trying to have a go at America's game. He was Tomsula's project that spring, and the coach was determined to take the 25-stone stud with a quick twitch and turn him into a serviceable defensive tackle.

After coaching stops that dotted NFL Europa and eventually included a head coaching stop in Dusseldorf with the Rhein Fire, Tomsula is still in a film room and spitting into a spittoon and developing projects, now for Mike Nolan as the defensive line coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

Then there is referee Scott Green, one of only 17 referees in the NFL. Green was a back judge for years in the NFL, but director of NFL officiating Mike Perreira had targeted him as a potential referee, so Green came to the little spring league and worked as a referee for five years. He gained experience and learned how to handle the difficult position and how to coach a crew. Today he is one of the most respected officials in the NFL.

These are just a few examples of the benefits of NFLE that I have witnessed. I could list another 100 before I would have to even think.

Football is a different sport than others. Nothing can replace the skills learned from playing in real games. Minicamps and OTAs will never develop a player. Every coach holds his breath when the spring workout warriors march onto the field for the first time come fall. Coaches never know what a player can do until there is live action. NFL Europa was that live action.

I believe the owners made a very short-sighted decision to terminate NFL Europa. They need the league now more than ever. First of all, when a player is sent to Europe, it is a sign his NFL career is in jeopardy, if not in the crypt. So when those players survive and go back to the NFL, they are less inclined to expect entitlements. They know they can be sent back to the scrapheap at any moment, and that is how they approach their job every day.

I would bet that of the 226 NFL Europa veterans in the NFL last year nary a one has appeared on a police blotter since returning from Europe.

The second reason this league should continue is player development. The lifeblood of any successful team is its ability to continue to train and develop young players. The salary cap demands that.

Many leagues have risen, but few have survived. When leagues fail or go under, it's usually not a shock. Empty seats and bouncing checks go hand in hand. But that was not the case with NFL Europa, as World Bowl XV on June 2 in Frankfurt, Germany, had more than 48,000 fans in attendance.

They showed up in their Frankfurt Galaxy hats and shirts, accompanied with whistles and drums and ready to celebrate a championship game.

The game, won by a large underdog in the Hamburg Sea Devils, was played at an exceptional level. Both offenses went up and down the field, the crisp play the result of excellent coaching and concentration. The crowd, savvy after years of watching closely, applauded both teams' efforts.

The conclusion is that fans show up, players, coaches, and officials develop, and the popularity is on the rise. There is nothing not to like. The NFL owners forced NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to pull the plug, because all they paid attention to was the bottom line: Too costly!

I say hogwash. It was the best investment they ever made, and now that it's gone, they will see the results. Where will players and others go to realize the American dream of playing in the NFL?

Sadly it won't be in Europe.

2007 NFL Europa Results & Standings

      
WEEK 1
     
Saturday
14 April 200718.00 uurCologne Centurions@Hamburg Sea Devils
24
-18
Saturday
14 April 200719.00 uurAmsterdam Admirals@Frankfurt Galaxy
14
-30
Saturday
14 April 200719.00 uurBerlin Thunder@Rhein Fire
15
-
3
     
WEEK 2
     
Friday
20 April 200720.00 uurRhein Fire@Amsterdam Admirals
16
-10
Saturday
21 April 200718.00 uurFrankfurt Galaxy@Cologne Centurions
18
-13
Sunday
22 April 200716.00 uurHamburg Sea Devils@Berlin Thunder
16
-
7
     
WEEK 3
     
Saturday 
28 April 200718.00 uurAmsterdam Admirals@Berlin Thunder
14
-
10
Saturday 
28 April 200719.00 uurHamburg Sea Devils@Frankfurt Galaxy
17
-20 
Saturday 
28 April 200719.00 uurCologne Centurions@Rhein Fire
14
-
6
     
WEEK 4
     
Saturday
5 May 200718.00 uurBerlin Thunder@Cologne Centurions
31
-
28
Sunday
6 May 200715.00 uurFrankfurt Galaxy@Amsterdam Admirals
17
-19
Sunday
6 May 200716.00 uurRhein Fire@Hamburg Sea Devils
9
-34
     
WEEK 5
     
Saturday
12 May 200718.00 uurAmsterdam Admirals@Hamburg Sea Devils
17
-24
Saturday
12 May 200719.00 uurFrankfurt Galaxy@Rhein Fire
24
-27
Sunday
13 May 200716.00 uurCologne Centurions@Berlin Thunder
24
-10
     
WEEK 6
     
Friday
18 May 200720.00 uurHamburg Sea Devils@Amsterdam Admirals
31
-41
Saturday
19 May 200718.00 uurRhein Fire@Cologne Centurions
17
-20 
Sunday
20 May 200717.00 uurBerlin Thunder@Frankfurt Galaxy
7
-35
     
WEEK 7
     
Friday
25 May 200720.00 uurCologne Centurions@Amsterdam Admirals
30
-7
Saturday
26 May 200718.00 uurBerlin Thunder@Hamburg Sea Devils
7
-17
Saturday
26 May 200719.00 uurRhein Fire@Frankfurt Galaxy
10
-23
     
WEEK 8
     
Saturday
2 June 200718.00 uurFrankfurt Galaxy@Berlin Thunder
25
-22
Saturday
2 June 200718.00 uurHamburg Sea Devils@Cologne Centurions
21
-7
Sunday
3 June 200716.00 uurAmsterdam Admirals@Rhein Fire
38
-41
     
WEEK 9
     
Friday
8 June 200719.00 uurRhein Fire@Berlin Thunder
24
-17
Saturday
9 June 200718.00 uurAmsterdam Admirals@Cologne Centurions
13
-31
Saturday
9 June 200718.00 uurFrankfurt Galaxy@Hamburg Sea Devils
31
-36 
     
WEEK 10
     
Friday
15 June 200720.00 uurBerlin Thunder@Amsterdam Admirals
20
-21 
Saturday
16 June 200719.00 uurCologne Centurions@Frankfurt Galaxy
14
-31 
Saturday
16 June 200719.00 uurHamburg Sea Devils@Rhein Fire
17
-13 
      
WORLD BOWL COMMERZBANK ARENA FRANKFURT  
      
Saturday
23 June 200718.00 uurFrankfurt Galaxy@Hamburg Sea Devils
28
-37 

RIP 1991-2007

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