NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in March said that the league has multiple teams that are interested in playing a game in China, but "not everybody is crazy about the idea," according to Ashley Fox of ESPN.com. Execs from teams such as the Packers and Giants are "on the record with their objections." With "so much at stake each week, there are concerns that flying half a day or more each way could put a team at a competitive disadvantage -- for that game and beyond." NFL Exec VP/Int'l Mark Waller said that he will "visit China to scout stadiums in Beijing and Shanghai later this month." Fox noted the NFL's international committee will "meet at the end of April and then share its findings with ownership in May." The league at another owners' meeting in October "likely will try to finalize a plan for playing a game in China" in '18. Waller: "We don't need a selling point. I don't think anybody doesn't understand the opportunity in China." A '14 Sponsorship Intelligence report stated that basketball "is the No. 1 team sport in China and the NBA is the most popular sports league." The NFL "wants a piece of that action." Waller said that there are "an average of almost 600,000 people following 'Sunday Night Football' which in China takes place on Monday mornings." Jaguars Owner Shahid Khan said that he is "not interested in his team playing in China." But he thinks expanding into Asia "would be good for the league" (ESPN.com,4/7). YAHOO SPORTS' Frank Schwab wrote it is "not often you'll see owners step out of line and publicly question a big league initiative." On the surface the public concerns of the owners "don't seem like a big deal," but it is "probably telling that there's any blowback at all from owners as the NFL speaks glowingly about how more international games can grow the sport" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 4/7).
LONG VIEW: ESPN.com's Scott Burnside reported the NHL "cannot decide whether to close the door to Olympic participation." The next two Olympic Games will be "held far away from North America and outside of the prime-time television window." If the league were "just considering the prospect of South Korea, it would be all but out by now." But the "lure of China" has given NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman pause. Burnside: "Could the NHL make inroads in the world's most populous country?" The NHL has "not heard much from Chinese ice hockey officials regarding its plans" if the league does come to Beijing for the '22 Games. If, at some point, Chinese officials "come up with a plan for building arenas, for committing funds to grassroots hockey, for making the '22 tournament a catalyst for the game's growth in Asia, well, then that's something the NHL would listen to" (ESPN.com, 4/6).
