International Football League on Horizon : NFL: Tagliabue says there could be franchises outside the United States by the end of the decade.

By CHRIS DUFRESNE

Aug. 10, 1990 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

WEST BERLIN — Having already conquered America, the National Football League has taken aim at Europe, where it treads delicately on soccer’s sacred ground.

In 1986, the league exported the first American Bowl to London, staging an exhibition game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Chicago Bears. The English asked for Dallas, or so the story goes, because the television show, “Dallas,” was the top-rated program in the country at the time.

Much has changed since.

Saturday night, the Rams and the Kansas City Chiefs will conclude an American Bowl summer sweep of exhibition games in four cities--Tokyo, London, Montreal and West Berlin.

Is it greed or goodwill that moves the league overseas? Manifest Destiny?

In an interview with reporters Thursday, Commissioner Paul Tagliabue discussed the state of NFL expansion as it relates to soccer, gambling, logistics and television.

Tagliabue said it is conceivable that the NFL could have franchises outside of the United States by the end of the decade.

“If you include Canada, obviously, I think it’s realistic,” Tagliabue said. “If you include London, I think it’s clearly realistic. Once you go beyond that, I think you get into speculation.”

Of all the American Bowl venues explored thus far, Tagliabue believes England is the most promising for these reasons:

--Before it arrived, the NFL saturated the country with television replays of NFL games. Thus, the English have a better understanding of the game.

--Logistically, London is a more feasible site than other cities.

--Soccer fans were disappointed by lackluster performances in the recent World Cup, making them ripe for a new sport.

“It’s already clear that in Britain, they’re going to be open to American football,” Tagliabue said. “They had such a bad experience, for one thing, with the hooliganism, and that has turned a lot of people off. Secondly, there’s a lot of dissatisfaction with soccer and the way it’s being played.”

Soccer, Tagliabue admitted, is still the largest obstacle facing the NFL in Europe. Reaction to this week’s game in West Berlin has been lukewarm at best.

“I think that’s probably going to be the key issue,” he said. “Will people regard their own sport as such a key part of their culture that they resist other sports? I think that’s going to vary from country to country.”

West Germany, by all accounts, isn’t ready for American football.

“In Germany, I think you find a much stronger hold,” Tagliabue said. “There’s a much stronger bond with soccer. Soccer is the next thing to heaven. With (Franz) Beckenbauer being, number one, the coach, and having been previously the No. 1 player, and their team being the world champions, that’s going to be a tough thing to crack. It’s like selling someone other than the 49ers in San Francisco.”

Despite the obvious financial opportunities in Europe, Tagliabue claimed that the NFL isn’t expanding for monetary reasons. He said England and Japan both approached the league first about holding games in their countries.

“It wasn’t the other way around,” Tagliabue said. “ . . . I think we’re trying to be responsive where there’s interest. We’re not going to make any money out of these games this year. We went in with the assumptions that our real objective was to make sure we didn’t end up spending a lot of money in promotion and (to) break even.”

Admittedly, one problem with expanding to Europe is the continent’s less restrictive laws about sports gambling. While the NFL has waged war against legalized wagering in the United States, the practice is commonplace elsewhere.

“It’s a way of life in Western Europe,” Tagliabue admitted. “In Italy, they have 39 sports that are officially sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee, and they’re all supported by the lottery. So, I think we have to accept it as a fact of the culture in these foreign countries and live with it. I don’t think we have to in the United States.”