NFL UK Managing Director Alistair Kirkwood responds to questions sent to him by email from fans in the UK covering all areas of the NFL's International business including the 2009 NFL International Series game, plans for TV coverage in 2009 and the future of the game at grassroots level in the UK.

Before I get started answering your questions, I wanted to thank fans in the UK for their ongoing support for the NFL's efforts in this market. We were thrilled with the great reaction to the game between the Saints and Chargers at Wembley last October, and have been equally excited by the positive reaction to this year's game which features the Buccaneers and Patriots.

Obviously we enter this year with a number of challenges facing us. In addition to a financial climate that is affecting all businesses around the globe, we have television contracts up for renewal as well as a number of other challenges this year. Fans should rest assured that there is no complacency within the NFL UK office. We are working hard to guarantee that status of the sport in the UK and try to ensure that your enjoyment of the game in its live form at Wembley and on television continues to grow.

Finally, please help to continue to spread the word about the NFL. Encourage your friends and family to learn more about the game by going to www.coachstilo.com, and get them to sit down with you and watch the Super Bowl on BBC1 or Sky Sports 1. The more people who watch and enjoy the game, the brighter the future for the sport for all of us.

What are the long term plans for the international series after the three-year commitment ends in 2010?
Thanks,
Charlie Horrell
Walsall

Charlie, we don't yet have an answer for you on this. I think the NFL is going to be looking closely at the enthusiasm and appetite of fans for future games. The financial climate throws up questions for all organisations including the NFL, and means that an event like this - which makes a loss for the NFL when you take into account bringing the teams over, housing them prior to the game and paying for the game in the USA - is obviously going to be under close scrutiny. We know that we have to deliver another great fan experience, and will be aiming to do this and increase our fanbase so that future games for the UK are secured.

Hi there Alistair,
I understand that Wembley has been the location for the international series matches but can you see a game possibly been played in Scotland at Murrayfield rather than Wembley for a change.

Regards
Umair Din, Glasgow

Umair, there are no immediate plans to play NFL games at any stadium apart from Wembley, but we do continue to have good relations with Murrayfield and are aware that there is a desire among fans in Scotland and the North of England to have games closer to home than Wembley. The biggest challenge in the current climate is that when you go to as smaller stadium it will ultimately mean that the game become more expensive.

It was said Sky had a four-year deal to show the NFL, it has since become knowledge that there was some sort of opt out after two years. Sky have yet to announce whether they will be showing the NFL next season and with NASN becoming ESPN America who already have NFL rights within the states there is some concern amongst fans here in the UK about if and who will be showing the NFL next season and beyond and just quite how much we'll have to pay to watch it. Can you offer any assurances that the NFL will be on our screens next season and in what capacity?
Ben Tithecott, Charger fan, Exeter

Thanks for your email Ben; I know that this is a concern that appeared in a lot of emails I received in this batch of questions. Unfortunately, since we are currently in the middle of confidential negotiations with a number of broadcasters that began a couple of months ago there is nothing concrete that I can tell you.

However, I can assure you that we are working hard to find a solution and guarantee NFL football on television in the UK for the next few years. In the current financial climate this is a harder task than it was when we went to market two years ago, but we hope to have a contract signed soon, and we will communicate this to you as soon as we can.

Last year I understand you were close to launching NFL Network on Sky. I'm hoping this is still very much in your plans, but has Ofcom's interference with Total Access on Sky hurt the chances of NFL Network over here? 
Thanks again,
Andrew from Harrogate

The biggest hurdle to launching NFL Network here last year was a platform ruling against having material featured on the channel also available for free on the NFL.com website. No other channel that exists on the Sky platform has content available elsewhere. Since we don't think it is a good idea to block NFL.com in the UK, we had to pull our plan to launch the NFL Network.

As you will have read in the previous question, since we are in negotiations currently regarding all of our television contracts I cannot really say any more, but I think the launch of NFL Network in the UK is probably going to be on ice for some time while we focus on getting the right television options for the growth of the sport in the UK.

Sky's coverage of the NFL is unrivalled in my opinion and doesn't need much touching up. If there was one thing to improve upon, it would be the draft coverage. I realise it is hard to justify showing hours and hours of draft coverage when the majority of people in the UK don't even watch it. Then again, they can't really watch it in the first place if it isn't shown. The first round was shown last year, but then the coverage ended unfortunately. My question is this: do Sky Sports plan on retaining the draft for 2009 or selling the rights to another party?

Thanks,

David Larkin

Dublin, Ireland

David, again I cannot really give you any detailed information on coverage of the draft due to the current status of our contracts. However, I would advise that, no matter what happens on TV, NFL Network's coverage of the entire draft is streamed live on NFL.com.

Hi Alistair,

I'd like to know the future for terrestrial TV coverage of NFL games.

I think Channel 5 does a great job and would like to think that this will continue.

I appreciate it all up to contract negotiations but as I don't have or particularly want Sky I'd like to still be able to get my fix terrestrially.

Yours,

Mike Jeatt

Eastleigh

Mike - I'm afraid it's the same answer for you. We are aware of the great coverage that five provide for fans and the popularity of Nat Coombs and Mike Carlson.

These are difficult times for broadcasters as they try to push all of their resources into primetime programming to protect rating and advertising revenue. This means that programming outside of primetime becomes discretionary and at risk. Couple this with the fact that everybody becomes a lot more conservative and risk-averse in making decisions and it becomes clear that we have our work cut out to protect what we have enjoyed or become even bigger.

That being said, we know how important it is to have the NFL on free-to-air channels to help grow and strengthen our fanbase in this country, and it is a key priority for us to maintain this terrestrial coverage.

How realistic is the prospect of an NFL team (whether by relocation or new franchise) being based in London?
If we are to see a London team what are you doing with regards to preparing the ground for it to be a success? Are you for instance in talks with the Olympic Stadium with a view to it being a state of the art stadium available for a London team?
Many thanks for the great job you are doing in promoting the NFL in the UK as a fan of the sport since it first aired on Channel 4 I feel like we've never had it so good and hope things will continue to improve.
Best regards
Willy Trencher
Much Hadham, Herts

Thanks for your email, Willy. Commissioner Roger Goodell has made mention several times in the past few months of his desire to see a franchise in London in the future, and his message to the NFL UK office after the 2008 NFL International Series game was positive about the future. However, we have not yet entered into any discussions on a potential ground for a UK franchise, and I suspect that these conversations are still some way off.

My focus in the next few months is around this year's game and our broadcasting challenges. Although we should be looking at the medium to long-term, now is the time for us to safeguard our short-term interests.

With the great work you do in promoting the game is there plans afoot to increase the merchandise available over here? As a Packers fan and a lover of defense getting either a Kampman or Woodson jersey is near on impossible as I want to buy from a recognised NFL dealer, and those in the UK stock QB or RB jerseys only and with the current weakness of the pound in comparison to the dollar I can not afford to purchase one from America.

Cheers, Matty Whale

Matty, it's very kind of you to talk about the great work that we do in the UK, but I am under no illusions that one area that we have to improve on is the availability of merchandise. There is not currently the range of kit available to buy to satisfy either hardcore fans or newcomers to the sport, and it is something that we must focus on improving soon. To be honest, I'm a little embarrassed with our lack of progress on this matter.

A concern that I have was highlighted by Neil Reynolds the other week and concerns the Wembley pitch. The stadium, like it or not, is primarily used for football (soccer) and thus the grass is cut short, which is not suitable for football of the American variety. In the Barbarians vs Australia rugby test match, an Australian prop forward snapped an Achilles tendon, which was blamed on the short grass at Wembley. It is not unreasonable, therefore, to fear than a similar fate may await an offensive or defensive lineman, whose push off after the snap is most probably similar to that of a prop forward. Surely, therefore, it would be better to either ask the Wembley groundstaff to grow the grass a little longer or to play the game at a stadium that is suited to rugby, which in London, would be Twickenham, which has a comparable capacity to Wembley, especially when ‘Club Wembley' is taken into account.

I would like to take the time to thank you for organising the International Series games and I hope that I will one day see the Pittsburgh Steelers live in the UK...

Gareth Langley, Southampton

The Wembley playing field hasn't quite lived up to expectations for our two games, but its improvement for this year's game between the Buccaneers and Patriots is a priority both for Wembley Stadium and for the NFL. I think it is probably fair to say that conditions for the first year's game were an anomaly, based on the enormous amount of rain we got in the days leading up to it, and the turf was saturated by the time the game kicked off. Last year's game showed that the field was improved but it still isn't quite right for contact sports as opposed to soccer. In 2009, just as the past two years, groundsmen from the NFL's Special Events team will be consulting with Wembley's ground staff to ensure that the field will be in even better shape.

How about ramping up the "home field feel" at Wembley this year by positioning drummers and crowd rousers all around the stadium?  It would be great to hear the crowd roaring on the defence a bit.

All the best,

David Minch

Byfield

David this is certainly a suggestion that I will put to the Special Events team when we meet in the next month to discuss the upcoming game. However, given that there are rules about ‘noise-making' devices at all NFL games I can't guarantee that we will be able to make progress on this.

Do you foresee the NFL financially aiding the BAFL to establish a grassroots level of the game over here? Or perhaps within schools, with the aims of establishing an academy and a long term goal of our own franchise?
What will the NFL be doing to publicise the game over here, to encourage the growth of the sport, and to dispel the idea that "it's just rugby for wimps", which seems to be the common thought on our xenophobic islands!

Scott Anthony Martin,
Leeds, England.

The NFL already provides support to BAFL, in a number of ways, much of it unpublicised, and this is something that we will continue to do. However, we believe that the fastest way to combat the contention that the NFL is ‘rugby for wimps' is not necessarily in actually asking people to pull on some pads and a helmet and get them playing.

A better approach to educating a mass audience about the sport has been attempted with the www.coachstilo.com website, which we launched to help educate the younger age bracket of potential fans last year. We have been delighted with the results so far for the site which has seen people staying for 21 minutes on average and 60% of all users returning to continue their online experience. If you haven't yet given it a go, or want your friends and family to learn more about the NFL you should point them in the direction of www.coachstilo.com.

In 2009 we will follow up with an educational website for more general sports fans, and one of the tasks of this site will be to tackle this widely held assumption.

What do you think the best way forward for football is in this country? To fund the BAFL and make a serious attempt to push it forwards to try and compete with the NFL and more American Football competition throughout the globe or to focus purely on promotion of the NFL in the UK by having a franchise?
Kind Regards,
Matt Clifford from St Albans

Matt, part of your question is answered above, but I think it is important to note the distinction between our job here, which is to promote the NFL, its teams and coverage of the game - whether it be on television or at live games in this market - and the promotion of American football as a sport, which forms a part of our role. It's in our interests that BAFL and the amateur game flourishes, and we will continue to do whatever we can to assist in that. However, while not everyone wants to play American football, we want to try to get as many people to support and follow the NFL, whether this be on TV, or at live games in the UK.

My question is, if the NFL is ever going to allow non American players a gateway into the league.  When NFL Europa was taken away many UK based players ended up going back to playing professional rugby.   The international development scheme was the only thing the youth player had to aim for to keep their dream alive.  We now learn that scheme has been scrapped and the advice to non American players wanting to play is now ... move to the USA and enrol in the NCAA. 

What would you suggest we tell the youth team players who had dreamed of being that first Brit player to make the starting line up as a QB / RB / Receiver?   Sorry kids you can't because the pathway into the league no longer exists unless you can convince your parents to move to America.

Martin Wilmott

Colchester

To fill others in on Martin's question, I am first going to have to give a brief explanation. At the very start of this year the NFL in New York announced that, due to the current financial climate and a need to make some significant budget cuts across the board, they were scrapping the current International Player Development scheme, which in part supplied the International players that were on 16 teams' practice squads this year as well as developing much younger players with a view to unearthing international stars who would play in the NFL.

This decision came extremely quickly and does remove the pathway that had been there to develop young players for the NFL. As of right now - 10 days after we were informed of this move - I can't tell you what will replace this. However, we still feel that the development of young players from this country and elsewhere is important to help build a fanbase and promote the NFL in the UK and we will be working to find a way to ensure that young players who want to play American football can still keep the goal of playing in the NFL as a real ambition.

My own personal view is that our programs going forward are likely to be focused on working with younger age groups, identifying talent earlier than we have done in the past and then working with them and trying to ease their pathways into the NCAA.

It may take a few months before decisions are made as to what the pathway actually would be given that both the decision this month and the future solution is global in nature and goes way beyond these shores.

I was wondering whether the NFL's plan to relinquish a pre-season game and play a full round abroad in four different cities would become a reality.

Jack McGill, Walsall

Jack, we are wondering this too! Right now no decision has been made on this front, and we in the UK office are being Belichickian and taking it ‘one game at a time'. The better we execute the games we have and the bigger the UK's appetite for live NFL games grows, the more likely it will be that we can expect two, four or even eight live games in this market.

I am a big fan of the NFL and try to watch it as much as possible but some games start so late. If the NFL is trying to promote their game globally then why do they play games which means it does not start in the UK until about 1am.

I have just noticed that one of the Championship games next weekend will be played really late so that the UK audience will find it very hard to stay up and watch it. I know the UK is only one place but if the International Series is being played here then surely the UK is one of the main places which they want to focus on?

Thanks

Jamie McBride (London)

Timings of NFL games are fixed in America, where a game at 1am in the UK is during primetime on television there. While this is a source of frustration for fans in this country - especially at this time of the season - you have to remember that if the NFL doesn't stay in primetime and keep in the public eye in the USA, there's no chance it can get the kind of TV contracts that earn the money to play games in the UK and other initiatives. Also, what may be good as a timeslot for the UK may be a poor one for China or Japan, so there's not clear way of having an optimal solution.

I'd like to know why the roof isn't shut at Wembley for the International Series games. (I've been to both and the forecast for the Giants & Dolphins was rain from days before yet it was allowed to rain on a pitch not designed for the intense wear from American Football. This year again it was forecast for rain early in the day and to dry later so I was again surprised that the roof was open) What's the logic/reasoning behind that?

Alan Millar

Alan, one of the biggest fallacies about the new Wembley Stadium is that the roof closes. Although it does move to cover or uncover the seats at either end, it does not shut completely and cannot cover the field any more than it did at either of the two NFL games played at Wembley over the past two years.

Alistair, we've had now 2 NFL International Series games in the UK, both of which I attended both the game and the Tailgate party. What is the plans for this seasons tailgate party and how will it differ from the Chargers @ Saints tailgate?

From

Scott Miller,

Glasgow

Scott, we haven't yet got into that level of detail with the Buccaneers, since their season only recently came to an end. However, we have meetings with representatives from both teams scheduled for the coming weeks after Super Bowl, and at that time we will go into depth on what they would like to see from the game, both in the week leading up to it and on gameday.

I think that we have put on good events at the past two tailgate parties, but we definitely want to up our game and create an even better party this year. The event in 2008 was well received by fans and certainly proved to be popular, but while we could pat ourselves on the back for that, I think we definitely realise that one area of improvement that is a priority is the queuing that stemmed from the number of people who attended.

Naturally we will be promoting the event on nfluk.com, so you will find out what we have planned soon.

Thanks for all your questions. I hope you enjoy the remainder of the postseason and especially Super Bowl XLIII. Remember to watch the game on BBC1 or Sky Sports 1, and help spread the word by bringing a friend along to enjoy the action with you.