More Kraft stupidity - there "should be" a team in London

[XLIX]

LOL, 500 miles? Try over 3,200 miles and 5 hours.

Try reading what I wrote (and read the whole sentence).

 

[XLIX]

pretty sure that's a typo

Thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt. However, I stand by what I typed. Someone made a remark about flights to London versus flights to Seattle being the same or, if anything, London was closer. I compared the longest current NFL flight (Seattle to Miami) to the shortest potential London flight (London to Boston).

I stated that Boston to London is 500 miles - and 2 times zones - further than Seattle to Miami. Granted, I was rounding when I said "500 miles". It is actually 547 miles further away by air according to travelmath.com.

 

[Tony2046]

Thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt. However, I stand by what I typed. Someone made a remark about flights to London versus flights to Seattle being the same or, if anything, London was closer. I compared the longest current NFL flight (Seattle to Miami) to the shortest potential London flight (London to Boston).

I stated that Boston to London is 500 miles - and 2 times zones - further than Seattle to Miami. Granted, I was rounding when I said "500 miles". It is actually 547 miles further away by air according to travelmath.com.

AHHH. Sorry man. You're right. I read that wrong.

 

[Jlaff]

Toronto only makes sense as an NFL location. It would be a great geographical rival to Buffalo, it's only 100 miles away and maybe Detroit which is about 200. Not that those teams wouldn't do what it takes to keep a team away from there.

Toronto is a world class city don't you know, just ask them. They will eat up anything they can point to and say "see, look at us we're so world class we have X, just like New York".

So yes, an NFL team would work there.

 

[Lavictoire]

Political forum is here for that...

Then call out the poster who brought up Russian hackers. Geez.

 

[Thelonious]

Why not? At least maybe then we can find out what wtf a goddam Crumpet is.

 

[PatsFanInLondon]

As mentioned earlier, Tottenham's new stadium is being built with a clear purpose of hosting NFL games. We've got 4 NFL games in London next season (and they'll all sell out again), so it's looking more and more likely that a franchise will move here in the next 2-3 years.

Is it a good idea? No - and I live here! They would have to play a block of 4 games at home, 4 on the road etc. to get around the time difference/bye week issues, for a start - but it punctures a hole through the integrity of the league. It's the National Football League, and it's franchises should remain national in my opinion.

But my opinion - and those of fans in the States - don't mean a thing compared to the owner's ability to make even more money...

 

[Jackson 2]

Try reading what I wrote (and read the whole sentence).

Why?

 

[fair catch fryar]

Move the Seahawks to London. Move Tampa Bay to France. Both teams would deserve this.

The Pyongyang Jets has a nice ring to it too.

 

[DarrylS]

Bloody hell this all failed before the damned fools.. remember NFL Europe??.. from the Sacramento Surges, to the Berlin Thunder, to the Barcelona Dragons a colossal failure.. wonder if there will be a spawning of "NFL Hooligans"??...

 

[Soliel]

Does this mean we can semd the jets to Afghanistan?

 

[Big Bucks]

I figure there's no way there'll ever be a team in the UK (or Europe for that matter) unless the relevant government agrees to give the team exemptions from local labor laws. (Can't see how it could be otherwise, especially with the draft, salary cap, etc.)

Sporting occasions will always get special dispensation. Take the recent Olympics in 2012 whereby special deals are made to hold these events regarding taxes. The same is for Wembley stadium when it has been hosting the Champions League final whereby they basically offer UEFA a tax-free game to host the game. Its a win-win, organisations make more money, London and the UK sells its City to the world and therefore entices millions of tourists every year... You could even add the current International series games that already takes place, I'd bet there is a deal already in place with the NFL and our Government in order to have these games.

The schedule seems to be the biggest argument against, but what if the team has two bases, say Miami and London, say it has one on the West coast too. It doesn't have to be like my fellow UK resident above says blocks of 4 games, it could easily be 2 games.

As for traveling distances, take our Footballers that reside in the UK, there are many Brazilians, Argentinians (South Americans as a whole) that make grueling 12hr flights from the UK to play international games 24hrs after stepping of the plane... many fly first class and they sleep overnight on the journeys, Liverpool themselves hire a Lear Jet for their two Brazilians.

What's stopping the NFL purchasing an Airbus A380, decking the thing out with 60 beds/rooms? After all, the bloody thing can hold 853 passengers!

Also every year there is a disparity with regards to teams and mileage, some travel much more miles than other teams, I'm sure there is a table out there.

 

[Galeb]

There are various new technologies maturing and close to being ready, including a Concorde 2. It isn't quite there yet, but you're right, that could be the change that makes this incredibly crazy plan totally feasible.

Link below is to some of the options out right now.

Concorde 2, Boom Jet and Antipode will bring about a new era in supersonic travel | Daily Mail Online

And economics didn't make much sense back in the day, but totally make sense now. Considering some pay $6K-$8K for business class on a regular Air Canada flight to London, $10K in 1/3 of the time is totally feasible.

No matter how fast they travel, jet lag will be a HUGE factor.

 

[Thelonious]

Then call out the poster who brought up Russian hackers. Geez.

"La Victoire" That's Russian, ain't it? (At least it's not a dead language.

 

[Sicilian]

east coast teams have to travel to Seattle every year.

You're missing the point. What happens when SEATTLE has to travel to London, or vice versa? Now you're talking about an 11-12 hour flight.

 

[PatriotsReign]

Never allow a foreign nation to have a team in our league!! I'll go to war over that!

I'm fine with the NFL creating a European league of their own. But the last thing I will allow to happen is having a foreign team in OUR super bowl

Fug no, that ain't happenin'!

They'd want a 2 hour halftime so they can eat dinner.

 

[DaBronxPats14]

Why not Russia? The Russian Hackers has a nice ring to it.

And Kraft's Super Bowl Ring as well.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

No matter how fast they travel, jet lag will be a HUGE factor.

Agreed, the west coast trip will result in an 8-hour time zone difference. Still, the 4 pm EST time slot would be a 9 pm game in London and 1 pm game for the west coast teams, so I'd imagine the majority of London "home" games would be at night in prime time in the UK. That would create a "normal" time for the body for players traveling there.

Playing their road games at the 1 o'clock time slot in the US would be comfortable for the UK team coming back, unless they're playing west coast teams, then the 4 pm works for both. But it would basically eliminate the UK team from any prime time US time slots without some major problems, and the Thursday night game would be atrocious unless after a bye week. Well, I mean, if the league actually gave a **** about the players, which they don't.

I don't see it as probable, but I don't think it's a deal breaker either. They could be smart about it, booking 2-3 game road trips and 2-3 week home trips to minimize travel. And it would suck for some players, especially with families, but London is an incredible city to experience as well. I'd rather live and play there than say Cleveland or Detroit.

 

[Raymond]

............... so it's looking more and more likely that a franchise will move here in the next 2-3 years....................

I would be shocked if it were to happen that soon. Look how long they have been playing with the Raiders, Chargers location situation.

But I do agree with the real premise in this thread. The NFL sees another 750 million pockets to pick on the other side of the Atlantic.

 

[Doctor DDS]

Only way I see it being somewhat effective is to have 2 teams in Europe in the same division. Then set it up so most away teams would have a two game road trip whenever they went over (may require some minor home/away logic changes for AFC/NFC divisional match ups) Would not work with the 2 same conference teams that finished in the same place though. Those games would likely need to be scheduled around the bye. Not sure how strong the fan support would be after the novelty wore off.