China Ready For Some Football
The NFL announced over the weekend that the 2007 season will kick off in Beijing with the first ever NFL game in China.  The August 8 preseason game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks will be played at Beijing Worker's Stadium and will begin the one year countdown to the 2008 Olympic games.  Leading up to the game, CCTV, the state television network, has agreed to air this season's ESPN Sunday Night Football in order to draw some attention to America's most popular sport.  This Patriots/Seahawks opener will be the 42nd NFL game played on foreign soil.  While this event is yet another attempt by the NFL to globalize, it remains to be seen whether the NFL has an actual interest in appealing to the world's most populous country or is just using the allure of China to market a preseason game.  China is as oblivious to the NFL as Americans are to, say, Aussie Rules football.  While Americans have probably heard of it, they could not explain it to their girlfriend.  Similarly, while the Chinese know the NFL exists, the rules and the look of the game are completely foreign.  The NFL is never on T.V. (I don't believe the whole Sunday Night Football thing) and the only football video games here are the other kind of football.  How would they know what it is?  The other obstacle is the language barrier.  NFL football is a game of complex rules that would need to be explained very carefully to a Chinese fan base.  Philadelphia Eagles tight end Chad Lewis, who is fluent in Mandarin, came to China in 2002 to help endorse the game.  The NFL is also sponsoring flag football leagues in Chinese high schools to hopefully create the foundation of a football culture in China.  While I applaud the NFL for making an effort to spread its product to a very welcoming country, I fear that the turnout for China Bowl will be a lot like the April Rolling Stones concert in Shanghai-- a lot of white people.

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