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Play two games, and the teams can swap opponents the next round. Travel is the same for all four. (Not serious)Too far, jetlag etc would be an issue. Not a fan big fan of the China game but China is still a lot closer and only 2 hours behind.
So clearly this is gathering legs then.AFL apparently looking at a US game as a stand alone match to open the season if it can get off the ground.
A suitable venue will be one of the biggest obstacles. Although I do find it hard to fathom that there may not be one venue in a country as big as the US that would do the job.So clearly this is gathering legs then.
It's going to be very interesting to see who the other team will be. As well as where in the US it will be played.
Home of the fighting squids which is possibly the best team nickname I’ve ever heardGood question. This one seems OK, a bit on the short side, but plenty of room out wide, and with a 20,000 capacity -
Central Broward Park - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
As long as they're not playing West Coast, go for it.
If they still do China, then noJust please dear god don't involve the Saints.
Far too niche. I don't like saying it, but the opposition being identifiably Australian makes sense in a way - as much as the idea makes sense at all. That means Sydney, but there's already a Sydney team and the one game that brings a crwod already. Melbourne, the only other place most Americans have heard of. Or North, because "Kangaroos".What teams have the most following in US? Is it too niche to go by something like that?
Haha that reminds me of a couple of Aussie tourists I ran into telling a story of them telling some Americans that they were from Melbourne. The reply was "sorry, we only know the major Australian cities".Far too niche. I don't like saying it, but the opposition being identifiably Australian makes sense in a way - as much as the idea makes sense at all. That means Sydney, but there's already a Sydney team and the one game that brings a crwod already. Melbourne, the only other place most Americans have heard of. Or North, because "Kangaroos".
USA sports fans like stoppages in sport so they can wander off, get a "dog & a beer" and not miss any of the action. Sitting there for 30 minutes before a break would try their patience.
Cheers Finn! Where abouts ya from? I'm tippin you're somewhere there from the states?
To the bulk of your post; like anything new that involves a reasonable amount of dexterity and composure it's gonna take a while for the skills to take - if one keeps at it. Being in it's infancy (relatively speaking) that also explains the grass roots character it has over there, I imagine it would be mainly ex pat Aussies that umpire the games, goals, boundaries, tend the scoreboard and play Australian Footy.
Secondly, the injury nature is rather high because of the full contact combative nature of the game at it's fundamental level. However I'd argue it would be similar to if not on less than the brutality of gridiron or rugby union / league - I wouldn't know I haven't participated at any level of those other three.
To put into perspective I've raced motocross at mid level with minor sponsorship (against the B graders - birko stuff) and played senior level footy at local suburban level and I know of others that have also taken part in both.
I consider motocross as a safer sport. Now I know that may sound crazy but motocross is a one way, you're (very) well protected, you know exactly where you're going sport albeit high speed. Where as footy is a 360 degree game with fit, heavy blokes doing sometimes 30+k an hour in different directions where collisions are imminent with zero protection apart from your mouth guard.
Season opener would be the way to go. Tail end of their winter, they can do it a week earlier than everyone else. Jet lag is a thing but if you’ve got two weeks off you’ll be fine. Somewhere in the pacific NW would be my vote. Open minded crowd, I feel Canadians might be more receptive too. Everyone from Whistler can come down!
Obvious problems:
- ground size, condition
- there’s no point if it’s just a novelty, it needs to be properly sold to the public
- the US is very insular with its sports
- as someone else pointed out it’s irritating seeing an expansion club pushing this; how about you grow your own market first ya knobs
- it would likely be an expensive venture and surely there’s better ways the AFL can throw money around (perhaps chasing a better way to get AFL into TV over there for instance)
- a complex game that is hard to understand on first watch.
To conclude I’d repeat what everyone else has said, “as long as my team isn’t involved then uhhhh go ahead I guess”
As an American I want to disagree with the ’hard to understand at first watch’. I think the rules of AFL are some of the most instinctive and fair of any sport out there.