Posted on 01/20/2016 3:05:47 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
The NFL are 'on track' to deliver a permanent UK-based American football franchise within the next six years, spokesman Mark Waller has insisted.
Since 2007, London's Wembley Stadium has been home to the National Football League's International Series by hosting regular-season matches.
Jacksonville Jaguars ‒ who are owned by Shahid Khan, the Fulham owner ‒ have played a game a season there since 2013 and now a permanent move for an NFL team appears to be likely.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The networks are liking the super early slot for London games so far. Ratings are fine, and it’s an extra slot, given how much they’re paying getting a third game a couple of weeks a year is good.
I love the West Coast schedule. Games starting at 10 are AWESOME, and the night games end by 9. I actually kind of hate when DST ends and Arizona and we shift and the schedule moves from 11A to 10P.
Long flight from San Fran to London.
>> 16 trips across the Atlantic every year?
Well, only 8 trips unless they make the playoff.
I guess a big plane can fly nonstop California to London-about 13 hours over, probably 15 or 16 coming back?
Toronto should get the first international franchise.
Only LA and NY have bigger populations in the US.
Trying to “protect” Canadian pro football is just stupid.
We have two nation leagues for MLB,NHL,NBA and MLS.
You can even call them Roughriders if you want.
I hope it fails miserably....Like the NFL “europe”.
England has the best sport in the world—rightly named “FOOTBALL”.
They don’t need fat@ss “athletes” who can’t run for more than 5 seconds playing grab-@ss and then chit-chatting for 45 more seconds to do it all over again.
1. If they're really looking to expand the audiences here in the U.S., then why not just schedule an East Coast game at 9:00 AM every Sunday? They don't need to fly teams across five time zones to do that.
2. If the NFL is just looking to expand TV audiences, then they are missing a golden opportunity to fill every day of the week except Friday and Saturday with NFL games. They don't even have to deal with the idiocy of teams playing two games in 4-6 days. They can simply expand the season by several additional weeks without adding any games to the schedule -- just by having teams play through various days of the week without having fewer than 5 off days between each game they play. Teams would play about three games every 23-25 days, leaving plenty of time off between games and adding several weeks of TV coverage. The season could start around Labor Day, and the Super Bowl would be played in late February.
Teams move because there’s always a city out there willing to pony up for a new stadium. From what I’ve seen, some NFL teams that never had trouble selling out games are now playing in front of some empty seats.
I would think the NBA — which plays a game that already has proven to be very popular in Europe — would do this long before the NFL does.
---American football was introduced to the United Kingdom during the early part of the 20th century by American servicemen stationed in the country. The first recorded match took place on 23 November 1910 at Crystal Palace, London, where a team made up of the crew from USS Idaho defeated their counterparts from USS Vermont 19 to 0.
---During the Second World War, matches were played by American and Canadian servicemen stationed in the UK at venues throughout the country. This included the 'Tea Bowl' game played at the White City Stadium in 1944, and this was followed by the creation of the United States Armed Forces Europe (USAFE) league in 1946.
---This league consisted of teams from American military bases throughout Europe, with one of the league's three conferences made up of teams based in the UK; teams from this conference won the league championship thirteen times until the competition ceased in 1993.
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It won't be any more successful this time than it was before. Reminds me of Americans' "yawn" approach toward soccer.
I hope I don't get a slew of soccer fans who will inform me of how popular soccer is now in the USA.
It's all about money, I think.
When a couple has to spend HUNDREDS of dollars for tickets, parking and refreshments, the T.V. turns out to be the best ticket of all.
Aw...and I was so looking forward to Tuesday Night Football. :)
There are warnings about how the concussion problem will put an end to the NFL in about 20 years. However, there are more colleges playing football than ever before. The placing of a permanent team in London is a big mistake. Canada might be a better choise. Yet not really. 32 teams right now. To achieve balance there would need to be 2 more.
No, 16. Eight with the London team travelling to the states, eight with a U.S. team travelling to blighty.
Not including preseason games.
Has anyone calculated the carbon footprint of this?
Or change the rules in football. Get rid of the helmet. Minimize the equipment. Max weight = 250 pounds.
I’ve been a proponent of the weight limits for a long time.
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