The discussion surrounding the NFLs television ratings dip this season has spawned all kinds of theories. Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys Cheap . Among them: Has the league reached a plateau among its traditional fan base? After decades of growth, are there simply no more fans left to be captured?Those questions have put the NFLs international expansion into new light. As the league announces its schedule for next seasons London games, its goal is clear and public: Cultivate an international fan base that matches its stateside numbers.Speaking by phone this week, NFL executive vice president for international Mark Waller laid out the framework of a strategic plan that has become a mantra within the league. He hopes to develop a following that makes the NFL at least a top-five sport in five different regions or countries: The United Kingdom, Canada, China, Mexico and Germany.If you can do that, he said, and you measure the number of fans in those countries and add them up, that would give you a fan base that I would argue is the same as what we have in the United States.At the moment, according to Waller, the NFL counts between 180-200 million stateside fans. He estimates the league is about halfway there internationally, bringing its rough worldwide estimate of fans between 270 million and 300 million. Based on those numbers, the NFL is pursuing an audience of some 360-400 million people worldwide -- a big number until you remember that 7.4 billion humans inhabit the planet.New revenue is the obvious endgame, either as a net gain or simply to address a stagnant stateside market. At the moment, though, Wallers efforts are directed at building the structure and base for eventual monetization.To me, its always been a very much fan-driven set of goals, he said. If you build the fan base, everything else will flow out of that.The 2017 season will mark a new step in the International Series with four games in London, up from three in each of the past three years. This seasons games drew 242,373 fans -- including an NFL-record in London of 84,488 for a Week 8 game at Wembley Stadium -- but the league made its most notable progress in the local broadcast market.The BBC airs two NFL-related programs during the season, one on Tuesday nights and one on Saturdays. The latter, according to Waller, has brought the youngest demographic of any show on the network and the second-most ethnically diverse.The data there is good, he said. All the indicators that we have suggests that weve got good growth there and good momentum. Were finding that its real and domestic. Its not U.S. fans going over there for games and its not ex-patriots who are attending. Its very much a true U.K. audience.The NFL is now halfway toward a full regular-season home schedule in London, and there has been discussion about whether a franchise or a virtual franchise is the most likely consummation of its work there. Waller said a franchise is the ideal goal for maximizing interest -- The best expression of fandom is when you have your own team to root for, he said -- but its not clear if NFL owners prefer that direction. A virtual franchise would bring eight regular-season games to London, but spread out among multiple existing stateside franchises.As he works to prepare the market for a theoretical relocation, Waller compares the situation in London to the NFLs two-decade absence from Los Angeles.For 20 years, people talked about there not being an NFL team there, and there was always this speculation as to whether we would be there or not, he said. Ultimately, it happened when two or three owners decided it was time to make it happen.For now, the NFL will focus its efforts on staging recurring games in the five countries we noted earlier. The Week 11 game in Mexico City, a Monday night event between the Oakland Raiders and Houston Texans played in front of 76,473 fans, was incredibly positive, Waller said. He would like to see a return to Canada; the last game there was in Toronto in 2013. Germany is home to arguably the highest level of domestic leagues outside of the Canadian Football League.The NFL, meanwhile, has pushed back its timetable for staging a game in China because of travel and other logistical reasons. But Waller still thinks it can one day place a one-off game there to boost local interest.One of the things we need to show is that we can become a sustainable part of the sporting calendar in these countries, he said. There was always a sense that we would come into a market, play a preseason game -- a friendly, so to speak -- and then come back a few years later. When you take real regular season games there, you show that you can be part of the sport calendar.There was a time when that type of growth was considered a bonus for the NFL and its revenues. Does this years ratings discussion add a level of urgency to the dynamic? Is international development now a matter of league sustenance? Given weve seen this season, its fair to at least start asking those questions. Detroit Lions Jerseys Cheap . The Celtics closed out their first preseason under Stevens on Wednesday night with a 101-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, who rested a lot of their lineup including former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Jacksonville Jaguars Jerseys Cheap . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. http://www.nflfansedge.com/ .C. -- Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Bobcats got off to a fast start, and the Sacramento Kings were never quite able to catch up. Kimi Raikkonen has called on Formula One to review the way rules are enforced during races after his battle with Max Verstappen in Hungary.Raikkonen turned in an impressive drive in Hungary, fighting back from 14th to the top six. However, he spent much of his final stint cooped up behind Verstappen, who sternly defended on a number of occasions, including one incident at Turn 2 which saw Raikkonen lose a front wing endplate when he touched the Red Bull.Though frustrated that Verstappen was not penalised for what he perceived to be weaving, Raikkonen thinks the incident highlights inconsistency from the stewards room.Explaining the incident which led to contact, he said: For me, he moved once to the right, I decided to go left and the other car moved left. Once I decided to go and he decided to move back, I did everything I could to avoid contact...Once you decide to go one way you cannot move back. It was good to somehow half miss him. I lost a bit of the front wing, but there are rules but this weekend, and Im not just talking about what happened between me and Max, in many ways why do we have rules if stewards can decide its OK here and not OK here?If the rules dont apply all the time and to all the people, then we shouldnt have them.The pair nearly collided a second time later in the race, only for Raikkonen to lock up and bail out, narrowly missing Verstapppen as he moved across to defend. Washington Redskins Jerseys Cheap. The Finn was less than impressed with the teenagers driving on either occasion.?There are so many different rules these days that if you are in front, according to some rules you can move but when the guy behind makes a move, commits to something and the other guy decides to move, its difficult to avoid hitting him. In that second case I just managed to miss him but it was two times, in my feeling, he wasnt correct.To further emphasise his frustration about rule enforcement, Raikkonen pointed to the confusion which followed qualifying around 11 drivers not setting times within the 107% limit during Q1.The stewards or the people that decide how things go here, its a joke with the rules. Yesterdays qualifying was a good example with the 107% rule, but they applied it to the guys who didnt go through from Q1 but they didnt for the rest.How can you suddenly have the same rule and apply it in different ways during the same session? Can someone explain me how that works? But this is Formula One these days and something has to change, because this looks bad to people outside, to you guys and I think its not fair. Theres a rule and it should apply exactly the same way, every time, to everybody. Cheap MLB Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping cheap nfl jerseys Cheap Jerseys USA China Jerseys Cheap NFL Authentic Jerseys Cheap Jerseys For Sale Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Cheap NBA Jerseys ' ' '