Firstly, where was this thread last year. They did a three game season ticket for the three games just passed. Those people have just been given priority on this years tickets. Its been very successful too.
My Long term thoughts.
This is very much going to happen.
How it will happen, there are many different thoughts on how, but mine is that any team that is London will not be based in London. For tax reasons and to attract players they will reside in the Miami area. This team will then travel to London for 2 or three games, then return to the US for two or three games. Teams that travel to London will all have bye weeks after there game. (Which is what happens right now).
The current home of Wembley stadium could be a problem for an NFL Franchise. Currently the stadium is only allowed to hold a certain number of events each year. I am not sure whether that is a time thing where it runs after a certain hour, hence why the early kickoff change of the Lions and Falcons game, anyway... because of this Wembley may not be the home of the franchise should one move to London.
Which brings me onto recent rumblings in the UK which as yet don't seem to have made the news yet. Being a fan of Tottenham Hotspur I have somewhat followed closely the building of its new stadium. They are currently undertaking a build which has just finished stage 1 of the three stage build. A month or so ago Tottenham owner Daniel Levy decided to look at other alternatives to the current plans, a last minute see if something could be better, upon which in a site called skyscrappercity a forum for architecture and other such like stuff, there is a stadium section, so on this section someone contacted the current designers who basically stated in an email that the news of Tottenham getting interested companies to put in new designs was true. He went on to say that there main design change that they wanted people to look at was an NFL styled stadium.. many suggestions have been banded about as to why, including some kind of drop down pitch for NFL where the hallowed White Hart Lane turf would be sunken with a frame like structure built or brought in above to cater for NFL matches or concerts, huge expo etc.
In the past 4 or 5 years Tottenham owners have become very close to the AEG group who own LA Galaxy. AEG have been also been trying to get an NFL franchise up and running in LA with no conclusion to that matter. Other links to Tottenham and AEG have been rumours of buy outs by AEG, Tottenham selling a star European striker to LA Galaxy in Robbie Keane (scored 62 goals for Rep Ireland, put into context Englands highest goalscorer is 49). Also AEG own the O2 arena in London which is the biggest known concert venue (holds 30k and can be used every day, its the site where Jacko was gonna do his 50 dates) and have apparently been looking to sell and are in the market of maybe moving there UK concert business to another venue, with Tottenham Hotspur looking to find a way to change the turf without damaging it ticks the boxes of another venue for AEG.
Currently the new stadium for Tottenham was only around 57,000, but its seen as a possibility that it could be expanded to 65,000 should an NFL franchise find its home there. Its thought that 65k would be a more manageable number for NFL sellouts than the current 80k for Wembley. Tottenham is also closer to the European rail network which is situated at Stratford, which means fans from Europe can visit along also with Stansted airport being close. Also I'd like to mention that the costs for this stadium is being raised by the Football club, no government subsides are being given for this build.
I'm not sure who shares stadiums in the US, but NFL and football stadiums can co exist. I think Seattle currently plays both, but they use a fake pitch for the football which just would not happen for Tottenham Hotspur.
New Stadium Plans - tottenhamhotspur.com
Passed stadium plans
From the link above you will see the new stadium under the current passed plans. Also since this picture the local council have also drawn up plans for the whole area below that stadium which is a huge 20 year plan to rejuvenate the whole surrounding area with new housing, shopping mall, multiplex cinema etc. Pictures below show option 2 and 3 that have been put forward for public consumption.
The 49ers this year came to Tottenham's new £45m training complex before its Wembley game... below shows pictures of the full scale indoor football pitch, outside resides 15 full size pitches.
Tottenham Hotspur courting NFL as they make plans for 65,000 stadium | Mail Online
