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

[convertedpatsfan]

This post deserves emphasis.

After the last year of numerous leaks, false reports, blatant lies, unbelievable accusations and hysterical ********, why on earth would you believe anything anyone working for the NFL says?

If a league official told me the sun would come out tomorrow, I would panic.

I would trust the Iraqi Misinformation Minister before I trust anything an NFL spokesperson says.

 

[memento]

After the last year of numerous leaks, false reports, blatant lies, unbelievable accusations and hysterical ********, why on earth would you believe anything anyone working for the NFL says?

If a league official told me the sun would come out tomorrow, I would panic.

I would trust the Iraqi Misinformation Minister before I trust anything an NFL spokesperson says.

From what I understand the NFL UK spokesman Mark Waller has been saying the NFL will have a London team in 2022 since September 2014, the only reason for the hullabaloo was the BBC seemed to think the deal was confirmed. I don't trust the NFL higher ups anymore than the rest of the board, but speculation is not confirmation.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

From what I understand the NFL UK spokesman Mark Waller has been saying the NFL will have a London team in 2022 since September 2014, the only reason for the hullabaloo was the BBC seemed to think the deal was confirmed. I don't trust the NFL higher ups anymore than the rest of the board, but speculation is not confirmation.

Depends who you ask. Speculation and imagination can transform basic 9th grade science into "generally aware" into "mastermind" if you really try hard.

But bear in mind organizations also do things like "float" stories to see how the public reacts. It may very well be a done deal and the NFL doesn't want to confirm it because of all the recent franchise movement speculation potentially pissing more people off. Or maybe it is just total speculation. Or total ********. I accept that.

But using anything the NFL says does not help confirm or deny anything. I'd trust Peyton Manning's wife claiming that HGH was hers before I'd trust anything the league has to say. I'd even trust Cromartie claiming that last kid isn't his before I'd trust anything from the NFL spokesperson.

 

[zipster9]

New team:

London Foggers
London Brits
London Redcoats

 

[Schmo]

I have no idea how this could work. The only way this would remotely make sense is if there was a whole division in the UK for travel purposes.

But then there's 1/8 of the NFL overseas. Not ok.

 

[pheenix11]

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?

The schedule now has a beautiful symmetry as do the number of teams and divisions. Most of the schedule can be predicted ahead of time because it rotates. Hell, you tell me where two teams finished I can practically tell you all the teams they will face next year from memory.

Add games or teams and that all goes to hell. Why ruin a good thing?

 

[Tunescribe]

New team:

London Foggers
London Brits
London Redcoats

London Bollocks
London Boondogglers
London Crumbly Crumpets
London Bellends
London Loons
London Goodells
London Cynics
London Expansionists
London Americans
London Pound Suckers
London Jive
London Londoners

 

[Bill Lee]

Some context as to why this might be plausible despite denials: In the context of the LA deal, Goodell was saying the NFL would double in revenue in 10 years. The only plausible way to get there IMHO would be to capture entire un-captured markets. LA and London fit the bill.

Think of London as "the door in the foot of Europe". Also think of advertising which is the main source of NFL profits. A whole swath of untapped EU brands/products can be accessed.

You can't say you don't care more about money than the integrity of the game putting a team that far away.

Do you still believe in Santa Claus too? Mommy and Daddy kept saying he was real....

Don't understand why they don't just start up a subsidiary league based in England rather than stick one team in the nfl. You don't need to make it wildly successful overnight. Start with a few team and let it grow naturally.

Same reason why MLS doesn't work in the USA, we all know it isn't a world-class product, watching EPL on TV is more enjoyable than watching the Revs live.

I wonder if it's mostly about having games on 9 AM on Sunday.

Nope because 9am games become 6am games in the Pacific time zone. It's all about tapping the EU market.

6 years from now their will probably be a new concord plane for even shorter cross ocean flights.

Absolutely not. There's nothing on the boards right now that could possibly fit the bill in 6 years, and by today's standards Concorde is a tiny plane (92 to 128 passengers).

London

London Bangers and Mashers.

 

[Joker]

LONDON BRIDGES!

all faw down....

 

[Tunescribe]

LONDON BRIDGES!

all faw down....

That sounds like London *****es, which still might apply. How about London Bridge To A Pot O' Gold. They could shorten it to London Bog.

 

[PatsFanInLondon]

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.

I have to laugh at this, not least as you're talking utter bollocks. We don't get hammered at soccer games - at least, no more than your average Pats fan will be after tailgating.
Also, the Jags owner has stated that he has no plans to relocate the team to London - although I suspect that may be bollocks...

 

[Tunescribe]

I have to laugh at this, not least as you're talking utter bollocks. We don't get hammered at soccer games - at least, no more than your average Pats fan will be after tailgating.
Also, the Jags owner has stated that he has no plans to relocate the team to London - although I suspect that may be bollocks...

Thanks for the tip, I'll add it to my list of potential monikers -- the London Bollocks.

 

[PatsFanInLondon]

If this news is true, it is not surprising (particularly as Tottenham's new stadium will have a removable grass field and a turf field underneath for use by NFL teams).

Logistically it will be a bit of a nightmare - as mentioned before, there would have to be blocks of games at home and away. Indeed, it wouldn't surprise me if they played 4 on the road, 8 in a row at home (so that visiting teams can have their bye week afterwards) and the last 4 on the road?

Of course, any franchise outside the US ruins the integrity of the game. Despite it potentially being on my doorstep, I'm not a fan of the idea - and if Goodell is still in charge, I won't be supporting them.

I suspect UK fans will adopt the franchise as their second team - so will generally support them unless their actual team rolls into town? It could work, but I don't like it.

 

[PittPatriot]

Don't understand why they don't just start up a subsidiary league based in England rather than stick one team in the nfl. You don't need to make it wildly successful overnight. Start with a few team and let it grow naturally.

Sounds like a great idea.
We could call the teams names like the Barcelona Dragons, Frankfurt Galaxy, and London Monarchs! It may not be wildly successful overnight but give it a few years...

 

[PittPatriot]

Plus...how confusing is pounds per square inch in England? They be like...
"No mate, we do rent by the square meter."
Mind blowing...

 

[Deus Irae]

Sounds like a great idea.
We Couls call the teams names like the Barcelona Dragons, Frankfurt Galaxy, and London Monarchs! It may not be wildly successful overnight but give it a few years...

Ehh..... That's kind of misleading. The WLAF was clearly a junior league, and junior leagues don't tend to succeed in the U.S. anymore than the WLAF did in Europe.

 

[PittPatriot]

Ehh..... That's kind of misleading. The WLAF was clearly a junior league, and junior leagues don't tend to succeed in the U.S. anymore than the WLAF did in Europe.

That's a good point. I took the WLAF failure to reflect the overall European interest in American football. Besides being able to fill a stadium twice a year (weren't they mostly ex-patriot Americans there?) and show jersey sales, how does the NFL truly know a franchise could survive there?
Plus, if that team had to play under similar salary cap rules, it would be hard to get players to ever want to go there. It would not be a junior league team, but it would have every disadvantage possible.

 

[Deus Irae]

That's a good point. I took the WLAF failure to reflect the overall European interest in American football. Besides being able to fill a stadium twice a year (weren't they mostly ex-patriot Americans there?) and show jersey sales, how does the NFL truly know a franchise could survive there?
Plus, if that team had to play under similar salary cap rules, it would be hard to get players to ever want to go there. It would not be a junior league team, but it would have every disadvantage possible.

They'd have to pick and choose their spots and grow from there. They wouldn't be able to field enough teams for a full conference, so I don't know how they could really do it right. When you add the lack of native talent to the pile, which will limit grass roots interest at least to an extent, I tend to agree with those who think it's a likely failure, but I could see that being fixed if the travel issues could be solved. High speed flight is the obvious first potential solution if you're just going to start by adding a small number of teams, but we're not there yet.

 

[goheels22002]

I have to laugh at this, not least as you're talking utter bollocks. We don't get hammered at soccer games - at least, no more than your average Pats fan will be after tailgating.
Also, the Jags owner has stated that he has no plans to relocate the team to London - although I suspect that may be bollocks...

The fans in Jacksonville agree with you that Shahid Kahn has designs on moving to London. He'sbeen quite vocal on the NFL in the United Kingdom and said so on 60 Minutes a few years ago, and has worked to set up a long range deal with London for games involving the Jagaurs. He's interested in San Antonio as well, but stayed out of the LA contest:
Jaguars Owner Shad Khan seeks long-term London deal 

Khan has cultivated London fans for some time, and knows that the NFL would love to get out of that small Jacksonville market.

The English and other European fans are pretty well known for their hooligans, but you're right, it seems that things have improved a lot in recent years. I went to a futbol game in London about six years ago and it was impressive. People were loaded, sang and chanted and got into skirmishes all over the place. I never felt unsafe, and it reminded me of a Jets game.

 

[varjao]

Awesome, the logistics issues can be reduced building a new stadium in the middle of the Atlantic ocean so teams don't need to travel too much.

Even better, they should build the stadium over some gigantic pool float so the game gets more challenging with the waves, field goals will be more difficult and worth 10 points.