NFL to MCG: The Pros and Cons of Playing American Football in an Oval Ground
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- čas přidán 21. 05. 2024
- Australia is deserving of an NFL regular season due to the country's passionate base of American football fans who know far more about the sport than people give them credit for.
It looks like that could be reality with the news Melbourne is leading efforts to bring the NFL down under. Melbourne? Plans call for the game to played at Melbourne Cricket Ground, an oval venue that seems like and odd fit.
There are better stadiums ready to go for the NFL. Accor Stadium has an 80,000+the capacity and is the ideal shape for American football. Sure, Melbourne Cricket Ground had seats 100,000 but Sydney makes more sense, though.
To that extent, Accor Stadium has hosted American football, although it was known as Allianz Stadium at the time. In 2016, Cal played Hawaii in Australia, with Stanford and Rice doing likewise the following season. The games were a success even if the announced attendance and the actual attendance were completely different.
It is also crucial to remember that the NFL is far bigger than college football down under. While the Aussies do follow their punters who have taken over the college game, they care far more about the pro game.
Regardless, the NFL should play a game in Australia. It doesn't matter where. Just make it happen.
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October and November is Melbourne's peak horse racing season (Spring Racing Carnival). The city is super alive at this time, we even have a public holiday for the Melbourne Cup on the first Tuesday of November. You can see the race track at 8.34.
Imagine putting that event on the weekend prior to the Melbourne Cup. Last weekend of October or first weekend of November would be wild.
Every NFL team, every season, should play eight games at home, eight games on the road, and one game at an international neutral site. (Play the games in Australia, Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Europe and Japan.)
Docklands Stadium is literally a short drive from the G and it converts from an oval into a rectangular ground.
Only get 60k there at the G you’ll get over 100k
I went to the college football game between Hawaii and Cal State at the Accor Sydney stadium and it is perfect for the NFL it is crazy that they are playing a game on the MCG. They had an exhibition game before the Olympic Games the San Diego Charges played the Denver Broncos in September 1999 when it was in Olympic mode and had 110000 seats
Since then that stadium has been knocked down and rebuilt on the same site. Still about 45k capacity, but a much nicer stadium
I got to admit, i was initially excited to watch an NFL game in Australia, but knowing its at the MCG bums me out. I think id just give it a miss and travel to America and experience the real thing.
What’s wrong with the Mcg who cares if if the sidelines are big I just want to go and if it is anywhere else it would sell out in a heartbeat play it at g and most people get to experience
@@DaRoy71 Because if I'm going to an NFL game, I want to actually be able to see what's happening. The MCG is terrible for rectangular sports. It will also look terrible on television and give a terrible impression of Australia.
Coincidentally, I’ve been at the MCG tonight watching Tottenham Hotspur vs Newcastle United. As a local I think we’ve gotten used to it, I don’t think Melburnians particularly care about the drawbacks of rectangle sports on our big oval.
The thing to bear in mind is that our seats go to ground level - whether you do it on an oval or rectangle, the bottom 15-20 rows are useless, so you’re far away anyway, and are better off with stadiums that go up rather than out.
The question is what numbers we’d be expecting. Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium converts to a rectangle, and would be best suited to that NFL sideline set up. But only holds 52,000.
Timing wise? Much as you’d love to marry up with some big Australian sports, you won’t get the stadiums in September.
I think Melbourne has gotten used to it because they don't know any better. When you come from outside the state however, its a horrible venue for rectangular sports. Great for AFL and Cricket though.
I went last night as well, and despite being on top level, viewing wasn’t much of an issue for me…I felt I could see the action pretty well. Personally, having NFL at the MCG would be a dream come true for me, even more so with the prospect of breaking the NFL attendance record for a match if they were to install temporary seating closer to the playing field. I may be biased but I feel the pros outweigh the cons, and from a viewing perspective, nothing could be worse than that Spurs game at the Alamo last year where they broke the NBA attendance record but I guess the novelty of the occasion and breaking the attendance record was what made it worthwhile. Also, every major American sporting event to come to Australia so far has gone to Sydney… how about giving Melbourne a turn.
@@drewred9308 You know there are bigger stadiums in the USA than the MCG right? If they really cared about getting 100,000 I think they would have already got it
You also say that Sydney gets all the events yet Melbourne currently gets the F1 and the Australian Open Tennis.
Just to add that I have no issues with Melbourne getting sports events, but they should be investing in infrastructure that will produce quality events. There’s a reason Melbourne didn’t get any quality WWC matches and that’s because they don’t have the infrastructure for major rectangular sports
Yes, I know there are some college stadiums which are a little larger than the MCG for capacity but I think having a 100,000+ attendance for an international match would add to the spectacle of the occasion.
I agree that Melbourne does well with international sporting events, I was specifically referencing American sports. For example, Sydney has hosted MLB, NFL pre-season and college football, despite the configuration at Accor still not being ideal for American football and the SCG having to be reconfigured for those MLB matches. You could easily do the same at Marvel stadium and host baseball matches there. But it is true that the stadium infrastructure both in Melbourne as well as the rest of Australia - while quite good - isn’t quite up to scratch compared to some countries.
MCG is only one of 3 major stadiums in Melbourne. Its time to explore alternative options, like Marvel Stadium!
Too small
@@DaRoy71 I dont think so, for a first time by NFL.
@@gustavo_fnr no there will easy be 100,000k there will be people flying from all over the country to see this
Personally I wouldn’t mind playing on a huge grass field for landing space purposes, back in college I played against a team that had a football field similar to the west 4th street basketball court. Everything and everyone was on top of you.
Since you did an NFL/MCG video, it got me thinking about which stadiums in the US would be able to host an AFL (Aussie Rules Football) game since that league is gaining in popularity in the US for a variety of reasons & the AFL might be interested in playing a game over here in the future similar to what the NRL is doing. In my view due to the fact that the multipurpose "cookie cutter" stadiums of the 60's & 70's (which would have been perfect venues for the AFL) are largely gone, it greatly limits where an AFL game could be played because we don't build circular stadiums. However having said this, I think the Rose Bowl in Pasadena would be the best option should the AFL decide to do a game in the US because of its oval shape. Also due to the width & length of a regular Aussie Rules field, the fans would be right on top of the action at the Rose Bowl. Then when it comes to the timing of an AFL American game, I think it should be held in March so that it does not compete with the NFL & college football & it would allow Australian tourists to take in an NBA or NHL game in nearby LA/Anaheim or check out MLB Spring Training in Arizona so that they can get an American sports experience on their trip as well.
Three things here:
1. You may have been misled but the AFL isn't gaining popularity in the USA. Not in any meaningful way anyway.
2. You are going to struggle to find a stadium that can host AFL matches. The Rose Bowl isn't wide enough.
3. You're literally just copying the NRL when you say host it in March.
The T20 Cricket World Cup was able to fit a tight oval in the Oakland Coliseum and you may be able to squeeze in AFL there. GWS talked about playing in San Francisco back in the day. No clue if they intended to play at Oracle or maybe throw some grass over the running track at Kezar.
The Rose Bowl is interesting but I'm not sure if it'd fit a true oval with how the corners and ends were filled out. The LA Coliseum still has more curves in the corners but I don't know the width off the top of my head.
However, the two obvious choices here are the Florida and Texas cricket stadiums.
November / December are much warmer than September / October in Melbourne
Also there is no way on this green Earth that the AFL is letting anyone else have the MCG in September. (Nor would the NRL let you have Accor at that time.)
I could see a few games in Japan, one in Tokyo Dome, one in Sapporo Dome and one at the Koshein if NFL doesn't mind that half the feild is dirt.
The Boxing Day test match is on Boxing Day and in 25-26 it will be the ashes so probaly 80k-90k it’s the biggest cricket game on the calendar in the oldest rivalry in sports.
Cricket 🏏☝🏻❤
Do you want to use the entire seating capacity? Because you CAN "Turner Field"/"Choctaw Stadium" the MCG by putting up temporary seating, but then. you'd almost be better off using Marvel to begin with.
If you're going to have a game at the G then December is out. That's Cricket season and the Boxing Day test (26th of December) which is a big deal in Aus will be on. So the MCG will not be an ideal spot for it. Melbourne does have an NRL stadium AAMI Park. Maybe there?
This year India is touring Australia 5 test next year cry babies 😂
@@EvilKicksMoneyWhatever you say, mate.
@@EvilKicksMoney Out of curiosity, what makes you think India can win this time?
@@callofduty3807 indian crybabies 😭
Play in a soccer or rugby stadium. Australia has some.
Tiny 20 k stadiums we don’t apart from Accor
Suncorp would be the perfect venue for it. It probably needs an upgrade to 65,000 though.
Suncorp (Brisbane) 50k, Allianz (Sydney) 45k.
Arguably even those that have side that slide in like Accor (Sydney) 80k and Marvel (Melbourne) 50k
Not big enough though
I think it's about Victoria's superiority complex thinking they have to have every sporting event because their the so-called 'sporting capital.'
It’s literally just who thinks they can make the most money and put in a good spectacle, as WA recently did with UFC & WWE.
important to keep in mind the primary code of “football” that is popular in Australia is AFL, especially in Victoria, hence why the only stadium that has a capacity that would be acceptable is MCG and why it’s a massive oval as AFL is played on an oval as well(5 AFL teams use MCG). Cricket is also played in a more ovular/circle like pitch as well like you mentioned, hence why many pitches in Australia on the whole are circular/oval like. Accor stadium could work but NSW/QLD are rugby league country and with the somewhat precarious position rugby league is in right now relative to AFL, they may not be so keen on having another football code coming to their area to compete with them, even if it’s one that would be quite niche. The sports market in that area is also just different than that of Victoria and all that combined is why you probably see less willingness from other Australian states/territories on the eastern side of the country. The NFL traveling during a period when those seasons ended is also probably due to this concern as well, and also just general logistics of the fact the two regions are in opposite hemispheres. Australia is approaching summer during the months when the NFL season is going on, and since AFL/League are played in winter in Australia there’s just really no way to work around this without the NFL playing some games in what would be the NA summer/spring months which obviously is not going to happen.
Its the primary code of football in 45% of the country, NSW, QLD, and the ACT are roughly 55% of the country and Rugby League is by far the biggest sport in these areas. You cant be throwing around that either game are the primary code of football in Australia.
I think an NFL game would be a massive success in Aus. MCG would be terrible. If the Leagueys think Union is stop start they will find NFL to be much more. Mind you they’re 3 different games. There’s no ball in hand running game as good as State of Origin in the world.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground or The “G” played Australian Rules Football with Cricket. I the NFL before of December in Melbourne because Melbourne have Boxing Day test. I think week in November be great time because Melbourne Cup or the Cup was know in Melbourne. Melbourne cup is the oldest hose race in Australia on hold 1st Tuesday in November every year also public holiday in Metropolitan of Melbourne. Then Thursday is ladies day the last day is Saturday is family day. NFL should on Saturday about 7pm in that’s Friday mid afternoon
If your going to do a game at Melbourne, why not AAMI Park which is already rectangular, or Marvel Stadium which can convert to a rectangle.
Because the Victorian Government would be funding the game and they only care about scoring political points.
No that grounds tiny mcg is just better
They need to increase the capacity of AAMI Park so it can host major rectangular sporting events. 60,000 with a club mode for 30,000 would be perfect for the city. Unfortunately it probably won't happen as the AFL will want the money to upgrade their stadiums.
I will go if the bears playing
MLB should have a game at the G
How would that work? It would be much larger then the oakland Colosseum.
@@supersasukemaniac same as how it worked at the SCG (though MCG playing surface is bigger again)
No one cares about baseball 😂😂
They choose Melbourne because Victorians turn up. Look at all the records and it’s always at the G. Put any sport there and they will come. Sydney folk don’t turn out to shit
es chew
You know nothing about atmosphere because it Will different type atmosphere just like AFL USA about AFL playing at the G. Also you put seat on the ground also in can play 30 degree day. Melbourne v and LFC draw 96,500 fans. That time of Austrian cricket at the time. Box day test is at the G
You should go out more, I've been to the MCG, and its overrated. Victorians are obsessed about it for some weird reason when Lang Park gives a better atmosphere for rectangular sports.