Steelers in London?

by king_pair on Dec 13, 2009 8:22 PM EST

Hi guys. New poster here - hope this works OK.

After the Giants/Dolphins in 07, the Chargers/Saints in 08 and the Pats/Bucs this year, the NFL is bringing two games over to Wembley in 2010. They'll be non-conference again, but the teams involved haven't been confirmed. With Brady, Brees and Tomlinson having been over recently, there's obviously a desire to send marquee teams and big players.

As a Steelers fan from London, my take on this is a no-brainer, but I wondered what you guys would make about the prospect of bringing a little bit of Pittsburgh over here for a game? An entertaining break from routine, or an unwelcome disruption? I really can't see the league taking a home game away from one of its powerhouse franchises, but if it was a road one, perhaps? What do you reckon?

Poll

Would you be happy for the Steelers to play in England in 2010?

Not at all

47 votes

Yes - but only if it's a road game

13 votes

Yes - even if it's a home game.

6 votes

66 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Nope.

And I don’t like having any regular season games played outside the USA. Pre-season; sure, knock yourself out. Regular season no thanks.

When the tailgate drops, the BS stops. Shut up and play!

by 1BlkGldFan on Dec 13, 2009 8:31 PM EST reply actions

Keep em ALL in the States

No new world order!!!

I drank before the game cause I was excited
I drank during the game cause I was confused
I drank after the game cause, well, I was already drinking. why not?

by Steelchamps !! on Dec 13, 2009 9:12 PM EST reply actions

No Thank You

I hate the idea of playing games over there period. I don’t even care if it is the 1-12 Rams vs. the Bucs. I’m going to throw a comparision out there for you. It would be like taking Man Utd. from there to come play Arsenal. I want go ranting on this topic although I really could. It strikes a personal nerve inside me to hear about this.

by redmik on Dec 13, 2009 11:36 PM EST reply actions

why so personal?

were you forced to go play a pop warner game in london as a youth, lost, and ultimately blame it on the site the game was played at?

by klompus on Dec 14, 2009 12:46 AM EST up reply actions

Personal was probably the wrong choice of word there. Was trying to keep calm when writing that instead of going off because I really dislike the idea of bringing the NFL there. I don’t like the idea of Buffalo playing games in Canada. NFL was established as an States sports, has been a States sports, and should stay a States sport. The NFL had NFL Europe over there and it didn’t succeed. What makes the NFL think playing games over there will continually succeed or eventually a franchise over there as had been suggested. Europe has there football and the NFL won’t be able to compete with it. There football is fully entrenched in their culture, the NFL isn’t going to take it. The NFL is fully entrenched in our culture, why would we want it leaving the States. I could very well be wrong about what people think about the NFL over there, but just don’t care for the idea of playing games over there.

by redmik on Dec 14, 2009 1:24 PM EST up reply actions

naw

stick with the states. Greed can do amazing things if left to run rampant

I drank before the game cause I was excited
I drank during the game cause I was confused
I drank after the game cause, well, I was already drinking. why not?

by Steelchamps !! on Dec 14, 2009 1:12 AM EST reply actions

like extending the nfl season to 18 games

by klompus on Dec 14, 2009 2:15 AM EST up reply actions

and ruining all the records

I F L

I drank before the game cause I was excited
I drank during the game cause I was confused
I drank after the game cause, well, I was already drinking. why not?

by Steelchamps !! on Dec 14, 2009 2:26 AM EST up reply actions

NFL has no business overseas - Period

I love being the most-hated guy here. I love beating them while [their fans] are flicking me off. --Hines Ward

by samliam on Dec 14, 2009 1:59 AM EST reply actions

an exhibition game?

I have no problem with games being played over there, however, it should not be a part of the regular season. I assure you I mean no offense to your country or even to your Steeler fans, but my personal opinion is that leaving the country to play even one game during the regular season is a disruption to the team and each individual player. I realize that they did send teams there this year but it makes no sense that it is the National Footbal League if they go play internationally. Just my opinion.

by lovetheblackandgold on Dec 14, 2009 6:23 AM EST reply actions

Okay by me ...

but in fairness to the players, scheduling should take into consideration the impacts of “jet lag” on the OCONUS game and the follow on game upon return.

by tenthmtnman on Dec 14, 2009 8:08 AM EST reply actions

They definitely make scheduling considerations for the international series games.

I’m not quite sure I buy the idea that it’s a disruption – it certainly didn’t hurt the Giants in 07, or the Chargers in 08 for that matter. The flight from LA-NY is only an hour or so shorter than the one from NY-London, and there’s only 5 hours difference if you catch the right weekend. And I do think that it’s inevitable that at some point there will be a Steelers game outside the US, just because by this time next year 12 out of 32 teams will have played international games (not even counting the Bills ones in Canada), and I don’t see why they’d stop there. Wembley’s sold out (about 85k seats) in about an hour for the games here, and that alone means they’ll keep pushing them our way, I imagine.

On the other hand, I do agree that it’s an act of greed. Exhibition games will never have the same pull because of how little game time the players who draw crowds tend to get; and so the move into new markets comes at a steep price. This was talked about for Premier League football (soccer) games, and there was uproar in England at that idea (though I’ll be honest, I kinda like it), so it seems every sport is going through the same thought process, with the same response from the majority of domestic fans.

by king_pair on Dec 14, 2009 9:46 AM EST reply actions

Exhibition games

Just thinking out loud here, but of course the one exhibition that does come with wall-to-wall star names is the Pro Bowl. I could see that ending up on a world tour.

by king_pair on Dec 14, 2009 9:49 AM EST up reply actions

Not a bad idea ...

some players have said they are bored with Hawaii.

by tenthmtnman on Dec 14, 2009 9:52 AM EST up reply actions

As a UK Steeler

I went to the Patriots-Buccaneers game in Wembley this year and loved the experience. I love NFL but because I live in the UK this was my first live game (the first two times I visited the states it was the off-season and when I went to NYC and Boston last month there weren’t any home games on whilst I was there). It was a great experience, although having the Bucs have home team advantage fell flat when they got intercepted after about five seconds – knocked the neutrals who were supporting the bucs by default flat on their backs pretty quick!

There’s a huge following of the NFL here in the UK and although obviously I’m biased it was great to see the regular season game over here – a game that meant something. The players were super-fired up and we saw a pretty entertaining result.

I can imagine how annoying it would be to lose a home game but the atmosphere of the London games are always fantastic. As a Steelers fan in the UK I have to say I would love it to see Big Ben et al in the flesh!

by darrkespur on Dec 14, 2009 12:11 PM EST reply actions

Thanks for the opposite perspective...

Can’t forget about our members of Steeler Nation on your side of the pond, you deserve a chance to see your team too.

'I’ve learned to become a flat-liner. There’s a lot out there that’ll make your heart jump if you allow it."
-Coach Tomlin

by NYSteelersFan4 on Dec 14, 2009 12:45 PM EST up reply actions

No thanks, especially if it does not precede our bye week.

"We just have to play better as a whole team." James Harrison

by LongTimeSteelersFan on Dec 14, 2009 2:39 PM EST reply actions

They schedule it so that it does now...

I don’t know why they didn’t right away, but at least they fixed it.

'I’ve learned to become a flat-liner. There’s a lot out there that’ll make your heart jump if you allow it."
-Coach Tomlin

by NYSteelersFan4 on Dec 14, 2009 3:06 PM EST up reply actions

Thanks for the update.

"We just have to play better as a whole team." James Harrison

by LongTimeSteelersFan on Dec 14, 2009 3:27 PM EST up reply actions

ABSOLUTELY, UNEQUIVOCALLY, POSITIVELY...

… HUH, HUH. ): ( grrrrr.

Those of us in Los Angeles let Beckham go acrost* the pond on loan for a few months and almost had to pull troops out of Iraq to get him back!

Bollocks.!!!. the thought of loosing Hines, Harrison, Woodley, Ben and anyone of another dozen players to Abbey Lane is unthinkable!!!

Imagine playing CDs backwards and hearing “Ben is Dead”. No way! ); ( grrrrr

Now… (he, he, he) if you have an interest in Ike, Bruce, Dick, Desi, Max or a few others as temporary players… maybe we can make a deal.

king_pair… I would rather start an “airfair fund” so you could come over for a game or two because you seem like a good fan and all around nice guy (girl?).

*acrost = is proper Pittsburghese
FYI: Bollocks is British Slang for “nonsense” or ‘showing contempt for’…. youse (yinz) got it?

by Hollywood Steel on Dec 14, 2009 8:32 PM EST reply actions