International Series and London Franchise

[CelticPatriot]

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.

 

[Big-T]

Keep the international series - maybe expand it to different Countries too.

But NO to a London franchise, I doubt the majority of people would want to switch teams at this point, sure some will but I'd wager that would be people in/around London and not people from further afield (whether that be in the rest of England & the UK or the rest of Europe). It would be kind of embarrassing for them to play home games in which the majority of the stadium are rooting against the home team (most of the crowd would be made up of the other teams fans - especially if it's NE, Dallas, Pittsburgh etc who are visiting.

 

[DeutschlandPats]

Yesterday I think, maybe it should be pats who go to london. People did enjoy the best team ever there having. We have most fans of all teams and greatest qb and coach ever. europe would like this!! But might have to change the name of course! HAHA!

 

[CelticPatriot]

I think the Pats will be back next year, the Vikings look certain to return due to their stadium issues and their two non conference games next year are the Pats and the Jets. Kraft would do his best to get the Pats over

 

[dannydyn]

I don’t understand the idea behind placing a franchise in London…. That is a massive disadvantage to be at.

Imagine the need to crisscross the Atlantic ocean almost every other week, and sometimes, travel all the way out to the west coast. Imagine the amount of stress, lethargy, and exhaustion, as a result of jetlag.

Imagine a London-based team playing a 1pm game on the West coast…. It would be 10PM start in London, and won’t be over until at least 1 in the morning… I just don’t get it.

 

[patsfan-1982]

I like the 2 or 3 games a year over there but I never wanna see a overseas franchise

 

[Observer]

The sport would be better served setting up an actual league in Europe than a team in England. But without much grassroots following, it probably doesn't have much of a chance. It would be similar to trying to improve soccer's status in the US except way worse.

 

[livinginthe past]

Big fan of the International Series - I went to the Patriots/Rams game last year at Wembley.

Met plenty of Germans, those guys really do deserve one of these 'NFL in Europe' games - they had at least 3 teams in the old NFL Europe and its a pretty big deal out there.

I don't know why this idea of putting a team in London keeps rearing its ugly Suggs-type head - its just not going to happen.

There is a very big difference in filling a stadium once a year where fans of all NFL teams (not just the 2 playing) are attending and trying to build a fanbase for the London Sillynannies franchise.

I really don't think all the NFL fans that attend these Wembley games are going to be willing to adopt this new team - certainly not at the expense of their original team (which most of us have followed from the 80's) and most probably not even as a secondary option.

 

[FrodoBagginz]

The majority of players have said they would rather retire than play for a team overseas. The players have spoken.

Of course, Money can get some of these players to re-think their position on the matter. But that means the London team has to overpay for these players. The London team can also attract free agents/players not signed by any team if the London team pays them enough to get them to have London as their home for the team. But that means the London team will be filled with not wanted players/bad players/good players who take way too much cap room/etc.

Teams will have issues with trading with the London team as many players have said they would rather retire than playing overseas as the home. Then the London team will have problems with the draft. What if most or all the players they draft won't play for their team and hold out?

The London team will be a seriously bad team and with all the traveling involved between home and road games it would makes things worse for them. There are way more problems that would need to be addressed as well.

There are too many issues with a London team that cannot be fixed easily.

 

[sb1]

There won't be a full time London NFL team in our lifetime. That is a logistical nightmare.

Toronto Canada would be a good choice for a full time "international" team, although I think the Buffalo Bills would have something to say about that.

 

[chasa]

I don’t understand the idea behind placing a franchise in London…. That is a massive disadvantage to be at.

Imagine the need to crisscross the Atlantic ocean almost every other week, and sometimes, travel all the way out to the west coast. Imagine the amount of stress, lethargy, and exhaustion, as a result of jetlag.

thats not how it would work. I've debated this before, and putting a franchise in london is plausible. It would require some work to be done on the divisions, and would require the team to actually have players want to be on that squad.

Essentially you would have Jax switch places with the dolphins. Then jax would go to london.

The reasoning, the team is a few people away from a blackout every sunday, its fan base is almost non existent, and frankly its roster needs to be redone anyways. By putting them in the AFCE you give them the shortest possible flights for in division games. In addition to that all of their games are played in blocks of 4. Teams traveling to london for away games all travel to london after their bye week thus giving opposing teams time to adjust to any time differences.

Is it ideal? nope.

Is it possible? Absolutely.

 

[shmessy]

Establish a Euro league.

Then, each year, have their SB winner play the American SB winner in a "World Series" (one game).

The NFL would make more on that, and it is a far better idea than the disastrous 18 game season - - maybe it would get the owners to finally shut up about that.

 

[resdubwhite]

International series is fine. But does it always have to be London?

 

[Batman]

International series is fine. But does it always have to be London?

I wondered that but tried to come up with an alternative venue to suggest. The venue has to be unused by a winter sport such as soccer or rugby which rules out lots of stadia it needs to be a large capacity too as they fill 80k+ every time so they get an amount of revenue from that which rules out so many other stadia. Only camp nou, croke park, stade de France, Santiago bernabeu and Twickenham are really big enough. Only Twickenham and Croke park don't have any team play there and Twickenham is still in London so Dublin is really the only other place to have it. And they have a penn state game held there currently. Planned for next year.

 

[cstjohn17]

I don't mind one or 2 games a year overseas, it helps the sport but why would London get a team before LA? That is insane.

 

[sb1]

Establish a Euro league.

Then, each year, have their SB winner play the American SB winner in a "World Series" (one game).

The NFL would make more on that, and it is a far better idea than the disastrous 18 game season - - maybe it would get the owners to finally shut up about that.

Agree about the Euro league. Still don't know why they pulled the plug on NFL Europa. Sure it was a minor league but it would get fans interested.

Not sure about the "World Bowl" idea... the NFL would have little to gain and everything to lose in that scenario. What if the SB champion loses?

 

[PatsDeb]

I don't like it. I would prefer no games there at all, only because it leads to other things. I think having to travel overseas is very disruptive for a team, so it will end up being a huge homefiled advantage to any team that is placed there permanently (but on the flip side, a road nightmare for said team, potentially miring them in mediocrity forever).

And, it galls me that the NFL would even consider putting a Superbowl in Europe when places like Foxboro will never get the chance. How is that fair to your American fans who are the backbone of your popularity? It's like trying Wimbeldon in a different country one year, just for kicks. This trying to tap into the "world" market for the NFL will backfire if they take it too far. I would go so far as to boycott the Superbowl if it was played outside the US. It's a quintessential American tradition. No shame in that, and no need to mess with it.

 

[PatsDeb]

Establish a Euro league.

Then, each year, have their SB winner play the American SB winner in a "World Series" (one game).

The NFL would make more on that, and it is a far better idea than the disastrous 18 game season - - maybe it would get the owners to finally shut up about that.

This I could live with!

 

[resdubwhite]

I wondered that but tried to come up with an alternative venue to suggest. The venue has to be unused by a winter sport such as soccer or rugby which rules out lots of stadia it needs to be a large capacity too as they fill 80k+ every time so they get an amount of revenue from that which rules out so many other stadia. Only camp nou, croke park, stade de France, Santiago bernabeu and Twickenham are really big enough. Only Twickenham and Croke park don't have any team play there and Twickenham is still in London so Dublin is really the only other place to have it. And they have a penn state game held there currently. Planned for next year.

I'm good with Dublin.


And If the pats get to play there I could at least put up 3 or 4 of you guys.......

its a win win....

Stade DeFrance would be fantastic also.

 

[Tunescribe]

Establish a Euro league.

Then, each year, have their SB winner play the American SB winner in a "World Series" (one game).

They'd have to put big money (same as NFL franchises) behind that to be competitive enough for this to make sense. Prior attempts at getting NFL Europe off the ground showed insufficient support among the natives.