CreditAndrew Spear for The New York Times
CANTON, Ohio — Tim Walsh fancies himself as something of a football connoisseur. He regularly attends Giants home games, follows players with the eye of a scout and hopes to one day work in the sport.
So when he heard that the International Federation of American Football was holding its world championship in the city where the N.F.L. was created nearly a century ago, and not in Sweden, as originally planned, he got in his car and drove to Ohio from his home in New Jersey.