Some NFL Owners Want to Fold European League, Peterson Says
29/06/2007 |
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Some National Football League owners want to close the NFL's six-team European developmental league because it's losing too much money, said Kansas City Chiefs President Carl Peterson.
NFL Europa, which began operating in its current format in 1995, plays its season from April to June and offers teams an opportunity for young players to gain experience. Peterson said that outweighs the losses, which he said averaged $500,000 for each of the NFL's 32 clubs.
``We're not in a place, very frankly, where we're breaking even,'' Peterson said in an interview. He said NFL teams will be studying financial reports before making any decisions.
NFL spokesman Michael Signora said the European league is undergoing its annual review and declined to comment further.
The league has produced players such as quarterback Kurt Warner, who led the St. Louis Rams to the 2000 Super Bowl championship and won two NFL Most Valuable Player awards; Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme; and Indianapolis Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri, a two-time Pro Bowl pick.
``From a football standpoint, I think it pays for itself,'' Peterson said. ``The money we put into the NFL Europa league is well worth the investment because we are not only improving the quality of our game at the NFL level, but we're developing young players who sometimes do become stars in our league.''
Peterson didn't name the owners opposed to NFL Europa.
The league played its first season in 1991 as the World League of American Football, with 10 teams located in North America and Europe. After a two-year hiatus in 1993 and 1994, the league returned with a six-team all-European format in London, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Scotland and Dusseldorf.
The league currently has teams in Amsterdam, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin.
NFL Europa averaged a record 20,024 fans a game this season, up from the previous all-time high of 18,965 in 2005, according to the NFL. Its games were broadcast on cable television in the U.S. on the league-owned NFL Network.
(Source: Bloomberg.com)
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