Category: History and More

When Roger Goodell was in London to spread the National Football League gospel earlier this month, he spoke at a UK Live event before the Green Bay Packers-New York Giants game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Now that the league is a regular visitor to England (Denver meets Jacksonville today at Wembley Stadium), rumors of international expansion come up quite frequently.

Goodell isn’t exactly trying to squelch them.

“I think there’s no question that London could support not just one franchise, but I think two franchises, I really believe that,” Goodell said at the fan gathering hosted by Sky Sports.

“And that’s from a fan perspective, a commercial standpoint, from a media standpoint, I think you (the UK fans) have undoubtedly proven that and thank you for that.”

Talk of a London franchise has been a hot topic for several years, although possibly awarding two to the Swinging City is a fairly recent development. The biggest news to me, however, was how Goodell responded to a question from Sky Sport’s Neil Reynolds.

Reynolds pointed out the three NFL-ready stadiums in London (Wembley, Twickenham and Hotspur) as well as future games scheduled for Munich and Frankfurt, and asked the commish about the possibility of an international division in the NFL.

“That’s part of what we’re doing, right?” Goodell answered. “We’re trying to see could you have multiple locations in Europe where you could have an NFL franchise because it would be easier as a division.”

While I’d love it for my friends there who want a team (or teams) of their own, I’ve never been able to wrap my brain around the logistics of having one or two European squads when the other 32 are in the contiguous United States. It wouldn’t be an issue if we had a transporter, but according to Star Trek, human teleportation isn’t scheduled for mass use until 2121.

Anyway, let’s say the NFL does grant London two teams (I’d put one in the AFC East and the other in the NFC East). It seems the only way to deal with the travel issue is to have long home stands by the London teams followed by extended road trips.

Sure, the NFL has plenty of money to make weekly junkets from an American NFL city to England, but it’d be asking a lot of a player to spend Week One in London, Week Two in San Francisco, Week Three back in London, etc. I don’t see how their body clocks could ever sync up.

If I had to come up with a plan for this (and I don’t, so you needn’t worry) it would be for the London teams to go with a four road/four home/four road/four home/plus one (17^th game) scheduling format. Maybe a couple of U.S. cities without NFL franchises could be the home-away-from-home for the Londoners, serving as a base camp to train and fly in and out of when they have their month-long stays in America.

It’s not perfect, but it seems workable.

The division plan is a better idea, but it still has pitfalls.

Let’s say London 1, London 2, Frankfurt and Munich make up what we’ll call the European Division. Playing each division foe twice along with the balance of a 17-game schedule, that gives the United Kingdom/Germany wing of the NFL 11 or 12 games on their side of the pond plus five or six in the United States.

You’d still have to go with a wonky home and road slate, though. And aside from that, what do you do with this one division dangling all by itself?

Is it part of the AFC, NFC, or neither?

Of course, the biggest question of all is how to stock the teams. It seems logical (and necessary) that the four European franchises be part of the regular NFL draft. But there would be culture shock issues to deal with and – in the case of players drafted by Frankfurt and Munich – potential language barriers.

While some athletes would love a chance to live and work abroad, many would likely be trying to find a way to get the German teams to make trades with those based in the Lower 48.

“The question I think is going to come down to, not so much the logistics about travel, that’s clearly a challenge, it really comes down to whether you can do it competitively,” Goodell told Reynolds. “Where the team here or the teams in the States coming over can continue to be competitive and that was the challenge when we did the regular season games.”

Ultimately, the NFL will have to figure out how big is too big. Thirty-two franchises are a seam-busting number for the top tier of any professional sports league, and growing beyond that runs the risk of diluting the product.

Plus, you’d have to feel for fans in places like St. Louis and Oakland who’d love to have an NFL team back only to see franchises go to places where tackle football was nothing more than a novelty just a few years ago.

For now, all this is just talk – interesting talk, certainly, but with no definitive plan of action behind it.

Yet with the NFL continuing to expand its footprint and develop an international fan base, it’d be silly to dismiss the idea of a team or teams in Europe, whether through expansion or relocation.

Besides, the rivalry between the London Spitfires and London Skylarks would be fantastic.

Today’s game between the New York Jets and Green Bay Packers isn’t the marquee matchup of Week 6; that honor goes to either Dallas at Philadelphia or Buffalo at Kansas City.

For me, though, it’s a pretty big deal.

As a Jets fan, the opportunity to pull off a road upset and improve to 4-2 is quite appealing, although if I told you I was confident about such a result, I’d be lying.

More important than my rooting interest, though, is that the contest will be the 14^th Pop Bowl.

What’s the Pop Bowl?

I’m glad (I’m pretending) you asked.

My dad was a Packers fan, explaining to me they became his favorite NFL team when Don Hutson signed in 1935. Hutson had played college ball at Alabama, and Pop enjoyed following the pro exploits of guys who had ties to the state. By the time Bart Starr – another former Crimson Tide player and future NFL legend – was drafted in 1956, he was fully committed to the team no matter where it got its players.

As a kid I was drawn to the high-octane, draw up plays in the dirt offenses showcased in the American Football League, quickly glomming on to the New York Jets and anointing guys like Joe Namath, Emerson Boozer, Matt Snell and Don Maynard as my gridiron heroes.

Pop enjoyed the AFL, too – and was happy when the Jets were successful because it made me happy. But with the two leagues separate until the 1970 merger (and they weren’t on each other’s schedule in 1971 or 1972), there was no chance the teams would meet short of a title game.

But finally – on September 17, 1973 – Pop and I had the chance to battle each other for braggin’ rights when the Green and Gold and Green and White faced off.

It was the season opener, with the Pack coming off an NFC Central title and the Jets finishing 7-7 (and having the misfortune of sharing the AFC East with the perfect Miami Dolphins).

I was convinced Namath and company would have a bounceback year in ‘73, while Pop was happy to see former Alabama signal caller Scott Hunter (who Namath helped recruit) behind center for Green Bay.

“If Hunter hadn’t gotten hurt in college (a separated shoulder his senior season) he’d be one of the all-time great passers,” Pop would often tell me.

This was a Monday Night Football presentation, and that made things even better. MNF was still in its relative infancy and seemed especially important to me due to the presence of Frank Gifford, Don Meredith and Howard Cosell in the booth.

“This is like the Super Bowl,” I said.

“If the Jets win,” Pop said, “we’ll call it the Scooter Bowl.”

(“Scooter,” if you’re wondering, was one of my nicknames as a youth).

“And if the Packers win,” I said, “we’ll call it the Pop Bowl.”

We spent the whole game giving each other a hard time (in a good-natured fashion) and he had a whole lot more reason to cheer than I did. I don’t remember a lot of the details, but the Packers won, 23-7, at Milwaukee County Stadium.

Chester Marcol kicked three field goals for Green Bay, Hunter threw a touchdown pass, and Namath was picked off once and the Jets had three turnovers in all.

Thus, “Pop Bowl I” went to, well, Pop.

With the infrequency of their meetings (and the fact that neither team was a natural choice in the Birmingham TV market) this never became an annual event. They didn’t meet for a second time until 1979, and squared off only seven times over the next 15 seasons.

Still, I’d always remind Pop of their upcoming games, and we’d discuss them while sharing the Monday newspaper when I lived at home or over the phone when I had moved away and was working for a newspaper.

Even when the Jets won (and they hold an 8-5 series lead) I’d still call it the “Pop Bowl” because that’s just how I like to think of it.

The last time he had a chance to “trash talk” me came on November 13, 1994, when the Packers managed a 17-10 victory at Lambeau Field. He razzed me as best he could – he loved saying things like, “I’d hate to lose a game to a team whose quarterback is named Boomer (Esiason)” – but his voice was weak and for the first time I could ever recall, he seemed feeble.

Three weeks later he was diagnosed with cancer, and on December 25, 1994, he died.

We watched a lot of football together over the years – college and pro – and even when the teams we rooted for lost, it still made for special memories because we always had fun together.

But Pop Bowl I? That was extra special.

And since they were his favorite team, I won’t be too sad if the Packers come away with the victory this afternoon.

I’ll just be sad I can’t give Pop a hug when it’s over.