Allow me as a "Yank" to put in my two cents worth.
Americans like fast paced, high scoring games, first of all. That is why the NBA adopted the
24 second clock and the three point shot. (the three pointer was in use in international rules
long before it was adopted in the NBA)
IF Aussie rules was given good media exposure in the USA, within 5 years it would become
the most popular sport there.
IMO, the NFL has a vested interest in keeping Footy off the airwaves, because if people saw
Footy next to Gridiron, which takes 45 minutes to play a 15 minute quarter, due to ad breaks
and so on, they would abandon it in droves.
In fact there are around 200 Footy Clubs in the US the last time I looked at their website.
Teams include the Orange County Bombers, Cincinatti Dockers and the Inland Empire Eagles,
who where a long sleeved version of the Eagles 1992 Jumper and were coached for a while
by Paul Roos, back in 1999.
Soccer is enormously popular in the US as a kids and adolescent sport, but, Gridiron
dominates the Autumn sport calendar. High school games can draw 10,000 spectators, and
more in southern states like Florida, Louisiana and Georgia. That is when Footy would be
played and since sport in the US is school based rather than club based, there is literally no
room on the calendar for any more Sport to be programmed.
Nobody I know gets any Aussie Rules on any cable channel. Fox Footy can be obtained IF
you have a satellite dish, but that is unlikely as Cable is available everywhere, (unlike here),
and the FC is not available on basic cable networks, even as a premium channel.
Aussie Rules will only become hugely popular in the US when and if the AFL starts paying for
Advertisement and airtime in the US, on one of the Four major networks, in Prime Time, a
very expensive, but I believe, ultimately profitable exercise. It needs, to start, a one hour
spot on Sunday nights for a show, hosted by a well known American sports star - say Michael
Jordan (Mel Gibson would also lend it credibility) - (come to think of it if the Crocodile Hunter
hosted it it would become the most popular show in the US, because Americans love him )
which would explain aspects of the game step by step for half an hour, then spend a half
hour showing highlights of what was just explained. For example spend one epsiode
explaining marks, then show highlights of all different kinds of Marks, finishing with the top
five screamers of all time.
Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
As The Gur says...Rant Over
The Website of the USAFL
Americans like fast paced, high scoring games, first of all. That is why the NBA adopted the
24 second clock and the three point shot. (the three pointer was in use in international rules
long before it was adopted in the NBA)
IF Aussie rules was given good media exposure in the USA, within 5 years it would become
the most popular sport there.
IMO, the NFL has a vested interest in keeping Footy off the airwaves, because if people saw
Footy next to Gridiron, which takes 45 minutes to play a 15 minute quarter, due to ad breaks
and so on, they would abandon it in droves.
In fact there are around 200 Footy Clubs in the US the last time I looked at their website.
Teams include the Orange County Bombers, Cincinatti Dockers and the Inland Empire Eagles,
who where a long sleeved version of the Eagles 1992 Jumper and were coached for a while
by Paul Roos, back in 1999.
Soccer is enormously popular in the US as a kids and adolescent sport, but, Gridiron
dominates the Autumn sport calendar. High school games can draw 10,000 spectators, and
more in southern states like Florida, Louisiana and Georgia. That is when Footy would be
played and since sport in the US is school based rather than club based, there is literally no
room on the calendar for any more Sport to be programmed.
Nobody I know gets any Aussie Rules on any cable channel. Fox Footy can be obtained IF
you have a satellite dish, but that is unlikely as Cable is available everywhere, (unlike here),
and the FC is not available on basic cable networks, even as a premium channel.
Aussie Rules will only become hugely popular in the US when and if the AFL starts paying for
Advertisement and airtime in the US, on one of the Four major networks, in Prime Time, a
very expensive, but I believe, ultimately profitable exercise. It needs, to start, a one hour
spot on Sunday nights for a show, hosted by a well known American sports star - say Michael
Jordan (Mel Gibson would also lend it credibility) - (come to think of it if the Crocodile Hunter
hosted it it would become the most popular show in the US, because Americans love him )
which would explain aspects of the game step by step for half an hour, then spend a half
hour showing highlights of what was just explained. For example spend one epsiode
explaining marks, then show highlights of all different kinds of Marks, finishing with the top
five screamers of all time.
Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
As The Gur says...Rant Over
The Website of the USAFL