OT: Oh No! NFL Commits to Franchise in London by 2022

Gronk said:

Tried that. Fail.

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All the teams eventually moved to Germany but the team in the Netherlands if I remember correctly.

Objectively, given scheduling, you are going to face the full AFC West and full NFC West every four years. Plus play two teams in other divisions based on schedule every year, which will rotate additional West division through your schedule.

As you know, the schedule formula is as follows:
Six games against the three teams within your division
Four games against another division within your conference
Four games against another division in the other conference
Two games against teams in two other divisions within your conference based on like results.

In 2010, the NFL changed the scheduling formula to reduce jet lag. According to their press release:

NFL said:

Beginning in 2010, a change was made to how teams are paired in the schedule rotation to ensure that teams playing the AFC and NFC West divisions would not be required to make two west coast trips (e.g. at San Francisco and at Seattle), while other teams in their division had none (e.g. at St. Louis and at Arizona). The pairings of teams are listed in the digital version of the 2011 NFL Record and Fact Book (attached).

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Adding eight-time-zone trips into the schedule on an unequal basis would play havoc.
First of all, the team in London is going to have a massive disadvantage. Eight trips will be between five and eight time zones. The other teams in your division will face one trip of five time zones.
Second, teams, especially from the West divisions, will have an unequal schedule. Some will host London; some will be forced to fly eight time zones.

You want to rotate the London team through Monday Night Football? Sunday Night? Thursday Night? That starts at 8:30 pm. That's a 1:30 am start time; 4:30 am completion. Then add in the massive disruption to your schedule getting over (Thursday) or back (Monday) on a short week. Or will the London team be prohibited from ever appearing on Monday, Sunday, or Thursday Night?

Add in the free agent issue. While some may embrace London, many drafted players will bolt for the states at free agency, and there will be plenty of players who will need to be overpaid to go. Yes, players like Mario Williams went to Buffalo, but look at the money it took. They will be naturally forced to overpay.

In the current system, the two teams that play each other in London face the same schedule adversity, so they bizarre schedule does not affect the outcome of the game. With a London-based team, it absolutely will.

Can the NFL make more money by adding more fans in a city with 10mm inhabitants? Yes.
Will the competitive product be compromised? Yes.

Patstopia said:

To just throw a single franchise into a conference without also placing an equal amount of teams in the other conference would unbalance the league.

So assume London gets a team, then Mexico City will also get a team.

With any luck, they will place the new London franchise will go to the NFC East and the new Mexico franchise will go to the AFC South.

I would HATE for either team to be added. But the almighty dollar is greater than the sport itself. Just another nail in an already tightening coffin the NFL is building for itself!

Way to go Rog!!!

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Even then, that screws up the divisional balance pretty badly. I think the league has the perfect number of franchises now: 2 conferences, 8 divisions, 32 teams, 4 per division. Each team plays the other 3 divisional teams twice per year, once at home and once on the road. Add in 3 games against the other conference divisions' same-place finishers, four more against whatever division you're playing in the other conference, and the last 3 against the other teams in whatever division you're paired in within the conference, and you have a 16 game season. It's balanced, and it makes sense. That entire formula goes entirely out the window the second you add a 29th or 30th team.

For all the things that the NFL gets atrociously wrong, they actually managed to get this one right, which makes sense since it was all done pre-Roger. It dates back to a time when the league office was capable of competently doing things. Not only is it a near-perfect alignment as is, but even if it could be improved I wouldn't trust Roger to improve it because his next competent act as commissioner will be his first.

Not to mention the simple fact that there already aren't enough QBs to go around. Add two more teams, and you'll just have two more teams being quarterbacked by the Nick Foles types of the world. It may not be those two franchises being weighed down by ****ty quarterbacks, but it will be two more. If the NFL is determined to expand internationally, IMO the only way to do it is by either adding a ton of teams at once--which is clearly a non-starter--or by relocating an existing team like Oakland or Jacksonville.

ReverendMaynard said:

And the same fans who, in response to their favorite team and player being framed and railroaded by the league, proceeded to throw more money than ever at that same league.

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Well now I've got some advice for you little buddy, before you point your finger you should know that I'm the man

Wildo7 said:

Well now I've got some advice for you little buddy, before you point your finger you should know that I'm the man

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I'm the man, and you're the man, and he's the man as well.

juny said:

good luck to that team in attracting free agents. do i want to move my family overseas or play in my home country for about the same money?

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About the same money? Not even close, they tax the hell out of everything there, you even need to pay for a yearly permit to own a frigging tv. no really. tvlicensing.co.uk $206 a year in USD to own one.

PatsWickedPissah said:

Us 1960 Pats fans may be done with more than that in 2022

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Yes, I was thinking that but I didn't want to get too morbid.

SLGDEV said:

Just look at scheduling. We have a great system now. You play each in your division twice, one division in your conference on a three year rotation, the corresponding place finishers in the other two of the three in your conference, and one division in the other conference on a four year rotation. If they add any more teams or go to an 18 game schedule, how will that scheduling work? Would it be playing twice against the same place finishers in the two divisions you play?

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A great system!?!?! Teams play completely different schedules and teams with worse records get into the playoffs while teams with better records stay home. And all a team has to do to make the playoffs is beat out 3 other teams of the 15 others in their conference, no matter what their record is. A great system would be one where teams play as close to the same schedule as possible and the best records get into the playoffs.

Wildo7 said:

Also, the idea that this can't both be a smart business decision and ****ty for the fans is wrong. These are the same fans that gleefully watch 4 hours of commercials with 8 minutes of gameplay sprinkled in.

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That's why DVRs were invented...

I'm not sure I understand the negative reaction to this. London's a cool, enormous city that is the gateway to the rest of Europe for most US-based airlines. It would be great to plan a trip to Europe that included an NFL game as part of a visit. Europe is a great place in the fall when all the tourists are gone.

It'll be toss up between Philadelphia, Jets and London fans in the biggest ***holes in the NFL. The British get hammered at soccer games and are completely obnoxious.

The London team will be at a disadvantage when it travels, but who cares? The guy that owns the Jaguars has already said he wants to move his team to Europe. That doesn't affect the Patriots, and once every six years they'll play in London. Not a big deal.

Update: NFL is disputing London's understanding. There's a shock.

NFL disputes characterization of Mark Waller’s London comments

End of the day, London will be the new LA since neither St. Louis nor San Diego are looking to empty their wallets to bring back an NFL team at this point (granted that the Chargers isn't official yet).

NashuaPats said:

It's such a dumb idea. The travel alone will be brutal for the team. Telling a young guy he has no choice, but to move across the Atlantic is not fair especially if he has a family. There are plenty of cities in the U.S who would love to have a team... like St. Louis for example.

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Or Canada. I realize that Canada has their own league, but I haven't heard why there isn't any Toronto or Montreal team.

I support Roger Goodell

By 2022 Jimmy G will be atleast a 2x super bowl champion, & we will continue to dominate in the 20s.

fnordcircle said:

I support Roger Goodell

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Ian, is this a banable offense?
I vote YES.

Some things that have been said I would like to counter.

Tottenham Hotspur FC are building a new 61,500 stadium which will be completed by 2019 its stadium cams can be seen here and is being built next door to the current 36,000 stadium, within this stadium is being placed two pitches, ontop is a football/soccer pitch which would be retractable to go under the South stand, below would be the NFL pitch. Ask yourselves why would this team be putting in this at the cost of £100m+ if they had not been given the wink that a London Franchise is coming. Wembley cannot hold the 8 games per year due to restrictions on events held due to crowd size. Football or as you say Soccer will always come first for Wembley. The stadium is also being fitted with extra large facilities for two NFL teams.

New Scheme - New Stadium -Tottenham Hotspur - tottenhamhotspur.com

Tax. Its been spoken before that the government here has said that they will make every effort to help in bringing a franchise to London, with that I guarantee will be special dispensation regarding paying tax, as they did for the 2012 London Olympics and the athletes and the IAAF themselves. There will be a deal done which will entice top athletes wanting to join the London Franchise, not unlike that for those in Miami I guess.

Fixtures and Jet Lag. Well, as has been said, I think that they will play block games in London and America, I also believe that there base will not be in London, I think the base will be in Miami or stay in Jacksonville. Players would get the tax benefits from Miami area and also from London. As already happens, teams that travel to London for games these games are followed with that teams bye week, I don't see that changing specifically if the team is West Coast. A team that is East coast doesn't need that because as has been stated the journey is shorter than going to the West Coast.

Support. There is undoubted support in the whole of the UK and even around Europe. People travel from all over Europe to see these games, and a very large amount of Americans do too, specifically those in the forces. Don't be fooled by the 4% in a graph before, I'd go to say the NFL is the single biggest growing sport in the UK, I was surprised to here that over 100 schools and Universities now have teams at an Amateur level now.

The Number one stumbling block. British fans are very tribal, they pick there team and its for life. Myself being a Season ticket holder at Tottenham Hotspur even does not mean that I could watch this new team as my team, it would be more me watching NFL games only with no allegiance. I guarantee that if they stayed the Jacksonville Jaguars they could kiss goodbye to it working. IMO they would need to close down the Jags a year before and this London Franchise have zero to do with the Jaguars IMO for it to work, new owners, new logo, new division, and even then they would be my second team.. I couldn't change, I wouldn't change.. its too late I have chosen about 30 years ago.

Some pictures

robertweathers said:

Maybe they can relocate the Jets.

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Why not? They've already gotton stocked up on memorabilia from there last visit.

Hammer of Thor said:

Update: NFL is disputing London's understanding. There's a shock.

NFL disputes characterization of Mark Waller’s London comments

End of the day, London will be the new LA since neither St. Louis nor San Diego are looking to empty their wallets to bring back an NFL team at this point (granted that the Chargers isn't official yet).

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This post deserves emphasis.

I would like to add that Tottenham Hotspur have a 10 year deal in place to home a minimum of two fixtures at least per year.

NFL, Tottenham Hotspur ink 10-year stadium partnership - NFL.com

Also, whenever Kraft is in London he always says.. I hope a Franchise will be in London by 2020.. lol

NashuaPats said:

It's such a dumb idea. The travel alone will be brutal for the team. Telling a young guy he has no choice, but to move across the Atlantic is not fair especially if he has a family. There are plenty of cities in the U.S who would love to have a team... like St. Louis for example.

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Telling a young guy he has no choice but to move to Detroit or Cleveland isn't exactly fair either, especially if he has a family. I might rather play for the Baghdad team if given the option.

I absolutely hate this idea, although I will say London is an incredible city and an incredible opportunity. I think it would be absolutely atrocious on the travel side so perhaps they would clump games together, 3 at home, 3 on the road, that way they could minimize the travel for the players if it happens.