NFL- new jerseys, new broadcasters: must be new season!

Whilst the UK is in thrall to the amazing extraordinary efforts of the athletes at the London2012 Paralympics (see Paralympics Ad Blog) the National Football League (NFL) quietly opened last night, with this season due to end in Super Bowl XLVII in the New Orleans Superdome on February 3rd.

It began with the news that Art Modell had passed away, a man to be remembered for more than 'The Move' at the tail end of the last century that saw Cleveland lose the Browns' franchise (only to be resurrected later) and emerge as a quasi-expansion team based out of Baltimore where a new team called the Ravens (after a fan vote) emerged blinking into the NFL in 1996.

NFL news has a good piece that explains his part in that piece of franchise history NFL.com news Art Modell dies. However he should be celebrated as a visionary for his foresight in linking television and American Football for as broadcast chairman for the NFL from 1962-1993 he managed the network televising of the sport to wide audiences for features such as 'Monday Night Football'.

All 32 teams pose in their fresh new kits

Which leads the Great British public to celebrate the showing of that very programme on free-to-air television with the news that the BBC has won the live broadcast rights to Monday Night Football NFL European TV rights.

With Channel 4 additionally weighing in with Sunday evening fixtures from the US, and Sky finally signing up to cover 60 matches from Thursday & Sundays then there is pretty much a quality NFL television media presence for the UK based fans of Grid Iron.

Some of the more garish
'interpretations' of new kit circulating on the internet

Plus there are new kits for the new season, with some commentators complaining that the Reebok brand had become tired and stale. Nike have designed the Elite 51 Uniforms New Designs of Nike Shirt, just don't be expecting the wild and often crazy replication of their College designs. The internet fakers have been prevelent in the gap between Combines & pre-season, but a full vision of the new Nike style can be seen here: Official Nike Uniforms for NFL 2012.

Finally let's look ahead to this new season with another advert, this time showing how the Nike-NFL partnership is ramping up their 'humans', and compare it to the Channel 4 'Superhumans' Paralympic commercial... (see our blog Meet the Superhumans )