Losses Force NFL Europe Closure

NFL Europe, the American football franchise’s European developmental league, has
been shut down after 15 years due to crippling financial losses.

The league, which began in 1991 under the moniker World League, is believed
to be losing close to £30m a year – a scenario which has led to the NFL pulling
the plug.

The NFL had been known to be considering the future of NFL Europe for some
time but the decision comes as a blow to the franchise’s desire to expand
globally.

The move comes only four months before the NFL is due to stage its first
regular season game in Europe with the New York Giants and the Miami Dolphins
set to meet at Wembley Stadium in London on 28th October.

NFL Europe never managed to expand in the way that its US operators envisaged
and at the end of the 2007 season, the league only comprised of six sides, five
of which were based in Germany.

The league had been without a British team since 2004 when the Scottish
Claymores pulled out some six years after the London Monarchs called it a day in
1998.

Despite this, NFL Europe set new attendance records in 2007 with an average
of more than 20,000 fans per game but it was deemed not enough to save its
future.

The closure of NFL Europe comes with immediate effect with a statement from
the league stating that it had decided to concentrate its ‘strategies and
resources on regular season games outside the United States in an effort to
reach as many people as possible.’