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Official tips China to stage NFL matchup
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 yesterday.
New England Patriots star 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.
Richard Young, managing director of NFL China, said despite several challenges: “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, reports said that the NFL was working to stage a game in China in 2018.
“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,” Young said.
He said the logistics are difficult, but “not impossible”.
“They’ve got to fly a long, long way and then go back (to the United States) and compete the next week in a very physical sport. So do I think it is going to happen in the future? Yes, I do. But it’s down the road and we need a lot of things to sort out before we’re going to have the game.”
Young added that before China hosts a game, American football needed to become “relevant” in the country, adding: “We need to make the sport less foreign.”
The NFL, which is enjoying growing popularity in China but has dwindling participation numbers at youth level in the United States, is already branching out abroad.
There will be four games in London in the coming season and the fifth game of the International Series will take place in Mexico City.
Asked if a regular-season game in China was inevitable, the five-time Super Bowl champion Brady said: “I hope so. I think you need to start with small goals and work up to that.”
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