Mike Florio: Football should be included in the Olympics

rondembo · Mar 15, 2010

I think this would be a great inclusion to the Olympics, if curling and bobsled can be Olympic sports so can the most respected sport in the nation. I think the ratings for football would go through the roof, look how Olympic hockey got great ratings even though hockey is as low scoring as soccer. For those saying that other countries don't play football, well other countries didn't play basketball a few decades ago. I'm sure that for foreigners the brute strenght and awesome destructing power of our athletes in the NFL is intimidating, but given enough time I'm sure some of the countries that produce good hockey players could produce good football players.

Every four years, Americans become enthralled with sports we routinely ignore during the two-week respite from reality known as the Olympics. But as the Winter and Summer Games continuously expand to include niche sports with cult followings at best, the ongoing omission of the greatest sport on the planet becomes more glaring.

Football. American football. The real football.

The Olympics won't be complete until the roster of events includes football. More importantly, football won't be able to completely saturate the world's consciousness until the Olympics embrace it.

As crazy as it sounds (my editor used that same phrase when green-lighting this column), football isn't as far away from becoming an Olympic sport as the casual observer might think. Reached for comment regarding the league's position on the matter, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello shared with me the comments of Tommy Wiking, president of the International Federation of American Football.

"One of the key objectives of IFAF is to achieve International Olympic Committee recognition and we plan to make a formal application to the IOC in 2011," Wiking said recently at Le Deux Magots in Paris.

"IOC recognition would be the first step towards proposing American football as an Olympic participation sport, but more immediately would benefit the more than 50 countries that are members of IFAF. Such recognition would open doors to funding, provide a route into many school curriculums and would further raise the profile of our sport internationally, which in turn would lead to growth."

The kicker? (Pun intended, weak as it may be.) Sports that want to be added to the Olympic program must propose both male and female participation. (This does not apply to established Olympic sports like boxing.) For American football to gain IOC recognition, it has to demonstrate that it's heading in the right direction regarding female participation. "IFAF has already increased the female presence within the game by mandating that women become more involved at board and committee level and by initiating the IFAF Women's World Championship that will be played in Sweden this summer," Wiking said.

There's another hurdle. To gain recognition, the sport must be played on every continent. Currently, American football has not yet infiltrated Africa. But efforts are being made to address that issue and all other potential obstacles, with the long-term goal being acceptance of American football as an Olympic sport.

The expanded presence of the NFL in other countries can only help the efforts to push American football to a level that makes it an attractive option for the Summer Games. Actual inclusion of football in the Olympics could be the tipping point toward widespread acceptance of football on a global basis.

To help guard against the inevitable, as the Nard Dog would put it, "Cornell-Hofstra slaughter" of every team that faces the USA, NFL players shouldn't be loaned to the Olympic effort — at least not until other countries could stay within 100 points of the best American football players in the world. At some point, however, introduction of a football "Dream Team" could provide the same catalyst for international growth of the sport as the original "Dream Team" did for basketball in 1992.

Other practical challenges remain. Currently, football players play one game per week; how could a full tournament be squeezed into only 14 days? But much of the action would likely be deferred to qualification rounds, with perhaps only the final eight teams heading to the Olympics, for a maximum output of three games in two weeks.

These and other issues could be resolved if/when American football makes it into the Olympics, where it belongs.

If the NFL is serious about making American football a truly global phenomenon, the 100-year plan surely includes the Olympics. And if the Olympics hope to continue to be regarded as a complete athletic competition, its 100-year plan surely includes American football, too.
Click to expand...

http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/article/2010-02-24/inclusion-olympics-could-be-key-international-growth-nfl

I think this would be a great inclusion to the Olympics, if curling and bobsled can be Olympic sports so can the most respected sport in the nation. I think the ratings for football would go through the roof, look how Olympic hockey got great ratings even though hockey is as low scoring as soccer. For those saying that other countries don't play football, well other countries didn't play basketball a few decades ago. I'm sure that for foreigners the brute strenght and awesome destructing power of our athletes in the NFL is intimidating, but given enough time I'm sure some of the countries that produce good hockey players could produce good football players.

Smallpotatoes · Mar 15, 2010

How can you make a game that's played once a week work within a two-week Olympics?

spnited · Mar 15, 2010

More stupidity.

93Devil · Mar 15, 2010

Flag football, maybe.

Why did I even type that?

No.

End of thread.

Armchair_QB · Mar 15, 2010

You couldn't. Teams would have to play multiple games with only 3 or 4 days off between each one.

Even if football reached IOC minimum participant requirements for Olympic consideration it will never be included in the Summer Olympics for the simple reason that the IOC already thinks there are too many athletes at the Summer Games.

An eight-team football tournament would add 360 athletes plus 100-150 staff people. And that's just for a men's tournament. Double that number for a women's competition - which the IOC pretty much requires from new sports.

And don't bring up the Winter Olympics, that's a non-starter.

The Big Ragu · Mar 15, 2010

The Olympic Charter defines winter sports as "sports which are practised on snow or ice." That rules out the Winter Olympics, and football doesn't work well for fans of the sport during the summer. But even so, 1) not a gamed typically played by men and women, which is something they look for, and 2) Olympic sports have to be played all over the world and American football isn't. Also, football is a physical game that doesn't lend itself to several games a week in a short tournament. And lastly, with pros allowed to participate in the Olympics, inclusion of football would be a disaster. If we send American pros, they would physically injure teams from elsewhere, and the games would be ridiculous blowouts. If we decide not to send our best players because of that, the competition would suffer in interest because it would be less than the world's best playing. It's an idea that has no legs. But good try tweaking people.

93Devil · Mar 15, 2010

You have a better chance getting rugby in the Olympics.

Armchair_QB · Mar 15, 2010

I bet rugby is an Olympic sport by 2016...

rondembo · Mar 15, 2010

Smallpotatoes said:

How can you make a game that's played once a week work within a two-week Olympics?
Click to expand...

Same way boxing does, despite boxers fighting once every few months, also same way rugby will do at the next olympics and soccer has been doing. You start the qualifications before the tournament then only play 8 top teams.

spnited · Mar 15, 2010

Name 8 countries where American football is played, Dumbo.

rondembo · Mar 15, 2010

Rugby is coming back in the Olympics in 2016. Guess what, America has the msot gold medals. If we can send our worst atheltes who play rugby and still win, imagine what would happen if we send our best athletes to play football? There would be no doubt whatsoever which country is the toughest, most physically strongest and alpha male. Just because we would dominate and embarass the duminitative foreigners doesn't mean that an exciting sport should not be in the Olympics. I bet the ratings would be through the roof.

rondembo · Mar 15, 2010

spnited said:

Name 8 countries where American football is played, Dumbo.
Click to expand...

There are over 54.

To name just 8: Canada, USA, Germany, Brazil, Russia, England, Poland, Mexico.

http://www.ifaf.info/countries/index

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