NFL London franchise.

[Lilbaz]

The nfl may be planning to move a team to london in the next few years what do you guys think?

 

On yahoo most people were against it. A lot of people had concerns about the travel.

I don't agree. Soccer players have been doing this for years. We have players in europe from all over the world who regularly fly home or to other countries for international games.

Nearly every premiership team has ppre season tours of the us and asia and last year chelsea had to travel to japan for the world club cup. Next year the world cup is in brazil. The england players will spend over a month out there.

Are nfl players really not able to travel first class for 10 hours?

[SinisterDeath]

The nfl may be planning to move a team to london in the next few years what do you guys think?

 

On yahoo most people were against it. A lot of people had concerns about the travel.

I don't agree. Soccer players have been doing this for years. We have players in europe from all over the world who regularly fly home or to other countries for international games.

Nearly every premiership team has ppre season tours of the us and asia and last year chelsea had to travel to japan for the world club cup. Next year the world cup is in brazil. The england players will spend over a month out there.

Are nfl players really not able to travel first class for 10 hours?

I don't see much of an issue.

The season isn't all that long compared to a lot of other sports.

Its not like they can't have a US location to 'practice' in-season.

 

As for flight-time? Well, apparently we've been doing international games with Europe for.. nearly 10 years now?

Ironically, I'd love to see some 'more' competition in the NFL, if not more teams in the US. (A lot of states are un-represented!)

[Lilbaz]

Never got why there are so few teams in the nfl. You could increase the amount of teams by having it more of a champions league format. Could even work it so each state had at least one team.

 

Not sure if nfl would work in london. The games being played here are sold out within days but are novelty's. Whether you would attract enough fans for 8 games a season i'm not sure.

[Durinax]

My main concern is its feasibility, Football (American) would have a very hard time competing with Football (Soccer)

[Lilbaz]

Don't see why it has to compete. 

 

The reason I brought up this thread is because my soccer team (Spurs) are planning to build a new stadium and the rumours are that they will build it with NFL in mind (can be converted between the 2). This would actually compliment NFL as when Spurs play away from home, fans can go and watch an NFL game at White Hart Lane (Spurs stadium). Games would also probably be played a bit later (US tv) so you could go and watch an Arsenal game in the afternoon then get the bus up Seven Sisters Road and watch an NFL game at White Hart Lane.

 

London also is the second most visited cities by tourists (behind Bangkok) so could attract a few visitors. There are already around 2 million NFL fans in Britain let alone the rest of Europe (soccer fans regularly travel to England to watch Premiership games) so I can't see any problem filling the ground (at least initially). The only problem may be that a lot of the fans don't actually support the home team.

[SinisterDeath]

Don't see why it has to compete. 

 

The reason I brought up this thread is because my soccer team (Spurs) are planning to build a new stadium and the rumours are that they will build it with NFL in mind (can be converted between the 2). This would actually compliment NFL as when Spurs play away from home, fans can go and watch an NFL game at White Hart Lane (Spurs stadium). Games would also probably be played a bit later (US tv) so you could go and watch an Arsenal game in the afternoon then get the bus up Seven Sisters Road and watch an NFL game at White Hart Lane.

 

London also is the second most visited cities by tourists (behind Bangkok) so could attract a few visitors. There are already around 2 million NFL fans in Britain let alone the rest of Europe (soccer fans regularly travel to England to watch Premiership games) so I can't see any problem filling the ground (at least initially). The only problem may be that a lot of the fans don't actually support the home team.

I don't see a problem with that at all. Might just be an American thing though.

[Haxorsist]

I'm a bit skeptical. Who knows if there is enough interest in London or the UK to fill a stadium every week? (Granted, it would only be around 8-10 home games per season). Next season there will be three NFL matches played in London.

 

The travel times are a problem. The long flights would be a weekly occurence, unlike the international breaks in soccer. The travel times are already long in the NFL. A west coast team traveling to London would be over 10 hours. Another important aspect is that they would be traveling 8 time zones. I can easily imagine jet lag affecting performances. Also, I imagine an NFL games takes a harder toll on the body than a soccer game, which means rest is really important. There's a reason the regular season is only 16 games.

 

Could you imagine Spurs playing all their away games in the US?

[Lilbaz]

Don't see how the long flights would be a weekly occurance. Play the 8 home games then play the 8 games in the us. Have a base in the us and training ground.

 

Rugby teams in the uk do tours of australia, new zealand and south africa all the time.

Remember also these guys are travelling first class or may even have a private jet.

There may be some jetlag issues but it would only take a day or so to get over.

 

Spurs do a pre season tour of the us every year. In the europa cup we've played in russia, ukraine, the top of norway. Our international players have to travel to south america for a game then fly back to play again within a week. Jet lag mainly effects concentration and sleep patterns. Which would probably effect soccer players more as there are less interuptions in the game.

[SinisterDeath]

Don't see how the long flights would be a weekly occurance. Play the 8 home games then play the 8 games in the us. Have a base in the us and training ground.

 

Rugby teams in the uk do tours of australia, new zealand and south africa all the time.

Remember also these guys are travelling first class or may even have a private jet.

There may be some jetlag issues but it would only take a day or so to get over.

 

Spurs do a pre season tour of the us every year. In the europa cup we've played in russia, ukraine, the top of norway. Our international players have to travel to south america for a game then fly back to play again within a week. Jet lag mainly effects concentration and sleep patterns. Which would probably effect soccer players more as there are less interuptions in the game.

I had mentioned that prior, about them having a us base for when they have games in the us, for more than a few weeks at a time. And since not every state has a team, states like ND for instance, would relish the possibility of housing a training base for them.

[Haxorsist]

Spurs' traveling for Europa games is comparable to the regular traveling the NFL teams do within the US. I don't see the relevance of pre-season tours. It doesn't matter that you're not performing at 100 % during the pre-season. When players have international games, there aren't any Premier League games that week (which we all hate). Again, I think the need for rest for NFL players is higher than for soccer players, so the fact that a soccer player can play in South America one week and then in England next week, doesn't necessarily mean the NFL player should. For example, Premier League teams play 38 games per season. That doesn't mean the NFL should expand to 38 games, because they're two very different sports.

 

Concentration is very important in the NFL as well. For example, you could expect an unfocused offensive line to cause more false starts, and racking up penalty yards can kill a game. If you're not focused because you didn't sleep well, the breaks in the game probably won't help all that much. Remember an NFL game last aproximately three hours from start to finish. A soccer game lasts a little over two hours (including half time and stoppage time).

 

Giving the London team a US base and letting them play 8 straight away games and then 8 straight home games would give the London team an unfair advantage compared to their opposing teams, wouldn't it?

 

I don't know much about rugby to comment on that. Are the tours off-season/pre-season tours?

[Lilbaz]

The lions tour this year was before the season. They played 10 games in just over a month. They played in the uk, hong kong and australia.

 

Playing for the lions is probably the highest honour for a british or irish player. So not meaningless.

[SinisterDeath]

One question.

Why do we have to assume, that a team is going to only travel over seas, the day before the game? Why wouldn't they go, almost literally after the previous game, to get a good week to work out any jet lag?

[Lilbaz]

One question.

Why do we have to assume, that a team is going to only travel over seas, the day before the game? Why wouldn't they go, almost literally after the previous game, to get a good week to work out any jet lag?

Sorry sd i assumed what you're suggesting. This is how soccer players do it for international games. They will play for their normal team. The next day they would have a warm down training and be assessed. Then they would leave (that day or the next) to meet up with their international team.

[SBoydW]

Very good article covering this topic.

 

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9615240/nfl-targets-london-franchise

[SinisterDeath]

Very good article covering this topic.

 

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9615240/nfl-targets-london-franchise

 

One thing not considered.

What about European players? Why do we assume that only American's will be playing in this league? Granted, the first years would be dominated by American's.

 

With a league over seas, its possible it could grow a fan base, instead of just maintaining its current one.

And like with any sport its possible colleges, and other minor league's could develop in Europe/London. (which would give them access to an entirely different pool for players.... Perhaps some Rugby players  would be interested?)

[Suttree]

A bit indifferent on a London franchise. One thing I do know...Los Angeles has to come first. It's just crazy they have been without a team for so long.

[Tyzack]

A bit indifferent on a London franchise. One thing I do know...Los Angeles has to come first. It's just crazy they have been without a team for so long.

 

Or Toronto.

 

Sorry, I'm not counting the Argonaughts

[Durinax]

 

A bit indifferent on a London franchise. One thing I do know...Los Angeles has to come first. It's just crazy they have been without a team for so long.

 

Or Toronto.

 

Sorry, I'm not counting the Argonaughts

 

? argos are CFL. They are in a totally different league.

[Bannakaffalatta]

As an American and avid football (American) fan, I must say this about the travel and comparing it to soccer teams and their travel. While soccer is a rigorous sport, a lot of it is cardio, not as much physical. NFL players beat each other up, week in and week out. Travelling that much over the course of a season would seriously cut into any recoup time and time on the trainers table. Also, in the NFL the winning percentage of teams that travel west to east is terrible. I find it hard to believe any team based in the US travelling to Europe would fare much better.

The suggestion of effectively splitting the European teams season in half, while it sounds good, would give them a HUGE advantage or disadvantage depending on which you slice it. If they play the first 8 games all in the US and pull out 2-4 wins, and they win 6-8 home games in the second half, you now have a playoff team. You flip it and you almost ruin their chances of making a strong push for the playoffs each year. (The home record is based on them building a decent team, which could take 5-10 years, then you risk losing a fan base, and a lot of money.)

Which brings us to the playoffs. Do they play all those games in the States? Or all in Europe? Either way you are hurting one of the teams, unnecessarily.

Also there is the issue of fan base which has been brought up, but from what I have seen of the turnout at Wembley this shouldn't be an issue. I don't know if this all makes sense, but I just wanted to chime in with some thoughts on this. I was really upset when they shut down NFL Europe, I really enjoyed watching those games, and it gave the NFL a farm system which they are lacking in a bad way. I think that should be the first step in expanding into the international market.

The link below is for win percentage of teams going west to east

http://www.sportsinsights.com/blog/nfl-west-coast-teams-traveling-east/