How would you make American sports more attractive to Brits?

[adexkola]

Too much equality.

Brits love their traditional blue blood teams running up the trophy counts, with the occasional upset to keep it exciting.

Remove salary caps. Limit revenue to what's considered "organic" (how many fans came along in the 70s). Eliminate the draft.

 

[Wibble]

I'm not sure you could do much to make me interested. Sports like gridiron and baseball take far too long. Others like basketball and ice hockey just don't engage me at all.

I've grown to not mind League but not Union so much. And Aussie rules leaves me cold.

Then again I love waterpolo so .....

 

[Carolina Red]

I wouldn’t. White text but also kinda not

 

[HTG]

If we’re talking basketball, then stopping this horrible, embarrassing and undignified animation during every single second without playing action might help.
Here‘s the T-Shirt cannon. There comes the hotdog cannon. Here comes a dude who juggles dogs. Here come the cheerleaders. Here come the dancers. Here come the dancers that are kind of in between dancers and cheerleaders. Here comes the hotdog cannon again. Here is a three year old girl singing the national anthem. Here is a dude trying to shoot a basket from midfield, but only gets it to the free throw line. Here is the hotdog cannon again. Now comes the kids cam. Here comes the kiss cam. Here comes the flex cam. Here comes the cheat on your spouse cam. Now the hotdog cannon again.
And during all this time, there will be a medley playing, that’s only 23 seconds long and consists of the greatest hits of Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Machine Gun Kelly, some horrible local rapper and Eddie Van Halen.
It’s how I imagine hell.
Also here is the hotdog cannon again.

 

[RedPed]

Simple, just get rid of American Football and Rounders, play more proper football and get rid of all the timeouts in Basketball and add more variation to the play to make it more appealing to watch.

Get rid of any sport that just features set plays and timeouts and we're talking business. But yeah, US sports for the most part pretty much suck big time.

 

[RedPed]

Why do you need to? Nearly all of the worlds most popular sports originated in the UK.

Also, I’d say sports like American football are more popular in the UK than any other country outside North America.

The likes of basketball, baseball have a foothold in certain countries but I wouldn’t think there’s a way of getting it to be big in the UK, they just don’t lend themselves to worldwide popularity.

Basketball for example I think is a great game but the constant ebb and flow is always going to lack the tension and release some people desire from a sports game, but if you try change that then it just isn’t the same game.

No chance! Where do you get that data from? I doubt your average Brit could name 5 NFL players. I doubt they could even name 10 NFL teams. They may go to Spurs to watch a game but I'm guessing that is more of a social event rather than being vested in the sporting event.

 

[Offside]

No chance! Where do you get that data from? I doubt your average Brit could name 5 NFL players. I doubt they could even name 10 NFL teams. They may go to Spurs to watch a game but I'm guessing that is more of a social event rather than being vested in the sporting event.

That’s almost part of the point I’m making. It’s almost irrelevant outside the United States.

 

[Vidyoyo]

American sports need to create something meaningless like a Top 4 to guarantee entry into a separate competition that you don't stand a chance of winning anyway.

Fans will also need to continue not to question how futile this is.

 

[Salt Bailly]

If we’re talking basketball, then stopping this horrible, embarrassing and undignified animation during every single second without playing action might help.
Here‘s the T-Shirt cannon. There comes the hotdog cannon. Here comes a dude who juggles dogs. Here come the cheerleaders. Here come the dancers. Here come the dancers that are kind of in between dancers and cheerleaders. Here comes the hotdog cannon again. Here is a three year old girl singing the national anthem. Here is a dude trying to shoot a basket from midfield, but only gets it to the free throw line. Here is the hotdog cannon again. Now comes the kids cam. Here comes the kiss cam. Here comes the flex cam. Here comes the cheat on your spouse cam. Now the hotdog cannon again.
And during all this time, there will be a medley playing, that’s only 23 seconds long and consists of the greatest hits of Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Machine Gun Kelly, some horrible local rapper and Eddie Van Halen.
It’s how I imagine hell.
Also here is the hotdog cannon again.

Dogjuggling is a worthy vocation.

 

[Scarlett Dracarys]

Hopefully they're all on an island safely locked up from the rest of society

We're not classing WWE as a sport now are we?

How about NFL and MLB? Lots of non-American folks watch that I believe.

 

[calodo2003]

Who cares / is worried about what Brits think?

 

[RedPed]

That’s almost part of the point I’m making. It’s almost irrelevant outside the United States.

Ah, I see where you're going with that now.

And can someone explain to me, why they have to sing that fecking national anthem before EVERY game? It's just bizarre.

 

[SuperiorXI]

Who cares / is worried about what Brits think?

You wouldn't be talking this smack if it was 1775

 

[londonredmaniac]

Who cares / is worried about what Brits think?

Well, quite.

The folks who do watch it from this side of the pond and who are interested in going to any UK NFL/MLB games like the sport for what it is.

If it's a purely hypothetical question it's an interesting one, what changes would engage more with a British audience? As there are obvious differences between our most popular pastimes and that of US/Canada.

Not so much whether anyone would entertain them or want to implement them. I wouldn't suppose most Americans/Canadians are overly arsed what anyone else thinks.

The fact is, basketball and Ice Hockey have their place in a British sport as it is, so they're popular enough to some degree.

 

[Member 125398]

I used to enjoy the NHL games on megadrive so thought I'd give watching hockey a go. It's obviously insanely difficult to play but all you see as a spectator is a bunch of blokes whizzing about and bumping into each other.

 

[rimaldo]

No chance! Where do you get that data from? I doubt your average Brit could name 5 NFL players. I doubt they could even name 10 NFL teams. They may go to Spurs to watch a game but I'm guessing that is more of a social event rather than being vested in the sporting event.

ridiculous take. i can do it with my eyes closed and i’m a casual nfl’er at best.

cody backwater
j’ssiah j’higher
brandon neck iii
waylon longway
just jonathan

as for the teams:

the cincinnati steamers
the washington machines
the denver
the mississippi misfits
the florida mans
the ohio crows
the texas lexus
the dakota darlings
the tampon banners
the wetbacks

 

[Carolina Red]

You wouldn't be talking this smack if it was 1775

The year we literally started the Revolutionary War?

 

[SuperiorXI]

The year we literally started the Revolutionary War?

1774 then

 

[RedPed]

ridiculous take. i can do it with my eyes closed and i’m a casual nfl’er at best.

cody backwater
j’ssiah j’higher
brandon neck iii
waylon longway
just jonathan

as for the teams:

the cincinnati steamers
the washington machines
the denver
the mississippi misfits
the florida mans
the ohio crows
the texas lexus
the dakota darlings
the tampon banners
the wetbacks

Ya got me! Let's have a go:

Players:
DaMarcus Smith III
Chuck Sambrini
Dae'Shon Williams
Devonte Rickenwood
Kyle Montarelli

Teams:
Louisiana HotSaucers
Mississippi MudPies
Texas Insruments
Carolina Reapers
Boston Stranglers
Philadelphia Cheesers
Detroit Spinners
San Antonio Banderas
Harlem Knights
Buffalo Wings

 

[calodo2003]

Well, quite.

The folks who do watch it from this side of the pond and who are interested in going to any UK NFL/MLB games like the sport for what it is.

If it's a purely hypothetical question it's an interesting one, what changes would engage more with a British audience? As there are obvious differences between our most popular pastimes and that of US/Canada.

Not so much whether anyone would entertain them or want to implement them. I wouldn't suppose most Americans/Canadians are overly arsed what anyone else thinks.

The fact is, basketball and Ice Hockey have their place in a British sport as it is, so they're popular enough to some degree.

Y’all did assemble a partially decent baseball team in the recent World Baseball Classic.

 

[horsechoker]

ridiculous take. i can do it with my eyes closed and i’m a casual nfl’er at best.

cody backwater
j’ssiah j’higher
brandon neck iii
waylon longway
just jonathan

as for the teams:

the cincinnati steamers
the washington machines
the denver
the mississippi misfits
the florida mans
the ohio crows
the texas lexus
the dakota darlings
the tampon banners
the wetbacks

Oh dear

Wetback is a derogatory term used in the United States to refer to foreign nationals residing in the U.S., most commonly Mexicans. The word mostly targets illegal immigrants in the United States.[1] Generally used as an ethnic slur,[2]

Sorry Rim, looks like you're cancelled

 

[Carolina Red]

1774 then

The year the Sons of Liberty started leading the campaign to boycott Britain and went about terrorizing British government officials?

 

[SuperiorXI]

The year the Sons of Liberty started leading the campaign to boycott Britain and went about terrorizing British government officials?

Petty rebels. No match for are mighty empire. The majority of America were shitting themselves at the might of King George III.

PS I am not into discussion = I won't respond

 

[Carolina Red]

Petty rebels. No match for are mighty empire. The majority of America were shitting themselves at the might of King George III.

PS I am not into discussion = I won't respond

 

[One Night Only]

Don't have the anthem and all the patriotic bravado before every fecking game.

Actually start games when they're supposed to start.

Don't have sports revolve around the adverts, stopping a game so some channel can show adverts? feck off.

Calm your tits with stats about every tiny thing "this is Dave's 34th game on a Tuesday while it's raining after 4pm and the air temperature is 12.4 blah blah blah" not everything needs a stat. xG in footy is a dogshit stat.

Don't stop sports every 2 mins for timeouts, or to change squads about and that.

 

[Scarlett Dracarys]

Don't have the anthem and all the patriotic bravado before every fecking game.

Actually start games when they're supposed to start.

Don't have sports revolve around the adverts, stopping a game so some channel can show adverts? feck off.

Calm your tits with stats about every tiny thing "this is Dave's 34th game on a Tuesday while it's raining after 4pm and the air temperature is 12.4 blah blah blah" not everything needs a stat. xG in footy is a dogshit stat.

Don't stop sports every 2 mins for timeouts, or to change squads about and that.

Sounds like you watch American sports quite regularly.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

the cincinnati steamers

I love your Cincinnati Steamers, rimmy.

 

[berbatrick]

The Lakers would run riot against our midfield

Wout still gets outjumped, Martinez still wins every header

 

[UnrelatedPsuedo]

Too much of the playing time in American sports is pointless.

I love Basketball. It’s so highly skilled and can be so exciting, but huge swathes of playing time is controlling the clock. It’s also way past the point that 3 point shots should be unfettered and close to the point that a huge shake up is essential. It feels like a solved game lots of the time.

How you do that I have no idea. 3 points awarded for any basket scored inside 10 (or X) seconds from an inbound pass? Limit teams to X amount of 3 point scoring attempts? 3 pointers only available in two quarters? Players that hit X number of 3’s have to be removed? Only one player can shoot 3’s? Remove them all together?

They need some really creative solutions because the sport is dying on the issue. I appreciate how technically perfect the modern 3 point shooter is. But it’s boring as Fcuk and I haven’t watched a season of NBA in years, and I loved it.

Also… to the wider point… most of the American sports are rigged and dodgy as feck. So there’s that too.

 

[Organic Potatoes]

Oh dear



Sorry Rim, looks like you're cancelled

The real problem is someone already had that copyrighted.

 

[Bondi77]

You cannot polish a turd!

 

[rimaldo]

Oh dear



Sorry Rim, looks like you're cancelled

it was a good run.

 

[One Night Only]

Sounds like you watch American sports quite regularly.

Aye, nightshifts are boring and I like gambling.

 

[Bobski]

I watch a lot of the NBA but find it equally as frustrating as enjoyable at times. The constant stoppages due to timeouts, TV timeouts, reviews, the last 2/3 mins can sometimes take up to 30-40 mins of real time to get through. Far too many games at low intensity which seem to be there just to allow the accumulation of stats and individual ego stroking, defense effectively being outlawed until the playoffs to help with those stats, everything about the regular season being targeted at the casual fan.

The biggest issue for me is that in these suposed best sports leagues in the world you will have multiple teams every year going out with the intention to lose, makes the regular season even more of a grim chore, introducing the play in has helped a little in the NBA but hard to respect leagues where teams are rewarded for losing.