In a story first broke by John Consoli of theWrap, the NFL, NBC and Telemundo have made a deal to broadcast the Dolphins v the Jets on Telemundo et espaniol in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month.
Special celebrations in New York, Miami and Los Angeles will open for the celebration with the game being the big finally.
How important is this event to the NFL and to the Latin community as a whole? Well, according to John P. Lopez of Sports Illustrated, it is estimated that by next year, Spanish Americans will account for a total figure of $670 billion of gross American income, with Mexican-Americans leading the way bringing home $409 billion of that money: That was “Billion,” with a ‘B,’ not the smaller number that it sounds like with an ‘M.’
In seemingly conflicting statistics, Consoli states that Don Browne, CEO of Telemundo told theWrap that “…There is no question that Hispanics love soccer, but they also love football…” According to Lopez’ article, football is a lagger with soccer, boxing, baseball, and basketball (In that order) in front of American Football (Soccer is actually called ‘Football’ in most countries).
This is a list of current Latin NFL stars (aggregated from the NFL Official Website)
Ken Amato, LS, Tennessee
Greg Camarillo, WR, Miami
Jonathan Casillas, LB, New Orleans
Luis Castillo, DE, San Diego
Shaun Cody, T, Houston
Willie Colon, T, Pittsburgh
Brian De La Puente, G, Seattle
Jeff Garcia, QB, Philadelphia
Roberto Garza, C, Chicago
Anthony Gonzalez, WR, Indianapolis
Tony Gonzalez, TE, Atlanta
Joselio Hanson, CB, Philadelphia
Juaquin Iglesias, WR, Chicago
Glenn Martinez, WR, Houston
Knowshon Moreno, RB, Denver
Manuel Ramirez, G, Detroit
Tony Romo, QB, Dallas
Mark Sanchez, QB, New York Jets
Lou Saucedo, T, Baltimore
Daniel Sepulveda, P, Pittsburgh
Anthony Toribio, DT, Green Bay
Mario Urruita, WR, Tampa Bay
Jose Valdez, T, Atlanta
Louis Vasquez, G, San Diego
There have been Hispanic Americans–such as Anthony Munos–inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. So why, with the population numbers and the financial stakes so high, has this community been so misrepresented in the NFL? Mark Sanchez of the NY Jets will be the only Latin American playing in the game of Latin descent to celebrate a Hispanic festivity, which is bizarre in itself, because of the distinctly large Cuban American population in Miami, none are represented….
