Is The U.S. Getting Ready To Lose The Super Bowl To London?

I’ve never been a fan of NFL games being played abroad and to be honest I just don’t get the point. When you compare the infrastructure of the league to other professional sports leagues the NFL is clearly head and shoulders above the NBA, MLB and NHL. They market like crazy and turn profits as often as a NASCAR driver turns left. So why punish the fans who made the NFL what it is today by moving it out of the country?

Pre-season games were one thing but then they led to regular season games and now representatives from the Mayor of London's office and Visit London, the city's official visitor organization, have received assurances from the NFL that there is a commitment to bring the Super Bowl there in 2014 according to an English newspaper, The Telegraph. While I admit that this is a genius business decision it is a horrible PR decision that will most likely have lasting consequences.

The Euro is killing the American Dollar in the world markets. The additional money to be made by moving the biggest single sporting event of the year to London is mind blowing and apparently worth the risk to the league’s management. However, the knowledge of being sold out to the highest bidder is something that fans will remember for a long time.

Marketing strategies can sometimes be too good, like selling the Super Bowl for possibly billions of extra dollars to gain the biggest payday in the history of the sport. The problem is that another strategy will be needed to win back the fans here in the United States when it’s over.