NFL Europa Closes

Bad news for football fanatics. After 15 years in operation, NFL Europa is closing its doors.

It started in 1991 as the World League of American Football, with 10 teams situated in the U.S. and Europe. The league took two years off in 1993 and 1994 but returned in 1995 as a six-team all-European league. The 2007 season was the first year for the league to bear the name NFL Europa. Unfortunately, a name change could not stop the $30 million a year losses.

New NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said that it was time for the league to begin concentrating on regular-season games outside of the United States. In October, NFL owners voted to play up to two regular-season games per year outside of the U.S. The first such game is October 28th in London between the Dolphins and the Giants. Other games are being looked at in Germany, Mexico and Canada.

In a statement, Goodell said, “A foundation of American football fans in key European markets has been created and the time is right to shift our strategy. The next phase of our international growth is to focus on initiatives with global impact, including taking advantage of developing technologies that make the NFL more accessible on a global scale and ensuring the success of our new international series of regular-season games.”

The final World Bow championship was played less than a week before the announcement. In that contest, the Hamburg Sea Devils defeated the Frankfurt Galaxy 37-28 in front of a crowd of 48,125.

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