CelticPatriot
Third String But Playing on Special Teams
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2011
- Messages
- 768
- Reaction score
- 114
Just wanted to hear people's thoughts on this, do you agree with/support the international series? Would you be willing to see it taken a step further with a London franchise? Would you like to see the Pats return to London for an away game in the near future?
Obviously being a fan in the UK I love the international series, it's great to see top teams and players live without having to pay a fortune. However I do accept some of the arguments against it from Americans, it is an American sport played by American teams after all.
I'm dead against having a London franchise though, it makes absolutely no sense imo. Logistically it would be a nightmare, especially for West Coast teams, the players would also hate it, not just away players travelling, but those who come out of college and need to move to another continent, the team would suck perennially as nobody would want to play for them. There is also the problem of kick off times, 1pm Sunday is the only time a game could be held in the UK, no primetime/problems in play offs.
But probably the biggest issue of all would be that they wouldn't get enough fans attending the games. If the Jags had 8 games a season in the UK, maybe only 1 or 2 would sell out (those against better teams). Not everybody in the UK lives near London, thousands of fans travel down from the North of England, Ireland, Scotland and even Europe - they wouldn't be able to go every second week. It would maybe work if they moved around and played in Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff etc, but it would be more like a roadshow then rather than a professional team.
Obviously being a fan in the UK I love the international series, it's great to see top teams and players live without having to pay a fortune. However I do accept some of the arguments against it from Americans, it is an American sport played by American teams after all.
I'm dead against having a London franchise though, it makes absolutely no sense imo. Logistically it would be a nightmare, especially for West Coast teams, the players would also hate it, not just away players travelling, but those who come out of college and need to move to another continent, the team would suck perennially as nobody would want to play for them. There is also the problem of kick off times, 1pm Sunday is the only time a game could be held in the UK, no primetime/problems in play offs.
But probably the biggest issue of all would be that they wouldn't get enough fans attending the games. If the Jags had 8 games a season in the UK, maybe only 1 or 2 would sell out (those against better teams). Not everybody in the UK lives near London, thousands of fans travel down from the North of England, Ireland, Scotland and even Europe - they wouldn't be able to go every second week. It would maybe work if they moved around and played in Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff etc, but it would be more like a roadshow then rather than a professional team.