Is it a Newcastle United Premier League game if it is played in America? | OneFootball

The talk of Premier League games coming to the US is heating up and as an American Newcastle United fan I am inherently interested in the conversation, but at the end of every pitch for the bringing games stateside, I find myself asking “Is it a Newcastle United game if it’s played in America?”

On one hand, the simple answer is yes.

If Newcastle United is playing, it’s a Newcastle game.

However, on the other hand, I’m frankly not convinced.

Will the fans be singing Newcastle songs as they approach the stadium?

Will they be jeering at the opposing side?

Will there be any drama outside of what happens on the pitch? Maybe some, but I suspect it will feel more like posturing, than like the full-bellied reactions found at Premier League games in England.

I’m also not that convinced the comparison with the the NFL playing in London makes any sense. Playing in London enables most English fans to get to the game after a short to long train ride. You don’t have that in America. No matter where the game will be, a good percentage of the Newcastle fans will be in another city. Those cities are often far from each other.

If the EPL wants to grow the sport to have more American fans, figure out how to make it easier for us to come to you.

A game in America requires us to travel anyway, I for one, would much rather travel to Newcastle where I can participate in bellowing Blaydon Races, than I would going to New Jersey to watch what I can see just fine on TV.

So, what would make it easier for us to come to you?

Have a way to buy tickets further out, how can I plan a trip to Newcastle when tickets go on sale three weeks before the game? I suspect this will help local fans too but you’d have to stop letting the TV channels change the game times so close to matches.

Figure out how to have memberships that work for the remote fan, in terms of letting me earn a way to get a ticket every few years.

And, this one is just totally selfish, get direct flights from Boston to Newcastle.

So, anyway, I’d love it if going to a Newcastle United game was a lot easier BUT it has to be a Newcastle United game and that just isn’t what a game in America would mean to me.