NFL narrowing down choices for 2007 regular season

NEW YORK, Nov 29 (Reuters) -- The choice of venue for a regular-season game outside the United States in 2007 has been cut to five cities, one of which could be home to a franchise inside 10 years, the NFL Commissioner said on Wednesday.

Mexico City, Toronto, London, Frankfurt and Cologne are the candidates, with a decision expected before the Super Bowl in February, Roger Goodell told the Reuters Media Summit in New York.

He added that within a decade one of the five cities, most likely Mexico City or Toronto, could be host to an NFL franchise.

"We can envision that," Goodell said of expansion outside the U.S. "I don't know if it will become a reality but it's certainly a possibility.

"The closer to the border, probably the more likely from a geographic standpoint, but I don't think in today's world that's a hurdle to overcome."

The league has been trying for years to find a broader audience outside the U.S., with an NFL-branded league in Europe struggling to find its feet and more American football being broadcast overseas.

FOREIGN MARKETS

This season it began streaming games on Yahoo for consumers in foreign markets.

The league has played 42 pre-season games outside the U.S. since 1986. Last year a game was held in Mexico City in front of an NFL-record crowd of more than 103,000.

The overseas markets account for less than five percent of the league's $6 billion in annual revenue, officials said.

Last month the NFL approved a plan to play as many as two regular-season games per year outside the U.S. A pre-season game will also be held in Beijing next August.

The NFL's digital media will also drive league growth, said Goodell pointing to the recent decision to bring the NFL.com Web site in house from CBS SportsLine.com.

The league's cable channel, NFL Network, also offers a strong future.

The three-year-old network reaches 41 million subscribers even though it is not carried by three of the largest U.S. cable companies due to disagreements over fees.

Goodell told Reuters Television the network is targeting a subscriber total of more than 50 million next year.

"Promoting college football, promoting high school football, promoting youth football is all good for us," Goodell said of plans to air more than NFL programming.

(additional reporting by Paul Thomasch)

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