There might be a lot of American ex-pats that attend those games. The community of wealthy ex-pats continues to grow around the world.

Personally I've always thought American Football would be the world's sport if it weren't so expensive to play. More than soccer (which although I love it..is totally gay with its ridiculous fouls and grown men acting as though they've been castrated)....American football is simulated warfare. There are even guys with head sets in the booth, calling plays by "air" or "land" in addition to all the generals and colonels who are working this chess-like game which ends up on the field being brute sheer force of a velocity not found in Aussie Rules or soccer.

Back to soccer being gay thing....can anyone imagine Bonds, or Canseco, or Payton Manning whining and crying on the ground after an injury the way ALL soccer players do after every other play. It's just the lamest thing. In American sports men don't want to be drama queens.

I remember watching a little bit of the last world cup. I was watching a match in which the Italians were playing when one of their players threw himself on the ground in agony and was subsequently cartered off on a stretcher. Not five minutes later he was on the sidelines, stretching, preparing to come back in (I thought that was illegal?)! Anyway, I was sort of disgusted and thought to myself, "this is why soccer will never make it in the USA." For better or worse, we admire those who play through pain and injury.

It's probably worth noting that the people saying American sports don't travel well beyond our borders are usually Europeans (or wish they were). And so even though baseball is very popular in Latin America, the Caribean, Japan, South Korea, and some other Asian countries, Europeans don't see baseball as a global sport. For much the same reason, few outside the Commonwealth really think of cricket as a global sport.

I second Dave in his sentiments about Europeans' views of baseball. I guess if you watch MLB, you think of it as global (or at the very least, regional.) Dunno.

I also second the questions about US ex-pats snapping up the tickets. I predict a 50/50 mix of ex-pats to everyone else.

Those of us who love rugby can't understand American Football: a bunch of guys over-protected by helmets, "armours", etc., who have to stop every 30 seconds to take a break, and who change the entire team every time they have to defend-attack.
I have trouble even considering that as a sport.

Baseball is popular in some Latin-American countries (Cuba, Dominican Republic..) but certainly not all or even the majority of them. Those countries, the US, Japan and South Korea do not a global sport make. I think basketball is the big exception to the rule here.
Oh, and for the record, most soccer fans hate diving too. It's not representative of the sport, any more than steroids is for baseball...

Those of us who love rugby can't understand American Football: a bunch of guys over-protected by helmets, "armours", etc., who have to stop every 30 seconds to take a break, and who change the entire team every time they have to defend-attack.
I have trouble even considering that as a sport.

Soccer is a global sport, if you don't count North America; nothing else comes close to qualifying by the standards prevailing in this discussion. American football is a version of rugby, which in its various forms is a worldwide middle-class sport like golf: Rugby/American-Canadian-Australian Rules football are dominant in the historically wealthy former British colonies, and rugby has been preferred to soccer by elites in the UK, France, and even Argentina.

Oh, by the way -- of the leading "American" sports, ice hockey and lacrosse are Canadian, basketball was invented by a Canadian (and volleyball developed under his direction) and rugby/football was introduced to the US from Canada.

Only a Canadian would think that ice hockey and lacrosse are "leading" sports in "America". ;)

can anyone imagine Bonds, or Canseco, or Payton Manning whining and crying on the ground after an injury the way ALL soccer players do after every other play

No more so than I could imagine a whale like David Wells putting in 10 minutes let alone 90 on a football pitch. By the way, not ALL soccer players do that. Bonds and Canseco wouldn't last either as they would probably tear muscles weakened from steroid use.

As for Peyton Manning, strip him of all pads except shin guards, have someone mow him down cleats up from behind on his ankle and you can bet, he'll rolling around in pain. yes there is embellishment, but there is punishment for some of the embellishment

Baseball is popular in Caribbean Latin America. I can remember playing softball while I lived in Germany and watching an apartment building full of Germans watching us for about fifteen minutes. Later I asked one of them why they stopped watching. They said there was too much time spent waiting for something to happen.

Baseball will be like cricket is in the former British colonies.

Not five minutes later he was on the sidelines, stretching, preparing to come back in (I thought that was illegal?)!

No, it's not. You must leave the field if any treatment is given on the field, but with the referee's permission can return. As for playing through pain, what makes you think he wqsn't feeling pain? he returned to the game, didn't he? Plenty of times I've seen a baseball, gridiron football and basketball game stopped while someone has gotten medical treatment.

They said there was too much time spent waiting for something to happen.

Ironically that's the same complaint many Americans have about soccer.

As for the big question ... who cares? We don't like soccer, the rest of the world doesn't like football--I can live with that. Why do we all have to like the same sport? And any implications that country X's affection/dislike for sport Y says something substantive about that country is just silly.

I'd bet at least 80% of those tickets were bought by Brits, there has always been a contingent of British fans for US Football, certainly you could find 40,000 hardcore fans without too much difficulty. I also know a few British expats who have become rabid American football fans after living in the States. US football will probaby always be a fringe sport in the UK, but the fans it does have are very dedicated ones.

After living in Europe I've realized that soccer gets kind of a bad rap in the US partly we because we are exposed to inferior product. Champions League, or even UEFA Cup games, tend to be much more entertaining and better played than World Cup games, which is probably what the typical American thinks of when h/she thinks of international soccer.

We don't like soccer

Speak for yourself.

What Vanya said.

In Latin America, soccer is so popular that no one cares about others kinds of sports. Basketball, tennis, etc. are all sidelined. I´m a brazilian and I don´t get to know the RULES of american football and baseball. ;)

And in Europe, biking is more popular than basketball.

By the way, Nascar is also ignored outside the United States...

In American football, you have 250lbs muscular guys who have the speed of Olympic Sprinters running at each other full force. There's nothing like the velocity of American Football. They say "one hit in American football, and your body will never be the same." So why all the pads, Mr. Rugby? It is because of the size and speed of the sport. Nothing compares.

I could have played Rugby at college. I could never have played American football in college and lived to tell about it.

As for Wells, Manning, and Canseco....fact it, Americans don't like sports where men rolling around on the ground every few seconds in total agony is sport. I live in a soccer-mad country. I watch a lot of it and even try to get my American friends to give soccer a chance. But American's are never going to endear themselves to a talented, but perpetually crying athlete like Christano Ronaldo.

And yes...the crying about fouls IS constant in soccer. Unfortunately that's all I have to watch here.

Look soccer is a tough sport (so is figure skating). Soccer requires maximum physical fitness, and it's highly competitive. It's also completely full of drama queens who are about as inspiring to the average American male as Brian Boitano and Scotty Hamilton locked in embrace doing a double-sukahara twist.

Well, I'm sure you know the old sayings about opinions.

American football has globalized slowly, I think, because it's hard to get started in a new place. It takes alot of decent players and coaches and fans to get started, rally. Maybe worst is that it's a completely different game than any other kind of major sport I can think of. You can't get the idea of how football works by watching any other sport.

Patricks's right - it's more like set piece warfare than sport. It's got formations, drills, supporting blockers, etc.. It's got all the bloodsport factor of rugby, and the same-shaped ball, but it's vastly different. In football, the entire team is acting in support of what it's doing at any given moment. The QB takes a big choreography to connect, and even the running game involves plenty of blockers and choreographed routes.

Notice that the European Football League prospers most where US troops are or have been stationed in quantity.

Patrick, It's not speed and size, it's about consistent head on confrontation, in that regard yes American Football ( which is a descendant of Rugby ) is absolutely more confrontational & consistently injury inducing, but its not quite that simple either. American Football is designed to be very short burst high intensity, an American Football player could not run effectively for the distances required in Rugby Union, let alone impact at the end with anything like the force of an Rugby Union(League) Player.
In short American Football is explosive & very short distance, where impact is consistent brutal & frontal contact. Rugby Union(League) covers vastly more distance, with far less frontal contact, but nonetheless I defy the author to suggest that an American Football player would have fared any better than Willie Mason after David Kidwell's tackle ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytokG3Dc81E ), which was legal, let alone been able run the distances either player ran in that game.
If you classify Basketball as an American Sport, then yes it's global, but the international contact is minimal & low standard ( below NBA I would suggest ), heck New Zealand has done well at International Basketball & here it's a minor sport & we have 3 million people.
The key reasons American sport will remain American and minor compared with Football, is that American's don't care about international level team sports, in itself fatal enough, combine that with historical sporting preferences ( on both sides ).
Personally I wish American's would embrace at International level the globally competitive team sports of Football and Rugby Union. Then make Basketball a serious competitor, have a World Cup bigger than Rugby Unions, with regular International contact. Maybe Baseball could grow over time as well ( it's good to watch ).
The key is regular, competitive International level contact ( where International level is the highest level unlike Basketball ).
Wishful thinking really, many are trying, the head of Saatchi International is on the board of USA Rugby for instance, but it's a long tough road.

The reason most Europeans don't like baseball is because they throw like girls.

Commentor above said "discounting North America..." OK, and thus about 35% of the populace and productivity of the globe. Go ahead, discount them, they don't care about your "international" sports anyway.

Globally, cricket is the second most popular game in the world. This is skewed a bit by South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and even Afghanistan).

It's also relatively cheap to play informally.

Nigel -

I saw that hit. What a joke. The runner was standing upright and mason just hip checked him. You try that crap in the NFL and mason would've been trucked. It's a game that forces people to stay low and use their pads as weapons. Rugby players are soft. They hit soft, they run soft, they play soft. We have the pads because without them we'd be dead on the field we hit so hard.

How can that Dan guy say rugby players are soft? Even if football is a tougher sport, it doesn't take much intelligence to realise that rugby players are pretty tough. If they're soft then what the hell are tennis players and golfers?

SOCCER IS THE BEST
baseball is useless and the players arent even in condition

SOCCER IS THE BEST
baseball is useless and the players arent even in condition