zzlies had owner Robert Pera in the stands for only the second home game th | Forum

The discussion surrounding the NFLs television ratings dip this season has spawned all kinds of theories. Superstar Australia From China . 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. Clearance Adidas Superstar Australia . The native of Mont-Tremblant, Que., captured a World Cup downhill event Saturday, his second this year and fifth career victory on the circuit. Superstar Australia Sale . Kiriasis and brakeman Franziska Fritz finished two runs in one minute 55.41 seconds -- a mere 0.01 seconds ahead of Meyers and Lolo Jones, who likely bolstered her Olympic hopes by helping give USA-1 a huge push in the second heat. http://www.superstardiscountaustralia.com/ . -- Quarterback Will Finch threw for 252 yards and three touchdowns, and Yannick Harou rushed in two scores as the No.MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Go ahead and count out the San Antonio Spurs as simply too old to win another title with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and coach Gregg Popovich. Theyre back anyway with the chance theyve wanted so very much the past six years. Parker scored 37 points in his best game this post-season, and the San Antonio Spurs finished off a sweep Monday night of the Memphis Grizzlies with a 93-86 win on Monday night for their fifth Western Conference title. "Its a great feeling," Parker said as he sat with the Western Conference trophy perched in front of him. "Since last year, I promised to him (Duncan) that we will go back, go back to the Finals and get an opportunity to win the whole thing and Im trying to do my best, try to be aggressive every night. I think everybody on the team, we really want to do it for him. We win the West and now its one more step. This is the hardest one." The Spurs now wait for either Miami or Indiana having swept two of their three opponents already this post-season, this the first sweep in a conference final since the Nets did it to Detroit in 2003. They also have won six straight in these playoffs, handing two straight losses to a team that had been undefeated on their own court in their best post-season in franchise history. Memphis finished off its best season ever swept by the very same franchise that needed four games to knock them out of their first playoff appearance back in 2004. "We will be back," Grizzlies guard Mike Conley said. Parker had his best game this post-season as he hit 15 of 21 and all six at the free throw line earning the Spurs and Duncan plenty of rest before Game 1 of the Finals on June 6. "Hes been amazing," Duncan said of Parker. "Every year he gets better and better and better. Hes been carrying us. You can see tonight he carried us the entire game." Duncan hugged Ginobili before heading off the court, celebrating the chance at a title that slipped away a year ago when the Spurs blew a 2-0 lead to Oklahoma City losing four straight. The 37-year-old Duncan finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Kawhi Leonard added 11. "We want to get back there," Duncan said of making the finals. "Weve had some really close years where we fell right on the verge of getting back. It feels like forever since weve been there." Popovich said the fact they are back in the finals after a six-year drought is something hell think about once he hits the bed, though he already felt pretty good. "You dont expect that to happen maybe this late in the game with the same group," Popovich said. "Its tough to do, to maintain something that long. But it just shows the character of those three guys and their ability to play with whoever else is brought in around them. They deserve a lot of credit for that." Memphis coach Lionel Hollins had talked about how his Grizzlies needed to dig deep for something they didnt know they had to take the first step back into this series. But they couldnt outshoot the Spurs and got beaten once again at their own inside game. "We just never could gain control of the paint," Hollins said. "They controlled the paint." That the Spurs did as they shot 51.3 per cent (39 of 76) from the floor and outscored Memphis 52-32 in the paint, even though the Grizzlies had a 41-34 edge on the boards. Memphis led only briefly and the last at 6-4 as the Spurs took control early. Memphis stayed close only by getting to the free throw line, making more shots there (17 of 24) than San Antonio took (12 of 13). The Grizzlies also got a career-high 22 points from reserve Quincy Pondextter, 18 of those in the second half. Adidas Superstar Australia. Pondexter was the only player from Memphis to shoot over .500. Zach Randolph finished with 13, continuing his struggles at the line where he was 5 of 8, and Marc Gasol had 14. "We learned that winning isnt easy and winning championships is one of the hardest things you can possibly do," Pondexter said. "I think our guys really dug deep to get as far as we did, and San Antonios a tremendous team. Were going to take a couple pages out of their book." Duncan had taken care of the Grizzlies scoring the big points in overtime in each of the last two games. Parker took over this time as he hit 14 of his first 18 shots, and he hit the biggest shot with 9:15 left when he knocked down his lone 3-pointer over the outstretched arms of both Tony Allen and Randolph after Memphis gotten within 76-73 with fans sensing the most life out of the Grizzlies all night long. Parker and Duncan took turns making buckets before Parker got hit in the eye by Gasols outstretched hand after missing a shot. When Parker returned with 4:43 left, Gasol went over to him and Parker told him he was fine. Parker then hit a jumper with 4:13 remaining for an 89-81 lead. "He was outstanding the whole series, and he controlled the series with his penetration," Hollins said of Parker. "He made shots, made plays. One game he has 18 assists, today he has 37 points. He was huge. But their team played well. Youve got to give them credit." The Grizzlies made one last run and got within three one last time when Gasol scored on a runner in the lane with 48.7 seconds left at 89-86. But Parker hit four free throws in the final 29.7 seconds to seal the victory for San Antonio and its first Western Conference title since the Spurs last NBA title in 2007. The Spurs made it impossible for Memphis to get off to a quick start as they had more points in the paint (16) than the Grizzlies scored in the first quarter as San Antonio went up 24-14 shooting 52.4 per cent (11 of 21). The Spurs cooled off a bit in the second quarter, missing six of seven shots in a stretch. Memphis got into the bonus early, and the Grizzlies used the free throw line to keep San Antonio from doubling up its lead by hitting 8 of 10 at the line. Even Randolph, who has struggled mightily at the line in this series, breathed a sigh of a relief when his first attempt went down, and he knocked down two straight. The Grizzlies also got a couple 3s from Bayless, the second after Memphis got its best break of the first half when officials called a 5-second call on the Spurs inbounding the ball. Danny Green missed his would-be buzzer beater, leaving the Spurs up just 44-38. Gasols frustration spilled over in the third quarter as he headed to the bench for a timeout when he smacked the press table with both hands. He also went to his knees when officials blew their whistles after he rebounded a miss. But Pondexter, who missed 23 games to a sprained left knee suffered Dec. 29 against Denver, kept the Grizzlies close almost singlehandedly as he scored 12 points in the third. "Were going to be better because we played against, to me, one of the greatest teams theres been in the past 15 years," Gasol said. Notes: Parkers previous best this post-season came in Game 3 when he had 32 points against Golden State in the semifinals. ... Teams are now 108-0 when leading a series 3-0. ... The Spurs now are 11-1 in closeout games since their last title in 2007. .. The Grizzlies had owner Robert Pera in the stands for only the second home game this season. ... The Spurs missed their first eight 3-pointers before Green finally hit in the third quarter. ' ' '