This move has really nothing to do with trying to win fans in the UK. It has everything to do with expanding the TV audience back here in the US. And American TV is where the money is. The NFL has currently three windows for games on Sunday, with two windows on Monday and Thursday. There will be no games on Saturday, for two reasons, one is they do not want to hurt the NCAA, and two Congress passed a law back in JFK’s day that prevents the NFL from competing with the NCAA on Saturday. Friday’s are the traditional HS football night, with Tuesdays and Wednesday being a bridge too far for the NFLPA for health reasons. This leaves the League only one option, to expand on Sunday into an additional viewing window, Sunday morning. That is where London, and other European cities for down the road, comes into play. This would give the NFL an additional viewing window that they currently do not occupy. All they need from London is enough people in the stands to make it look good on TV here in the US.
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.