AH Challenge: American Football popular in Europe

In association football, players literally have to think on their feet and don't have minutes of time to think through their tactics in between downs. The dynamics of a good football game are incredible. In an ideal case, with two nealry evenly matched teams of high caliber, you spend 2x45 minutes on the edge of your seat or jumping around the living room. Provided you didn't make it to the actual game or at least into a pub.

Although I played gridiron for a time (it was fun, but the athletic demands weren't nearly as high as in football) and understand the rules, it just can't compete.
 
Let me get this straight... you're saying that (American) Football does not use strategies?

...Are you sure we are talking about the same game?

In gridiron, much of the time which is spent on TV watching ads is basically discussing strategy. In association football, you have to come up with strategies on the spot whilst kicking the ball, passing it, and avoid having the ball taken by your opponent. There really isn't much time spent thinking/discussing strategy except at half time or when a time-out is called.
 
Talking as a Briton, I dont think it could ever really be popular in the UK. Partly because we already have football, rugby and cricket, they all have a different following and its quite hard to find a British man who doesn't support a team or follow one on these sports. Also its quite similar to rugby so the people who would follow American football already follow rugby as manly contact sport. Therefore American football doesnt really have a niche to become popular with.

I also think it quite boring. Ive only watched it like twice and both times ive switched over or fallen asleep. There are way too many breaks and definatly too much talking and adverts. Give me Rugby over American Football any day
 
Talking as a Briton, I dont think it could ever really be popular in the UK. Partly because we already have football, rugby and cricket, they all have a different following and its quite hard to find a British man who doesn't support a team or follow one on these sports. Also its quite similar to rugby so the people who would follow American football already follow rugby as manly contact sport. Therefore American football doesnt really have a niche to become popular with.

I also think it quite boring. Ive only watched it like twice and both times ive switched over or fallen asleep. There are way too many breaks and definatly too much talking and adverts. Give me Rugby over American Football any day

Talking as an American, I agree with you!

But that's beside the point. The best bet to make Gridiron popular in Europe is American servicemen after WWII. We've established that. Are there other methods, though? Is it possible for Gridiron to get established in Russia and spread to Europe by Soviet troops? (ASB, I know, but let's consider it).

EDIT: Here's an idea. The Great Depression hits the USA harder (FDR never elected?), and there is large immigration to Russia from the United States. The Americans in Russia bring with them a love of throwing oblong brown balls, and it spreads in Russia. The Soviets, considering it to be better military training than football, promote it. By WWII, the Soviets have their own NFL, and they install their own in the Eastern Bloc after the war (assuming the war or a Soviet victory aren't butterflied).
 
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On that note, give me rugby union over rugby league - the latter is just as boring as gridiron.

Talking as a Briton, I dont think it could ever really be popular in the UK. Partly because we already have football, rugby and cricket, they all have a different following and its quite hard to find a British man who doesn't support a team or follow one on these sports. Also its quite similar to rugby so the people who would follow American football already follow rugby as manly contact sport. Therefore American football doesnt really have a niche to become popular with.

I also think it quite boring. Ive only watched it like twice and both times ive switched over or fallen asleep. There are way too many breaks and definatly too much talking and adverts. Give me Rugby over American Football any day
 
I thought American Football did pretty well in Germany, the only team that came close to making money was the NFL Europe team in Germany (Rhine Fire??) IIRC.

I played Am. FB in college and well, being there for a college game is better and NFL is awful because of commercials, I even change the channel because I can't stand it (that and the damned commentators). FB as we know it wasn't the same in the 40s, it wasn't a money making sport and was in distant 2nd place behind baseball. Every factory/farm town in America had a baseball team and football was played by a few colleges and was nearly banded because of excessive violence (TR said something like that after someone almost died at a Yale-Harvard game in 1901 or 1902).

Our chosen POD of the 1940s isn't the best one because it hadn't caught on that much and was still a novelty like Lacrosse is here in the states (big in a few regions, catching on in others). FB was mostly played in the South and on the East Coast, and didn't really become nationwide until AFTER WW2. I think if there is greater (even than the Marshall Plan) influence in Europe to a point were Football is brought over and develops concurrently some how with the American game and gains its own niche in that time were americans are much more respected and emulated more on th international scene
 
Realistically, I think you'd need an earlier PoD...say sometime in the late 19th century when the different varieties of football (association football, both types of rugby, gaelic football, and gridiron football, etc) were beginning to diverge and assume their formalized 20th century forms. The first US football was association football, later evolving into a rugby-like game. Perhaps if there was more international play between US collegiate and club teams and those in the British Empire, you might have gotten to a point where some of the main rule changes that made US football different from rugby (the forward pass, down and distance rules, blocking) migrated to a variation of sport played in the British Isles. Then, it would be possible that, just as Canadian football is virtually identical to the US game, a similar British gridiron football would evolve and then be spread throughout the anglophone world.

However, I just don't see US football ever supplanting soccer in the world. It is just too expensive, requires too much player specialization, and too much equipment to be globally attractive.
 

Valdemar II

Banned
The problem are that if American Football become populare, Europeans will take up Rugby instead, it demand less equipment and has a greater flow. American Football problem are that it a sport for television and radio short explosion followed by adds. So we would need a more add focused media in Northen Europe rather than the dominance of state run media. Which for many reason are unlikely, foremost because the state felt a need to control the media.
While Germany did/do have a large American Football scene, it's important to remember that Germany has one of the greatest American populations in Europe thanks to the large number of military personnel there. It also seem that AF has little popularity outside this group.

Honestly I think baseball has a better chance to spread, it fits better with the radio media, it demand less equitment and it doesn't demand a abnormal musculature to play.
 
However, I just don't see US football ever supplanting soccer in the world. It is just too expensive, requires too much player specialization, and too much equipment to be globally attractive.

Also, it involves a rather small number of games per season, only one per week per team. The US football season starts in September, when the baseball season focuses on only a handful of contending teams. In fact, it is somewhat surprising that the game is so popular here, given the resources it takes to operate a team, not to mention the role of size brute force that essentially restricts pool of potential players.
 
Make them wear the same level of protection as rugby and Aussie Rules players. That would sort the men out from the boys.

Something that's often overlooked is the reason for the padding. (See this history for that.)

While it rather violates the spirit of the OP, something along these lines may actually be the way to go.

Two thoughts:
Either the 1905 or 1910 rules reforms produce something closer to Rugby rules (no protecting the ball carrier) or an alternative version like speedball takes off...
 
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