NFL Franchise in London

[wildturkey]

I think the NFL is telling the broadcast crews to claim the London crowd loves it. Every time they show them on camera, they just look drunk and could care less which team does what

 

[Airraidtech]

I think the NFL is telling the broadcast crews to claim the London crowd loves it. Every time they show them on camera, they just look drunk and could care less which team does what

Well, yeah. It's teams a ocean away. For them soccer, is rooting for the team the town the parish you were born and raised in. Much more pride then we generally get for our football teams. I will say just watching a good rival soccer match on t.v from over there they have amazing crowd presence. chants and what not. I see why the nfl thinks it could work, but logistically it's a fucking nightmare.

 

[grayghost668]

it will never happen to much traveling involved not only that the guys that end up over there will have to be paid a premium besides who in their right mind would want to move there

 

[wildturkey]

Well, yeah. It's teams a ocean away. For them soccer, is rooting for the team the town the parish you were born and raised in. Much more pride then we generally get for our football teams. I will say just watching a good rival soccer match on t.v from over there they have amazing crowd presence. chants and what not. I see why the nfl thinks it could work, but logistically it's a fucking nightmare.

I worded my last post poorly. I know they might be more interested in their own team. What I left out was they don't seem to care what happens on the field or even understand it. They're just cheering anything that happens

 

[Airraidtech]

I worded my last post poorly. I know they might be more interested in their own team. What I left out was they don't seem to care what happens on the field or even understand it. They're just cheering anything that happens

oh yeah. I'm sure. For them it's soccer no doubt.

 

[Ebanizar Edmonds]

I started playing football around 6/7 years old. I think most of us remember..."ok run to Chevy and cut, I'll hit ya". I played all thru school, in the navy and in a city flag football league, grew up watching football on tv. I love football. it's a big part of my life and memories. I bet lots of you reading this are thinking....yep, me too. What do the Brits know about football? There are no memories there, it's just a novelty to them. Sure it would work for a season or two, then the novelty would wear off. There is no love for the sport there. You better love it to fork out that kind of $$$$$$$.

 

[Gatorchip]

it will never happen to much traveling involved not only that the guys that end up over there will have to be paid a premium besides who in their right mind would want to move there

London and the surrounding countryside is awesome... I've traveled more than most people and it's one of my favorite places.

 

[IPostedWhat]

It's obvious that the NFL is planning on moving the Jags to London.

They are looking for a team to join the Bills as teams to be part of the NFL outside of the USA.

 

[ForkEmBucky]

It's obvious that the NFL is planning on moving the Jags to London.

They are looking for a team to join the Bills as teams to be part of the NFL outside of the USA.

Ohhhhhhhhh Caaaaaaaanaaadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

[BritishDolfan]

I think it's an interesting idea, not sure it's workable really though.

 

[HammerDown]

 

[(Un)]

Which division is going to get stuck with this London team?

Likely the AFC East or NFC East. - if it's an expansion team

I don't want my Eagles suffering from jet-lag on two consecutive weeks (flight there, flight back) every damn season.

 

[podsox]

why is everyone so upset about this? I really don't care. we aren't the ones traveling. these guys make great money. a couple extra hrs in a plane. deal with it

 

[SonnyCID]

The London team would have 15-30 hr round trips for every single away game. It's not going to happen.

 

[WizardHawk]

I just don't see the support there in Europe. I mean I know the WLF was kind of a joke, but there wasn't that much interest.

Wouldn't the team be followed mainly by expats?

 

[Midnightangel]

Reasons why a London team will fail.

They were rolling tape this morning of Goodell and even Kraft talking about a team in London. It wont work and here are a few reasons why:

1) The people in Europe wont support a losing team. They want to win right off the bat. They don't want to hear about how you have to build a franchise and lose for a few years. The main sport over there is either soccer or invading France, but in either case it's their passion and any sport that's going to try to take root needs to be winning. Over here you can start a franchise and lose for a few years and the fans will still show up. Why? Because football is so huge here. The fans get it.

2) They expect European players. Now, how do I know this? Because I remember that being a big sticking point with NFL Europe. They actually instituted a rule that you had to have at least one international player on the field per game on at least one play. Most coaches made it the upback on a punt. The people of England are going to want to see players from England on the field and anyone they have over there playing the game just wont be good enough to make our roster.

It took almost 6 decades for baseball to be played in Japan before we started seeing Japanese baseball players that were good enough for MLB. I can't see London being any different in that regard.

On that note, baseball exists in Japan because they wanted it. MLB didn't try to push for a franchise there. The fans loved the sport and the game grew. Here we're taking the opposite approach and it's failed once already.

3) Travel time. It's not that bad if the team in London is playing teams on the east coast, but if you're having to fly to San Diego, Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland, etc - that's about a 10 hour flight. You fly 10 hours, go through your regular routine during the week, play the game, then fly another 10 hours or so home. Every week either visiting teams will do it or the team from London will do it.

I get that the NFL sees the size of London and recognizes that it's an untapped market, but I don't think it will work.

 

[cdumler7]

Actually they have flights from London to New York making it in 2 hours so I'm guessing they could have flights that are less than 5 hours by the time this would actually take hold of having a team in London. The world is getting smaller so the idea of having a team in London is not as crazy as one might think. The big thing would be the rearranging of the divisions. You are going to have an odd number of teams making on division harder than others. My guess is the AFC East would take them in because the NFC East actually has some teams further away such as Dallas.


As for the fans in Europe supporting. Have you actually ever been to a game in Europe for sports? The people are crazy about their sports even for a losing team. Some of the worst soccer teams over there still sell out every game possible. Heck I would venture to say that a European NFL Team would probably have some of the craziest fans in the NFL within 2-3 years. Throw in the NFL is already making a ton of money in Europe just on the teams they already have. So obviously the market has shown that a team stands a very good chance of being successful.

 

[WB1214]

I really just don't want a team in London, just seems weird to me, but it looks like that's where this is going. I'm more interested to see if they do expansion or move a team there

 

[gowazzu02]

Can we get a team in LA before we try for a London market grab? Ridiculous.

 

[cdumler7]

Can we get a team in LA before we try for a London market grab? Ridiculous.

LA most likely gets a team that is already in existence. My guess is the Raiders are back in LA in the next couple of years.