2021年经济学人 衰落的足球，缩水的利益

The Americas

美洲版块

Cnandian football

加拿大足球

Shrinking balls, shrinking interest

衰落的足球，缩水的利益

Canadian football is wasting away

加拿大足球正在消亡

IN CANADA, FOOTBALL (meaning the Canadian version of the American sort) generally comes far below ice hockey in terms of the emotions it generates.

在加拿大，足球（加拿大版的美式足球）带来的观众情绪远低于冰球。

The latter occasionally sparks riots by demented young fans; the former is watched mostly by a dedicated¹ but older crowd, who huddle² in cold stadiums with Thermos³ flasks⁴.

冰球偶尔会引发疯狂年轻粉丝的骚乱，而足球经常是年龄大一些的忠实观众，抱着保温杯挤在冰冷的球场里。

But it is not for lack of effort by its promoters. In the 1990s the Canadian Football League’s (CFL) marketers tried to attract American football fans with the slogan “Our balls are bigger”.

但这并不是因为发起人缺乏努力。上世纪90年代，加拿大橄榄球联盟的营销人员试图用“我们的球更大”这样的口号来吸引美国球迷。

Last year the pandemic stopped the league entirely⁵, but this year the games restarted and they are trying again.

去年，疫情让联赛完全停摆，今年的比赛重新开始，他们正在进行又一次尝试。

October 11th, Canadian Thanksgiving, will be a big day of sport. It is a chance to boost the fanbase.

10月11号是加拿大的感恩节，也是足球界的大日子，同时也是扩大粉丝基础的好时机。

Canadian football differs from the American variant⁶ in that its teams are of 12, not 11, players and the playing field is somewhat larger (the balls were bigger once but since 2018 have been the same size).

加拿大足球与美国足球的不同之处在于，加拿大的球队有12名球员，而不是11名球员，而且比赛场地更大（之前球也更大，但自2018年以来一直保持同样的大小）。

The rules slightly differ too. The season usually starts in June, when the NFL, America’s league, is not running.

规则也略有不同，加拿大足球赛季通常在6月份开始，那时美国国家橄榄球联盟（NFL）正在休赛。

The sport has been in decline for years, particularly beyond the interior plains, its heartland.

这项运动多年来一直在衰落，尤其是其核心区域内陆平原以外的地区。

The BC Lions, a team based in Vancouver, drew an average of 18,000 fans to its games at BC Place in 2019.

总部位于温哥华的BC雄狮队2019年在卑诗体育馆的比赛平均吸引了1.8万名球迷。

Fifteen years ago they routinely had twice as many.

15年以前，他们的粉丝数量是这个数字的两倍多。

Derek Mager, a data analyst⁷ who consults for CFL teams, describes the fans as mostly hardy⁸ old timers: “They’ve been doing it for as long as they can remember and as long as their grandparents can remember.”

德里克·马格尔是一名为加拿大橄榄球联盟（CFL）提供咨询的数据分析师，他认为大多数球迷是顽强的老一辈人：“从他们记事起，从祖父母记事起，他们就一直在这么做。”

Executives such as Amar Doman, the new owner of the BC Lions, hope that they can bring in new blood.

BC雄狮队的新东家阿马尔?多曼（Amar Doman）等高管希望他们能带来新鲜血液。

In 2019, before the pandemic shut things down, the league recruited players from Europe and Mexico in the hope of bringing in an audience outside Canada.

2019年，疫情导致各项活动停办之前，该联盟从欧洲和墨西哥招募了球员，希望能吸引加拿大以外的观众。

It has also signed television broadcast deals in the United States and in Mexico to simulcast Canadian games.

它还在美国和墨西哥签署了电视转播协议，实时转播加拿大的比赛。

Earlier this year the CFL announced that it was in talks on a partnership⁹ with the XFL, an alternative American football league owned in part by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, a Hollywood star. It came to nothing.

今年早些时候，加拿大橄榄球联盟宣布正在与XFL洽谈合作事宜，XFL是一家由好莱坞明星德韦恩·“巨石”约翰逊（Dwayne“the Rock”Johnson）部分持股的另类美式足球联盟。结果一无所获。

Years ago the NFL and the CFL used to compete for talent, most notably¹⁰ in 1991 when Raghib “Rocket” Ismail, a star player for Notre Dame¹¹, an American university, passed up a spot in the NFL and took $26m to play in Toronto instead.

几年前，美国橄榄球联盟和加拿大橄榄球联盟经常争夺人才，最引人注目的是1991年，当时美国圣母大学的明星球员拉吉布·“火箭”·伊斯梅尔（Raghib“Rocket”Ismail）放弃了美国橄榄球联盟的一个席位，转而拿了2600万美元去多伦多打球。

Nowadays salaries in the NFL are over 30 times higher than further north. Canadian football has to compete not only with other sports, but also with Netflix and the like.

如今，美国国家橄榄球联盟的薪水比更靠北的地方高出30多倍。加拿大足球不仅要与其他运动竞争，还要与Netflix（美国奈飞公司）等公司竞争。

It will take more than a Hail Mary pass to turn it around.

要想扭转局面需要的不仅仅是孤注一掷（万福玛利亚传球指成功几率非常小的远距离传球，不太可能成功的无奈之举）。

1 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

2 huddle   

vi.挤作一团；蜷缩；vt.聚集；n.挤在一起的人

参考例句：

• They like living in a huddle.他们喜欢杂居在一起。
• The cold wind made the boy huddle inside his coat.寒风使这个男孩卷缩在他的外衣里。

3 thermos   

n.保湿瓶，热水瓶

参考例句：

• Can I borrow your thermos?我可以借用你的暖水瓶吗？
• It's handy to have the thermos here.暖瓶放在这儿好拿。

4 flasks   

n.瓶，长颈瓶， 烧瓶( flask的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The juggler juggled three flasks. 这个玩杂耍的人可同时抛接三个瓶子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The meat in all of the open flasks putrefied. 所有开口瓶中的肉都腐烂了。 来自辞典例句

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

7 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

8 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

9 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

10 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

11 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。