Well, can’t say that this was too much of a shocker, NFL Europe is no longer. I’ll pause for dramatic effect anyway…

…

I’m back, has it all sunk in yet? Good. So yea, the NFL Europe, after 16 wonderful years of ESPN2 coverage and what I can only assume were abysmal merchandise sales, the league is calling it quits.

The announcement came less than a week after the Hamburg Sea Devils beat the Frankfurt Galaxy 37-28 in the World Bowl title game in Frankfurt before a crowd of 48,125. Five of the league’s six teams are based in Germany, with the other in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

According to league sources, the league folded because the NFL wants to go in another direction to attracting foreign fans; such as regular season games. Well, I must say no matter how crappy it is for an NFL team to have to play a home - or away - game in Europe, it doesn’t take too much common sense to know that you can rile up more support for the league with the actual starters, and not the 4th stringers and guys begging to make a roster spot. To put it all in perspective, Laurence Phillips was a demi-god in NFL Europe.

Hopefully the NFL seizes another opportunity at home, and that’s to set up some kind of minor league system for the NFL. There’s so many fringe leagues - CFL, Arena, Arena II, etc - that if they could actually get these leagues to consolidate into one minor league system I think it would truly benefit the NFL. Not only would the league have an option for players who are on the fringe and need work, but it would also be beneficial to the leagues themselves. I have a feeling that more fans would watch the fringe leagues if there was a single team dedicated to their NFL organization. So for example, let’s say the Chicago Bears had an affiliate and sent Rex Grossman down for some extra work. My guess is that a lot of Bears fans - many, many more than would watch normally - might check in to see how the ol’ Sex Cannon is doing.

I don’t know, it’s just a thought; another thought is that Europe already has “football”, their own football - not to mention rugby football-, and if we aren’t even smart enough to learn from their failing attempts to popularize soccer in the US, why do we actually think we can popularize gridiron in Europe? It’s a giant waste of time if you ask me. But then again… no one is asking me.

• NFL’s European League Folds (SFGate.com)