Roger Goodell Thinks Football Should Be An Olympic Sport

There are no hotter topics on the front range sports scene than the Denver Broncos and Denver’s own Olympic gold medal swimmer, 17-year-old Missy Franklin.

You can bet that any time the television is on, the Broncos and Franklin are being talked about, and rightfully so.

Now imagine if football were an olympic sport. Not that football. The one we watch every Sunday and Monday night in the fall.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wants to see his sport grow to that level internationally.

"“We’re already taking steps to gain that IOC recognition. We have, I think, 64 countries that are playing American football now, and that’s one of the requirements. That’s been growing dramatically — I think it was 40 just five years ago.Our point is just to keep growing the game. We’re having a tremendous reaction in London and the UK for the game of football, our regular season game over there is sold out again this year, we are seriously contemplating as early as 2013 playing two NFL games next season and I think we’ll do that. It’s a response to the tremendous fan reaction and the growth of the game. If we can continue to grow the game there and have the fan reaction that we have, there very well may be a franchise in London.” – Roger Goodell on the Dan Patrick Show"

That raises some interesting points such as who is the U.S. going to play against? Also, would teams (and players themselves) be willing to let their players play in games that could easily end their NFL career, and shorten their NFL lifespan?

A lot of work still needs to be put in to making this happen and a lot more people need to be convinced that this is a solid idea.

I say keep football out of the Olympics. It’s already set on one of the world’s biggest stages. Maybe the sport needs to pull the reins in more on their own ventures every once in a while.

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