You’re listening to Statistically Speaking. A podcast from the Samford University Center for Sports Analytics in Birmingham, Alabama. I’m Zachary Taunton and each week we are going to dive into a topic related to the sports marketing or sports analytics industry. So, here is this week’s episode... --- Zachary Taunton (ZT): We are here today with Commissioner Friedman of the IFL, that is the Israeli Football League. Commissioner Friedman, what is the IFL and how did you get involved with it? Commissioner Betzalel Friedman (BF): The Israel Football League, or more correctly the Robert Kraft Family Israel Football League, is the top American Football League in Israel and it is the closest we have to professional football in Israel. It’s a totally amateur league. I actually got involved with the league nine years ago. I played for a year for the Judean Rebels, after which they asked me to coach and run the team, so I did that for 3 years. Then they asked me to run the league. So, I am now in my fifth year as commissioner. ZT: So, what would you say the current attitude towards the IFL is in Israel, and football in general? BF: Football is a growing sport globally there now over 80 countries in the world that play American football, 33 of which are in Europe. Israel and most sports play on the European circuit and football is no different. Football is growing every year we are the fifth-largest team sport in the country. Soccer and basketball which are way ahead as in most places in the world and then we have a handball and volleyball which we hope to overtake sometime within the next 5 to 10 years. ZT: Fantastic, so you mentioned that it is the Kraft League. How did you get connected with the Kraft family? BF: So, we had a player who was working as a concierge at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem and Mr. Robert Kraft walks in the door. He goes over to Mr. Kraft and says, “Mr. Kraft did you know we have football in Israel?” “No I did not, tell me more.” So, bottom line is, Mr. Kraft and his wife decided to get involved and actually the story is that Myra Kraft, of blessed memory, she told her husband, “Maybe if you support football in Israel your football here in America will start doing well.” This is the 90s and the Patriots weren’t doing much in the 90s. That was in ‘99 when Mr. Kraft started supporting the Kraft Family Israel Football League and the Patriots have been doing okay since then. ZT: Yeah, for sure. How many Super Bowls later who knows? Now, what is one of the greatest challenges you’ve faced as commissioner of the IFL? BF: Well, growth is always a challenge because you have to dedicate so much of your resources, and I'm not only talking financial, time is a huge resource. You have to dedicate so much just to ongoing operations and it's hard to run ongoing operations at the same time that you're planning and executing growth strategies and then you get to those plans and you're executing those and then you're already on to the next planning stage planning for the next big project, next program, next season. I really think the juggling of the day-to-day operations together with the growth that is necessary to develop... I think that's probably the biggest challenge. ZT: Right, now before we were talking about how in the IFL you actually have women’s leagues. It’s something we really don't have here, but it's something that you are passionate about and that Myra Kraft was passionate about, so talk to us a little bit about how that got started. BF: Well, as in most things you know there are always little sisters who see their brothers doing something and they want to play too. Just to clarify we’re talking about flag football and not tackle football. Although, there was a group a few years ago that tried to get a tackle team together, they just never got enough girls. Our women have really developed and for a long time actually the Women's National Team in flag football, the Israeli National team, has been better than the Men's National Team in terms of where they stack up against the world. Now, you may say, “Okay, well there are more men's teams competing than women's teams.” But our girls have been good for a long time and and they've been growing a lot and a growing the leagues in Israel. I think football is a great sport and flag football can be great for a lot of different ages and for women as well. I'm just happy to see that succeed. Myra Kraft adopted personally the national team and she just loved them and when she passed away Mr. Kraft kept supporting them in her honor and her memory and it's really great to see them succeed. ZT: You’re here in the US making your rounds and getting the word out. How has that gone, but also what sort of attitudes do you tend to encounter towards the IFL? BF: Usually the first question is, “I didn’t know there was football in Israel?” So, a lot of it is just having to explain yes, there is football in Israel. Then a lot of it is trying to get people to get what football in Israel is; it's sports. At the very basic level everyone at least in the US, or at least most everyone, likes sports to a certain degree. Some love it, some don't have anything else in the world but sports. A lot of people recognize sports for its value and then you combine that with the value that Israel brings to the table and people like to be involved in Israel. Whether it's from a Jewish perspective, a Christian biblical perspective, the religious aspect, or just want to be a part of something new and cool and be able to say, “Hey, I was part of helping the Israel Football League get started.” ZT: I personally was shocked when I heard about the IFL, but I’ve told everyone I’ve met about it and I've got that same reaction like, “Wow that's the coolest thing I had no idea.” So, where would you like to see the IFL going in the next five years? BF: We mentioned we have handball and volleyball which are still larger than us in Israel in terms of the number of participants. In the next five years we definitely would like to overtake those. That's just who to measure up against, but as the sport grows we want to see more and more pockets around the country start playing football. We’re now in 19 different cities and towns in Israel. If in five years we can be at 30, almost doubling that number, I'd be very happy. Just to get the word out and get more and more kids playing football in Israel. ZT: That's all we have today because I know you're very busy and you've got a couple other places to run to just tonight. Thanks so much for cutting out some time for us, Commissioner Friedman. We will try to get the word out ourselves about the IFL here in Birmingham, Alabama. Thank you so much for coming in with us. BF: Thank you for having me. -- Thank you for listening to Statistically Speaking. This podcast was created and produced by Zach Taunton and Grant Gardner. To learn more about the Samford University Center for Sports Analytics, and download more episodes of the podcast, visit our webpage at samford.edu/sports-analytics and follow us on Twitter @SamfordSACenter.