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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell isn’t satisfied with just running the most popular sport in the United States. He wants to see American football grow abroad until it reaches the point where it becomes an Olympic sport.

Goodell told Mike Florio on the Dan Patrick Show that football has taken many of the steps necessary to get recognized by the International Olympic Committee.

“Absolutely. We’re already taking steps to gain that IOC recognition. We have, I think, 64 countries that are playing American football now, and that’s one of the requirements. That’s been growing dramatically — I think it was 40 just five years ago,” Goodell said.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... pic-sport/

Goodell has rubbed me the wrong way on pretty much every decision he's made since becoming commissioner, and this would be yet another one. I'm guessing that pretty much no NFL players would play even if football did get IOC affiliation, but between the 18 game season idea and this idea, and based on everything else he's done, he really seems to put the promotion of the NFL above the players safety.

And how badly would the US dominate this, even if they had to use college players? I mean, seriously?

I understand it's a business (and a huge one at that). I understand businessmen are always looking for ways to expand their business and increase profits. But if we end up having a London team, followed by a European division (which I have no doubt Goodell would love to do) then my interest in the NFL decreases dramatically. The 18 game season was a dumb idea. So is the Olympics.

Obviously football will not be an Olympic sport any time soon (ie our lifetimes). This is more Goodell trying to promote the sport/league internationally. Of the 4 major sports, the NFL is easily the least internationalized despite being far and away the most popular in the U.S. There is a lot of room for the sport to grow and not necessarily with international franchises, but TV ratings and merchandise sales.

This thread is way late.

Also, who cares? his job is to grow the sport. He's a puppet for the owners. If you're mad at him it means you disagree with the owners as a collective.

How would this even work? NFL and college coaches aren't going to want their players playing in the Olympics when their seasons start in less than a month. Stupid idea.

As if we'd have to use NFL or college players to win a gold medal in a sport that has our name in it.

emunney wrote:As if we'd have to use NFL or college players to win a gold medal in a sport that has our name in it.

the way the rest of the world is now we could send the best unsigned NFL players and still easily win.

at this idea. Are their even any international players in the NFL?

Sort of OT, but rugby should be in the olympics. Im not sure why it isnt.

Bucksfans1and2 wrote:the way the rest of the world is now we could send Waunakee football players and still easily win.

Fixed.

We all know Waunakee is a better option than the Golden Gophers.

I like Goodell quite a bit. That said, I agree with these:

PkrsBcksGphsMqt wrote:Obviously football will not be an Olympic sport any time soon (ie our lifetimes). This is more Goodell trying to promote the sport/league internationally. Of the 4 major sports, the NFL is easily the least internationalized despite being far and away the most popular in the U.S. There is a lot of room for the sport to grow and not necessarily with international franchises, but TV ratings and merchandise sales.

Bucksfans1and2 wrote:Also, who cares? his job is to grow the sport. He's a puppet for the owners. If you're mad at him it means you disagree with the owners as a collective.

beyond_the_arc wrote:We all know Waunakee is a better option than the Golden Gophers.

I Googled 'oh snap' and this was one of the results:

http://articles.businessinsider.com/201 ... erence-com

Of the four major North American professional sports leagues, the NFL is the most American. Based on data at Pro-Football-Reference.com, 96.5 percent of active players in the NFL were born in the United States.

But despite the overwhelming dominance by Americans, there are still another 30 countries represented in the NFL. Germany, Canada, and American Samoa lead the way with seven players each. Of course, most of the German players are likely American citizens born on military bases, American Samoans are American Nationals, and Canada is just North Minnesota.

Yeah, most of these countries would struggle to even form an Olympics roster, let alone a decent one.

That would just be a guarantee gold medal every year at the expense of possible injury to a key player, ruining their NFL season. And, unlike the NBA, the players would have to start their NFL season immediately after the Olympics, making them play probably 25 games at least in a row. That has disaster written all over it, so, it's not worth it.

College players run into a similar issue, and that also crosses them off.

So, where are we looking? Street free agents? Maybe, but I still think the lack of international involvement would make it boring.

I mean, baseball is not an Olympic sport, and they actually can field competitive teams from a good 5-10 countries.

I don't see anything wrong with this and would love it as a football fan. It would be a free gold for the US and could boost a lot of careers. No starter is gonna risk injury but you will get a ton of players fans will support. You would get Harrell throwing TD's to Gurley all day. Or you would have your favorite college player reliving the glory days even though he couldn't make it in the NFL. Other Olympic sports revolve athletes who use the game as their one chance at making endorsement money and risk injury all the time, I don't see how this is any different.

Whether or not it is a good idea as an Olympic sport in the IOC's choice, but Goodell should definitely be pushing it.

I would honestly question if pro leagues outside of the US could deal with AFL players. I kinda doubt it.