Buf/Jax suck so bad, NFL doesn't even televise them.

[hyatt151]

The NFL is 100% Special person. Why would you try to open new markets by sending the worst possible version of your product there?

Morons.

How much did Yahoo pay for these exclusive rights? The company, and the league, wouldn't say, but industry analysts estimated the cost to be around $20 million, according to tech news site

 

[Packer Fan]

The NFL is 100% Special person. Why would you try to open new markets by sending the worst possible version of your product there?

Morons.

I think sending the worst teams is a great idea. It does the least damage to the NFL schedule as far as screwing up the playoffs.

And really, if someone was trying to sell international soccer on me, would I be able to tell the talent difference between a soccer match that is the equivalent of the Giants/Cowboys and one that was the equivalent of the Jaguars/Bills?

 

[ShiftyDevil]

I think sending the worst teams is a great idea. It does the least damage to the NFL schedule as far as screwing up the playoffs.

And really, if someone was trying to sell international soccer on me, would I be able to tell the talent difference between a soccer match that is the equivalent of the Giants/Cowboys and one that was the equivalent of the Jaguars/Bills?

Well that depends, are you an idiot?

 

[Scoot26]

Yahoo live stream of Bills-Jaguars game attracts 33.6 million total views

If you stream it, they will come.

Yahoo and the NFL announced on Monday that Sunday's exclusive live stream of the Bills-Jaguars game from London attracted a huge global audience: 15.2 million unique viewers and 33.6 million total views.

Those viewers streamed over 460 million total minutes of the game with over 33 percent of the streams being used by international users across 185 worldwide. It was the first time that international viewers were able to access a NFL game without cable or satellite.

In comparison, 1.8 million unique users tuned into the WatchESPN app for the 2014 World Cup final between Germany and Brazil, though that game was also broadcast over the air.

Sunday's audience was almost twice the size of the average audience (7.9 million) that TBS attracted for last week's NLCS between the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets.

Despite the immense size of the audience, Yahoo provided a great technical experience delivering the game. The stream reached HD levels, the average rebuffering ratio was nearly 1 percent and the game was broadcast at 60 frames per second. Average Internet video is usually distributed at 30 frames per second.

Viewers were able to watch the game, a thrilling 34-31 Jaguars victory, in a variety of ways including smartphones, tablets, laptops and smart television sets. The live stream garnered positive reviews from Sports Illustrated, Forbes and ESPN.

“It’s been a great opportunity to partner with the NFL and deliver a truly exceptional global live streaming experience for our users,” said Adam Cahan, Yahoo’s SVP of Product and Engineering, in a statement. “We’re seeing a dramatic shift in the industry as audiences’ primary video watching moves away from TV. We were thrilled to join the NFL in setting a new standard for sports programming for our users and advertisers.”

The NFL was equally as pleased with the experiment.

"We are incredibly excited by the fact we took a game that would have been viewed by a relatively limited television audience in the United States and by distributing it digitally were able to attract a global audience of over 15 million viewers," NFL senior vice president Hans Schroeder said.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-s...racts-33-6-million-total-views-130531268.html

 

[mecha]

do the locals in London even give a shit about American football though? I just feel like the NFL is trying to provide a solution to a problem that doesn't exist with this one.

 

[Space Invader]

do the locals in London even give a shit about American football though? I just feel like the NFL is trying to provide a solution to a problem that doesn't exist with this one.

Funny enough, having been a pro wrestling fan since I was a kid, I've learned when they've drawn a good house by the cuts and camera angles. WWE will actually move people down so everyone who bought a ticket is together and tarp off the empty sections and cut only angles that make the place seem full to the television viewer.

I noticed yesterday that the game was shot relatively tight, but you could still see a lot of empty seats.

 

[JesusHalasChrist]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/bl...on-wembley-buffalo-bills-jacksonville-jaguars

At Wembley on Sunday two of the smallest and most inconsequential NFL teams of the past decade, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Buffalo Bills, played out a minor classic in front of 84,000 people. Next weekend, another sell-out crowd will revel in the whole fist-bumping, XXL jersey-over-hoodie wearing, Lite beer-slurping experience all over again when the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions come to town.

Let that marinate for a moment. We have had two NFL games in London in eight days involving four buck-average teams, and that’s being kind. But despite tickets costing between £37.50 and £105 a pop, [~$60 to $160] the games have been sellouts.

How many sports – football aside - could sell out Wembley twice within a week? And how many could do it with teams of the equivalent standard of the Jaguars, Bills, Chiefs and Lions, who between them have won a grand total of eight out of 28 matches this season?

It’s the latter detail which adds intriguing nuance to the will-they-or-won’t-they debate which has flared ever since American Football jetted into London for its first International Series match in 2008.

In the past the NFL has usually ensured that category A stars or fan-favourite teams were on the bill. After all, funnelling Tom Brady or the San Fransisco 49ers to London is a cast-iron way to guarantee a sell out.

But the Jaguars – Bills game felt like the NFL taking the stabilisers off. It was as if they were saying to themselves, right – shall we find out whether the game is popular enough now that we can put any two sides on at Wembley and the games will sell out?

It is the latest of a series of stress-tests the NFL has conducted to assess the robustness of the sports’s popularity in Britain. The three early kick-offs this season, for instance, are testing whether there is the appetite in the United States to watch matches from brunch – or before on the Pacific coast – through to bedtime. And it also lets them see if more NFL fans in Asia will watch if a game is put on at a more reasonable hour.

So far it appears that American Football in the UK is hardier than many of us imagined. You wouldn’t naturally pick the Jaguars to play at Wembley every year, for instance. For years they have been a young team whose spring appears to be on the horizon, but their calendar remains stuck in late February. Since 2012 they have won only 11 out of 55 regular-season matches. They arrived at Wembley having only one once this season yet still the crowd roared them on. And if London can get behind the Jaguars in the bad times, what would they do if the going ever got good?

Opinions vary, but those I spoke to at Wembley thought there were more people in Jacksonville Jaguars jerseys both on Sunday and when the Miami Dolphins faced the New York Jets on 4 October than compared to a year or two ago. And that might be significant too. Because if here were to be a London franchise, the Jaguars – who are owned by Fulham’s owner Shahid Khan – are probably the most likely candidate.

More broadly, the sport’s chains appear to be moving in the right direction too. Last week it was confirmed that there would be at least four regular-season games in the UK by 2018. The NFL also reports that Sky’s average audience for the 6pm and 9pm Sunday games has doubled since 2007. Meanwhile, in a fortnight the BBC, which has broadcast both Wembley games this season, will start a weekly highlights show.

The NFL also claims that more than half a million people turned up on Regent’s Street in central London on Saturday to enjoy what its website called a day “packed with interactive drills, giant inflatable tackling dummies, food and drink galore and full-throttle cheerleaders”– which served as a first-hand glimpse at just how vast the sport has become overseas in recent days.”

That is wildly over-egging it, of course. How many of those on Regent Street were accidental visitors who were there only for the shopping and stumbled on a scene as American as apple pie? Still, attracting loose interest by osmosis probably ticks another marketing box.

So what now? Despite George Osborne and Boris Johnson both talking up the possibility of a London franchise by the end of the decade, that is almost certainly premature.

Many barriers remain. There is the travel, with all that pinging back and forth through time zones. Then there are the logistics of shipping tons of team equipment, which is often sent months in advance to London (how would that work in the play-offs?) In addition there is the lack of a permanent stadium, even if Tottenham are keen. And more fundamentally still, the issue of attracting more converts in the UK. How many people in Britain could name a single NFL player?

And while the NFL is also making all the right noises about a London franchise, their route to achieving it remains fuzzy. That might be no bad thing, mind. Because as things stand, the relationship between American Football and the British public is rather like a well-meaning but slightly mismatched couple, whose friends aren’t convinced it will work out. Yet, nearly a decade on, the two sides are still inching together. With more time they could yet decide each other is a keeper.

 

[OnemanWolfpack]

Actually the Jags are a promising young team. Bortles is developing nicely. He has a good group of WR and TE. Yeldon looks like he could develop into a nice back and their o-line is trending in the right direction. Their defense needs some playmakers but overall is a decent group. If Fowler comes back and is the player they expect him to be, they could put something together. They really could challenge for the AFC South this year if they could get any kind of pass rush going.

Buffalo just needs a QB. Their D is full of talent and they are just 7 games into learning Rex Ryans system. I expect them to be very strong at the end of the year but they happen to be in one of the better division in football right now. If they could get their playmakers to stay healthy on offense they could do some damage. They have a strong core of WR, a capable TE, and a good RB tandem in McCoy and Williams. Taylor needs to stay healthy and be more consistent and the line needs to come together better but the pieces are there.

Two good young teams in small markets. Doesn't mean they suck.

 

[Space Invader]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/bl...on-wembley-buffalo-bills-jacksonville-jaguars

84k? and a sellout next week? Damn, I'll admit I was wrong on that one.

 

[hyatt151]

84k? and a sellout next week? Damn, I'll admit I was wrong on that one.

NOW, if only we could get Guano to follow your lead!!!!

 

[Wintermute]

you call that a knoife?

fify