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NFL looking at 2007 preseason game in China
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - With the Summer Olympics headed to China, why not the NFL, too?
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Wednesday the league is considering playing a preseason game in Beijing next summer, one year before the Olympics are staged there.
The NFL has played exhibition games outside the United States regularly since 1986, although there won't be any this summer. Last Oct. 2, Arizona beat San Francisco in the first regular-season game played abroad, in Mexico. The Cardinals gave up a home game in Tempe, Ariz., to play in Mexico City, where they drew 103,467 to Azteca Stadium.
``I think the chances are increasing,'' said Tagliabue, who was in China last May and met with Beijing officials and Chinese Olympic executives. ``We've had many discussions on that and our international people have been to China.''
Several NFL owners have cited China as a new frontier the NFL needs to penetrate in a global marketing approach. The NBA already has succeeded in that area, in great part thanks to the popularity of Rockets All-Star Yao Ming.
While Tagliabue called the Mexico City game ``a resounding success,'' no regular-season games will be played abroad this season. He did emphasize the need to ``institutionalize'' having such games, or the Pro Bowl, played outside the United States in the future.
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PAYTON'S ADDITIONAL CHALLENGE: A first-time head coaching job in the NFL is tough enough without having dozens of outside issues to deal with.
Sean Payton doesn't have the luxury of moving smoothly into his position as coach of the New Orleans Saints. Football is not the only priority for his team.
``We're interested in any way we can help the transition to the area of the families and the players,'' said Payton, who was the Cowboys' passing game coordinator last season. ``At our first team meeting we talked about managing it. What went on last year was unprecedented. Trying to focus on your job with the distractions that were happening to your family is difficult.
``The more we can transition players and coaches back into the routine quicker, then we'll get back into that day-to-day schedule. That first step begins with the first team meeting back in the area ``
Payton has been living at an airport hotel. He's toured the region enough to see some of the worst damage from Hurricane Katrina and some of the neighborhoods that have resumed something close to normality.
While driving from New Orleans to Mobile for the Senior Bowl in late January, Payton saw ``the area or two that were hit the hardest. And there also are the areas where the hotels and restaurants are open and people are coming.''
``I'm very optimistic. We plan to be successful in New Orleans,'' he said.
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GOING TO THE RACES: NFL director of officiating Mike Pereira is heading to the races.
Pereira will attend next week's NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway to examine Fox TV's coverage, specifically its high-definition cameras. Pereira is looking into the feasibility of using HDTV replays in NFL games.
He noted that Fox uses a bank of large screens in its onsite broadcast center that shows each camera shot during a race.
``Replay is here to stay in sports,'' he said. ``I want to stay on the cutting edge and make sure we're getting the best possible system.''
Pereira said he'd never been to a NASCAR race until three years ago and now he is a ``racing junkie.''
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LOS ANGELES COMMITTEE: The NFL isn't any closer to fulfilling its desire to get a franchise back in Los Angeles, but Tagliabue did add five owners to the group looking into stadium proposals from Anaheim and from the current LA Coliseum. In the next few weeks, that 11-member group will meet with representatives from both sites, with the hope of making a presentation at the spring meetings in Denver on May 22-24.
Added to the committee were Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Seahawks owner Paul Allen, Pat Bowlen of the Broncos, Jeffrey Lurie of the Eagles, and Steve Tisch of the Giants.
``We'll be looking at all kinds of alternatives,'' said Tagliabue, who has made getting a franchise back in Los Angeles a priority since the Raiders and Rams both left after the 1994 season.
Anaheim officials reportedly are willing to sell land to the NFL for about 50 percent of its value.
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NO DEFENSIVE COMMUNICATIONS: Allowing one player on defense to wear a headset the way a quarterback does was defeated in voting by the owners Wednesday. Titans coach Jeff Fisher and Falcons general manager Rich McKay, chairmen of the competition committee, expect it to be brought up again.
``I'm not going to say the offensive coaches voted it down,'' McKay said with a smile, ``but it did not pass.''
Colts coach Tony Dungy, whose background is in defense, blamed logistical problems.
``They felt they can only give you one helmet, because unlike offense with the quarterback, it's difficult to monitor which helmets are in the game (defensively),'' Dungy said. ``Or if the guy gets hurt, a team would be without it and at a disadvantage.''
Fisher, also a former defensive coordinator, agreed, citing a ``production crunch'' allowing only time to get one helmet produced per team with a headset in it.
``A lot more work needs to be done,'' he said.
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NEW CUTDOWN NUMBERS: The first cutdown in training camp this summer will be to 75 players rather than 65. In the past, teams were allowed to keep 65 plus anyone who played in NFL Europe for the cut after the third preseason game. Now, there are more options for coaches.
``You get to choose who you keep instead of having to keep 10 NFL Europe players,'' McKay said.
AP NEWS
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Originally Posted by Illusion
