China will stage a regular-season NFL game "down the road" as American football targets a more global fanbase, the sport’s top figure in the country said on Wednesday, according to the AFP. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said during a visit to Beijing and Shanghai this week that it was his "dream" to play a game in China before he retires. NFL China Managing Dir Richard Young said, "We really believe that a regular-season game is the right way to go because you want to see the real thing [and not an exhibition game] and China demands the real thing and we want to respect that growing fanbase." Last year, it was reported that the NFL was "working to stage a game in China" in '18. Young: "To get a real game over here, you have to understand that teams only have eight home games so one team is going to have to give up one eighth of their home team schedule, which is a difficult thing." He added that before China hosts a game, American football needed to become "relevant" in the country. He said, "We need to make the sport less foreign" (AFP, 6/21).
