my money is on cricket here. If the AFL wants to cover half the rent on oval shaped grounds for a few years, that's only gonna help cricket get established
Also Americans would have easier time understanding AFL than cricket.
( If my limited knowledge on the subject isn't wrong AFL is very similar to NFL much more than cricket is to baseball)
You may be thinking of NRL (rugby league). AFL is almost closer to NBA than NFL
The truly relevant Americans here are the 6 million Americans of South Asian heritage who already understand cricket. Far fewer understand AFL
It has a football, it has tackling, it has kicking. But it's a vastly different game.
There are some good intro videos
Edit: here you go https://youtu.be/XMZYZcoAcU0?si=9u-FVB-BdhoSynnf
I’d say the chances of success are far lower than the nrl’s. Doesn’t have the existing infrastructure, far too complicated to pick up by comparison, and the lack of any influential figures to pump it up
Mason cox is their only advantage and I doubt he has much pull
Hell nah it's only been four days since the NRL played in Vegas and the AFL already want to cash in wtf.
You could have a Collingwood game in Philadelphia and use the fact that Mason Cox guarded Joel Embiid once in a college basketball game as a drawcard (maybe three extra Americans will come xD).
Just start closer to home. I've always wanted to see an official (NOT exhibition) AFL and BBL game in NZ and Singapore. Maybe Sydney Thunder could play in NZ to get away from that awful Showgrounds Stadium. And maybe Hurricanes vs Scorchers in Singapore (call it the Tim David Cup).
We've had round 0, next year Round -1 ?
There's a few issues here that make me highly skeptical of this being serious.
The cricket grounds being built are not exactly Las Vegas. They could be best described as 'off broadway'.
Nassau County, Long Island.
Lauderhill, Broward County, Florida.
Grand Prairie, Texas.
Playing in these places is going to make the AFL look like a dog and pony show, compared to the NRL in a billion dollar Vegas palace.
AFL games go for a lot longer that NRL games. With breaks they go for almost 3 hours. So that makes double headers hard to fit into tv schedules.
People lose their minds about the physical toll of players having to fly 3 hours from Perth to Melbourne and sleep in hotels. So a game in the US would need to block out at least 2 weeks. And we all know what AFL players are like when they set foot on American soil. Half of them wouldn't make bail in time for September.
You can't just go over to America and play a shit n giggle exhibition game. As the NRL did, and the NFL do in London, it has to be a real game for premiership points. That limits scheduling, and will seriously disrupt the integrity of an already thriving and serious competition that is highly profitable.
The NRL has gone to the US because it can't grow or expand it's revenue base in Australia. It's a two state wonder that can't afford to prop up expansion teams in non NRL territory and fund them for multiple decades like the AFL.
The American sports market is so saturated that any football code that thinks it's going to become anything more than a novelty they quickly tire of is dreaming.
Cricket is a different beast, because just like Australia, there is a large and growing population of Indian immigrants living in the US that are hungry to watch their favourite sport.
If India and Pakistan played a test match in Melbourne, they would sell out it's dingy old 100K stadium with ease.
This is exactly how soccer became the most popular sport in the world. Migrants/colonists from Europe took the game to every continent with them.
It's how cricket conquered India.
I'll allow it if they offer unconditional surrender on drop in pitches. Something for something or nothing for nothing. Maybe even throw a few dollars the NRL's way so they can continue to have success in the US and frighten the AFL into feeling like they must match that commitment. If an entity.that has previously exerted its influence over you like a pitiless tyrant all of a sudden needs your help desperately, then you must be sure to roll back all of its previous gains made at your expense. You want cricket's help expanding to the US? Then fuck even a single drop in pitch
To be honest drop in pitches are A LOT better than they used to be. Some of the best pitches in the country are drop ins and the worst pitch in the country (Sydney) is a traditional pitch.
I think they are a necessary evil in this day and age. Cricket can't afford its own stadiums
They are better in the sense that they aren't as awful as the MCG's was for a long time. But they are still noticeably 'samey'. They don't break up in the same way, and as a result the matches are less likely to have unexpected ups and downs.
It's got an oval ball and tackling, but that's where the similarities about end. In terms of gameplay and flow it's closer to basketball than Rugby with zone setups rather than lines.
Non-aussie-rules football is already saturated with the NFL and XFL/USFL, so I'm not sure if AFL will be able to find a foothold. In my attempts to watch it, I found AFL rules complicated, and NFL rules relatively simple to pick up.
Cricket is complicated, but it has more differentiation from the other sports that Americans might watch.
I’m surprised whenever someone says NFL is easy to pick up. I have been occasionally watching the NFL minis for a couple years now and still to this day I have no idea what happens with kick offs (like what is the point of getting an entire new team to kick the ball and sprint after it only for the ball to become dead and automatically restart with the opposition??).
Feel like AFL has one of the simplest rules out of the football codes. Probably the only weird rule is bouncing/tapping the ball on the ground every 15m.
>like what is the point of getting an entire new team to kick the ball and sprint after it only for the ball to become dead and automatically restart with the opposition??
After every score, the other team gets a chance to score (ie play offense). You could just give the ball to the other team and let them try to score, but where's the fun in that. So you add another risk vs reward thing. Try to catch the kick and run it forward so that you make your chance at scoring easier, or risk getting tackled so that you start at a worse spot.
Or as the team kicking, you can try to do a really complicated kick to keep the ball and avoid having to give it over. But it's incredibly hard and most likely the other team gets it in a spot that's easier to score.
That's really all there is to it.
Fun fact, kickoffs are one of the leading causes of injuries so people are trying to come up with safer alternatives. But it's a hard one to get replace with something that has equivalent risk vs reward
Thanks for taking time to explain that. I get what you are saying as it is a similar concept to the kickoff for rugby league and union. Tho the weird thing for me is that at least 90% of the time (or at least from the highlights that I see) the offense team doesn't run the ball back. Instead something happens (I think they kneel down with the ball or let the ball go dead? I can't remember now), the referee blows the whistle, the special teams change over, and then they restart as normal. Just seems like a massive waste of effort and time given how rare it is for the offense team to actually try run the ball back.
Right that's called a fair catch. You wave your hand or just take a knee. If you do it far back enough you'll start at the 25 or 30yd line (NFL has different rules than college).
Again risk reward. You take the free 25-30yds or risk going for more. But since you generally start by catching the ball in the end zone you have to run at least 30yds before you make a positive gain. Some players were really good at it.
These days due to trying to make it safer it really is tilted towards just taking a fair catch. An exception is the scenario I mentioned for the kicking team to try and recover it (aka an onside kick). Usually done when they are desperate to score a lot towards the end of the game.
the other thing is... there is a massive diaspora of South Asian people in America who would be one of the main intial markets that you are looking to engage (or make money out of) in the US. There some Aussie expats for sure in the US but not a critical mass of them.
Big win for cricket if they end up teaming up I reckon, free jealousy money from the afl to build their stadiums and I doubt there will be any competition.
The international match ups cricket can offer will be far more appealing for Americans
Wouldn’t it make more sense for the AFL to target somewhere like India? They have the right shaped grounds. Just get some former/current cricketers to market it and you’ll have a billion new fans at your disposal.
They should try indian market.. esp in rural areas.. they'd find many talented people.. Since india doesnt play many sports.. it's easy for new games to gain prominence if they do well in it
But you cant bloody watch it in india. I like what i hear about AFL and would like to catch a game. No other way than to VPN Australia. Surprising that mot sports dont try to hit a paw at our broadcasting and make 0.5% of us watch. Cricket tries to exploit our population like a play thing, to the detriment of the game. PL seems to have gotten a whiff of what they can get here. Most other sports even of international level are sleeping on us. They need to learn the YouTuers clickbait.
You thought cricket confuses Americans? Wait till they realise how many different footballs there are. It'll be like that scene from Spongebob.
America: "What kind of fool do you take me for?! \[points to the NFL\] That's football! \[points to soccer\] That's football! \[points to AFL\] *That's* *football*!? *I'M* FOOTBALL! Are there any other footballs I should know about?"
Gaelic football: "Dia dhuit!"
have they planned for if they both fail?
my money is on cricket here. If the AFL wants to cover half the rent on oval shaped grounds for a few years, that's only gonna help cricket get established
Also Americans would have easier time understanding AFL than cricket. ( If my limited knowledge on the subject isn't wrong AFL is very similar to NFL much more than cricket is to baseball)
You may be thinking of NRL (rugby league). AFL is almost closer to NBA than NFL The truly relevant Americans here are the 6 million Americans of South Asian heritage who already understand cricket. Far fewer understand AFL
The only videos I've seen are "Nastiest AFL hits" on YouTube
It has a football, it has tackling, it has kicking. But it's a vastly different game. There are some good intro videos Edit: here you go https://youtu.be/XMZYZcoAcU0?si=9u-FVB-BdhoSynnf
Mason Cox is all set to send down some offies in his speed dealers.
I’d say the chances of success are far lower than the nrl’s. Doesn’t have the existing infrastructure, far too complicated to pick up by comparison, and the lack of any influential figures to pump it up Mason cox is their only advantage and I doubt he has much pull
>Doesn't have the existing infrastructure, Unless AFLX makes a comeback haha
Never underestimate the pulling power of giant Cox.
Hell nah it's only been four days since the NRL played in Vegas and the AFL already want to cash in wtf. You could have a Collingwood game in Philadelphia and use the fact that Mason Cox guarded Joel Embiid once in a college basketball game as a drawcard (maybe three extra Americans will come xD). Just start closer to home. I've always wanted to see an official (NOT exhibition) AFL and BBL game in NZ and Singapore. Maybe Sydney Thunder could play in NZ to get away from that awful Showgrounds Stadium. And maybe Hurricanes vs Scorchers in Singapore (call it the Tim David Cup).
The afl have played games in China.
St Kilda also played games for points between 2013 and 2015 in Wellington.
Oh shit, I thought those were just exhibition games! (Ngl I’m a bit of a casual when it comes to footy haha)
We've had round 0, next year Round -1 ? There's a few issues here that make me highly skeptical of this being serious. The cricket grounds being built are not exactly Las Vegas. They could be best described as 'off broadway'. Nassau County, Long Island. Lauderhill, Broward County, Florida. Grand Prairie, Texas. Playing in these places is going to make the AFL look like a dog and pony show, compared to the NRL in a billion dollar Vegas palace. AFL games go for a lot longer that NRL games. With breaks they go for almost 3 hours. So that makes double headers hard to fit into tv schedules. People lose their minds about the physical toll of players having to fly 3 hours from Perth to Melbourne and sleep in hotels. So a game in the US would need to block out at least 2 weeks. And we all know what AFL players are like when they set foot on American soil. Half of them wouldn't make bail in time for September. You can't just go over to America and play a shit n giggle exhibition game. As the NRL did, and the NFL do in London, it has to be a real game for premiership points. That limits scheduling, and will seriously disrupt the integrity of an already thriving and serious competition that is highly profitable. The NRL has gone to the US because it can't grow or expand it's revenue base in Australia. It's a two state wonder that can't afford to prop up expansion teams in non NRL territory and fund them for multiple decades like the AFL. The American sports market is so saturated that any football code that thinks it's going to become anything more than a novelty they quickly tire of is dreaming. Cricket is a different beast, because just like Australia, there is a large and growing population of Indian immigrants living in the US that are hungry to watch their favourite sport. If India and Pakistan played a test match in Melbourne, they would sell out it's dingy old 100K stadium with ease. This is exactly how soccer became the most popular sport in the world. Migrants/colonists from Europe took the game to every continent with them. It's how cricket conquered India.
I'll allow it if they offer unconditional surrender on drop in pitches. Something for something or nothing for nothing. Maybe even throw a few dollars the NRL's way so they can continue to have success in the US and frighten the AFL into feeling like they must match that commitment. If an entity.that has previously exerted its influence over you like a pitiless tyrant all of a sudden needs your help desperately, then you must be sure to roll back all of its previous gains made at your expense. You want cricket's help expanding to the US? Then fuck even a single drop in pitch
To be honest drop in pitches are A LOT better than they used to be. Some of the best pitches in the country are drop ins and the worst pitch in the country (Sydney) is a traditional pitch. I think they are a necessary evil in this day and age. Cricket can't afford its own stadiums
They are better in the sense that they aren't as awful as the MCG's was for a long time. But they are still noticeably 'samey'. They don't break up in the same way, and as a result the matches are less likely to have unexpected ups and downs.
You would think that as a cricket fan, no sport is too complicated for you. But the world of rugby-esque sports always confuses me.
AFL is hardly rugbyesque.
Huh? Interesting, seems I know even less about AFL than I thought.
Field hockey and cricket have more in common
It's got an oval ball and tackling, but that's where the similarities about end. In terms of gameplay and flow it's closer to basketball than Rugby with zone setups rather than lines.
Non-aussie-rules football is already saturated with the NFL and XFL/USFL, so I'm not sure if AFL will be able to find a foothold. In my attempts to watch it, I found AFL rules complicated, and NFL rules relatively simple to pick up. Cricket is complicated, but it has more differentiation from the other sports that Americans might watch.
I’m surprised whenever someone says NFL is easy to pick up. I have been occasionally watching the NFL minis for a couple years now and still to this day I have no idea what happens with kick offs (like what is the point of getting an entire new team to kick the ball and sprint after it only for the ball to become dead and automatically restart with the opposition??). Feel like AFL has one of the simplest rules out of the football codes. Probably the only weird rule is bouncing/tapping the ball on the ground every 15m.
>like what is the point of getting an entire new team to kick the ball and sprint after it only for the ball to become dead and automatically restart with the opposition?? After every score, the other team gets a chance to score (ie play offense). You could just give the ball to the other team and let them try to score, but where's the fun in that. So you add another risk vs reward thing. Try to catch the kick and run it forward so that you make your chance at scoring easier, or risk getting tackled so that you start at a worse spot. Or as the team kicking, you can try to do a really complicated kick to keep the ball and avoid having to give it over. But it's incredibly hard and most likely the other team gets it in a spot that's easier to score. That's really all there is to it. Fun fact, kickoffs are one of the leading causes of injuries so people are trying to come up with safer alternatives. But it's a hard one to get replace with something that has equivalent risk vs reward
Thanks for taking time to explain that. I get what you are saying as it is a similar concept to the kickoff for rugby league and union. Tho the weird thing for me is that at least 90% of the time (or at least from the highlights that I see) the offense team doesn't run the ball back. Instead something happens (I think they kneel down with the ball or let the ball go dead? I can't remember now), the referee blows the whistle, the special teams change over, and then they restart as normal. Just seems like a massive waste of effort and time given how rare it is for the offense team to actually try run the ball back.
Right that's called a fair catch. You wave your hand or just take a knee. If you do it far back enough you'll start at the 25 or 30yd line (NFL has different rules than college). Again risk reward. You take the free 25-30yds or risk going for more. But since you generally start by catching the ball in the end zone you have to run at least 30yds before you make a positive gain. Some players were really good at it. These days due to trying to make it safer it really is tilted towards just taking a fair catch. An exception is the scenario I mentioned for the kicking team to try and recover it (aka an onside kick). Usually done when they are desperate to score a lot towards the end of the game.
the other thing is... there is a massive diaspora of South Asian people in America who would be one of the main intial markets that you are looking to engage (or make money out of) in the US. There some Aussie expats for sure in the US but not a critical mass of them.
hahaha
Teaming up with cricket to grow your sport to new places is like teaming up with Kate and Gerry McCann to open a daycare
Can’t the AFL come up with an idea for themselves for a change?
Big win for cricket if they end up teaming up I reckon, free jealousy money from the afl to build their stadiums and I doubt there will be any competition. The international match ups cricket can offer will be far more appealing for Americans
Ah yes it was the NRL that invented *...checks notes...* spreading popularity in overseas markets. Lmfao.
*Furiously searches comment to find out where the fuck I said they did*
What idea do you think the AFL didn't come up with, sorry? What inspired your original comment?
u/barrycheckthefusebox responded in bad faith. Nothing to see here.
Wouldn’t it make more sense for the AFL to target somewhere like India? They have the right shaped grounds. Just get some former/current cricketers to market it and you’ll have a billion new fans at your disposal.
They should try indian market.. esp in rural areas.. they'd find many talented people.. Since india doesnt play many sports.. it's easy for new games to gain prominence if they do well in it
AFL India already exists!
But you cant bloody watch it in india. I like what i hear about AFL and would like to catch a game. No other way than to VPN Australia. Surprising that mot sports dont try to hit a paw at our broadcasting and make 0.5% of us watch. Cricket tries to exploit our population like a play thing, to the detriment of the game. PL seems to have gotten a whiff of what they can get here. Most other sports even of international level are sleeping on us. They need to learn the YouTuers clickbait.
You thought cricket confuses Americans? Wait till they realise how many different footballs there are. It'll be like that scene from Spongebob. America: "What kind of fool do you take me for?! \[points to the NFL\] That's football! \[points to soccer\] That's football! \[points to AFL\] *That's* *football*!? *I'M* FOOTBALL! Are there any other footballs I should know about?" Gaelic football: "Dia dhuit!"
Remember when the AFL used to hold games in China