Have you ever had a friend call you up with some awesome idea? It sounds like the best time ever, you really want to do it, you get all excited, and you can't wait to put the wheels in motion.
Then, you hang up the phone, think about it a little more and soon realize — much to your dismay — that you pretty much got your hopes up for nothing. Clearly, he didn't think things through, and this is something that's simply never going to happen.
Roger Goodell is that friend.
Goodell appeared on The Dan Patrick Show on Friday, and he said that he "absolutely" wants football in the Olympics. To any blue-collared, football-loving American, that's sounds like a B.A. idea. Sign me up. Let's get it started. Where's the tailgate? Come on, you can never have enough football.
But take a step back for a moment, and you'll realize, "You know what? This is never going to happen." And it probably shouldn't.
As much as adding a popular, mainstream, tolerable (sorry Olympics fans) sport to the Games would be a breath of fresh air to those whose engines don't exactly get revved by pounding pavement, splashing water or lifting heavy inanimate objects, there's really a long way to go before American football obtains enough international popularity for the Olympics to be a realistic option.
Goodell points to the growth in London as proof that the sport is gaining traction overseas. While the annual London game has drawn a good crowd, there still needs to be proof that the fanbase can sustain a heavy dose of American football, rather than the once-a-year circus that trots into town. The commissioner wouldn't rule out an NFL franchise eventually taking up residence in London, but it's still a difficult concept for many NFL fans to wrap their heads around, especially given the amount of variables involved in such a decision.
Convincing the IOC that football is Olympics-worthy is a task even greater than that. Goodell mentions that, in his estimate, 64 countries are playing American football right now, which he says is one of the requirements. That means there still needs to be substantial growth just in terms of the amount of countries playing the sport, unless we work under the assumption that every country fielding American football teams can whip together an Olympic squad.
Plus, one can only imagine the talent level of other countries' Olympic squads in comparison to the United States. That's not meant to be a knock on the other 63 or so nations who hit the gridiron, but look at what we have in the way of Olympic basketball. While this year's U.S. squad has captivated some, the lack of hoops competition leaves much to be desired — and that's in a sport with a much greater international presence. Call me crazy, but I'll take a sport like hockey, in which there isn't such a discrepancy in talent level.
According to a November 2011 report by Business Insider, the NFL is the most American of the four major professional sports. That much was probably already obvious, but it's by a monstrous margin. Despite 27 other countries being represented in the league, 96.5 percent of active players in the NFL were born in the United States as of November 2011. Obviously, the game is played in other parts of the world, but it's hard to imagine any country fielding a team that could match up with the U.S. Again, no disrespect to the other football-playing countries, but that's just the way it is.
That might sound like good news to medal-hungry Americans, but from a pure competition standpoint, it wouldn't take long for football in the Olympics to lose its luster. That letdown is right in line with your optimistic buddy, who hasn't completely ironed out the details of his elaborate plan before getting you all jacked and pumped about it.
Football in the Olympics sounds cool, but it's hard to imagine the idea ever coming to fruition. For that, you're better off hanging up on your anxious friend before he gets your hopes up.
