NFL (American football) Team in London coming?

[MM 6,562]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000547487/article/london-team-by-2022-nfl-continues-to-forge-forward-in-uk

 

The major hitch is logistics...getting the teams to go to London for home games and getting the London team to the USA for away games efficiently.

 

 

A group of NFL executives will meet with Virgin Airlines on Friday, and a pointed question will be one the Americans in the room probably never imagined they would ask as executives of a football league.

Just where will air travel be a decade from now?

No, there isn't sudden, random interest in aviation here. That's just where the league's thrust into the United Kingdom stands now -- with an effort to try to crack the logistical problems that could arise from, eventually, putting a team in London permanently.

The first game of the Wembley series was in 2007. It was hatched as a 15-year project with the endgame resulting in London getting a franchise of its own. So based on that timeline, we're more than halfway home. Those running the show in the U.K. still see 2022 as the target. Friday's summit is more proof of that.

"It's a realistic time frame," NFL Executive Vice President for International Mark Waller said Wednesday. "But there are still things we need to test for, so we have to be able to build a lot of things into the next few years. We don't need to prove as much on the fan-demand side. We feel comfortable that, in a few years, we'll be where we need to be there. The real focus is doing things to keep testing. We're really focusing on the logistical and operational side."

Sunday's Jets-Dolphins bout will be Wembley's 12th NFL game -- the first one matching divisional opponents, and also the first time that both clubs travel only for the weekend. In past years, one or both teams would spend an entire week across the pond. The 13th and 14th games, coming on the last Sunday of October and first Sunday of November, will be the first games played on back-to-back weekends in London. And all of this is aimed at measuring the impact that a U.K. franchise would have on competitive balance.

Naturally, more is planned for 2016.

The league likely would've gone to four games this year if not for scheduling issues involving the Rugby World Cup, and Waller says it's a very good bet there will be (at least) four international games next season. The question, for now, is where?

The NFL is considering either adding another game in London, keeping it at three in London and adding another game in another country, or both. The two countries under consideration, outside of the U.K., for a new International Series game in 2016 are Germany and Mexico. If it's Mexico -- and stadium issues remain there -- it'll be in Mexico City. If it's Germany -- and the NFL's new media deal makes that marketplace more attractive for the owners -- it'll be in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt or Hamburg.

"We feel confident in what we've learned in the U.K. to where we can look at adding a game and applying the model into another market," Waller said. "In the next few weeks, we'll decide on adding an extra game, going somewhere else, or both. We feel good about the U.K., but the idea of moving forward with other countries is attractive, too."

International Series

As for London, specifically, as Waller said, there are still plenty more tires to be kicked. One of those, eventually, will be removing the automatic bye that teams get after going to London, since having a franchise there would certainly necessitate that dynamic. Another could be a team playing two games in a row in London -- perhaps one as the home team and another as the road team -- to see how it affects players, coaches and staff making the trip back west rather than just east.

The other, more obvious logistical hurdles will be more difficult to clear.

"The easiest example to think about in terms of a problem that I'm not sure we have a solution for is a playoff game -- maybe a West Coast team has to play a playoff game in London," said one NFL owner. "There are things like that that I don't know if we have the answer to yet. That's why I'm hesitant to talk very much about a relocation."

One idea that's been floated among owners and execs is the idea of a shared franchise -- one that plays four home games in an American city and the other four in London, with potential playoff games in the U.S. venue. To be sure, that would be risky, with the possibility neither fan base gets behind the team, but it would help to solve problems the league is facing.

"I think it's more viable than putting a team in London full-time," said an executive for an NFC club. "But it's hard to say that makes it work because the logistics would be so odd. Basically, then, London's never getting the playoff game, and if you're a fan, you want to go to playoff games. ... It's an interesting idea, but you'd probably not be reaching your potential in either place."

For his part, Waller said, "To be clear, we've never had real discussions about a shared market. But if a team could play a season in London, you can assume it could play half a season." Waller brought up how Milwaukee and Green Bay shared the Packers' home schedule at one time.

This weekend should provide some interesting insight -- with big Premier League games (Everton-Liverpool and Arsenal-Manchester United) on Sunday, and Ireland and England playing Rugby World Cup matches -- on where the NFL fits into the British sports lexicon.

It's fair to say there's already been plenty of progress. Per Waller, about 40,000 fans will attend all three games, representing what the league believes is a burgeoning season-ticket base. NFL figures TV ratings have doubled since 2007, and the league estimates its U.K. fan base at 13 million. In addition, a 10-year deal to play NFL games in Tottenham Hotspur's new stadium and add an NFL surface to the facility was executed in July. Waller said, "The Tottenham deal was at least as significant as the original Wembley deal."

Considering the smaller capacity and FieldTurf, it's fair to wonder if Tottenham will be a London team's home when the time comes. That represents another step forward.

"It's gonna take a visionary owner to say, 'I'm willing to overcome all that,' " said the NFC exec. "But I actually think we're ahead of schedule with the growth that's happened."

Taking all the progress into account, Waller's still cautious about speaking in absolutes when it comes to this massive undertaking. He acknowledges what's ahead of the league is more challenging than what's behind it, but it's hard not to feel his optimism.

"I'd just say that I believe, with everything we're doing, we'll continue to grow," he said. "It's a much better market for us now than it was and fan interest is growing. I wouldn't want to come across as saying that we have the fan base we need yet. But the game is good enough, the appeal in there, and we have great fan demand."

And so, on Friday, he and others will take a closer look into how fast planes can go.

[Chang_paarp 253]

It is not too much of a challenge, look at the Australian soccer league, they have teams in Perth Western Australia and teams in Auckland New Zealand. That is a bigger trip than what the NFL is proposing. There was a Singapore team in the Australian basketball league for a while too.

 

Mind you the number of players and support staff is a lot less than required for a traveling NFL team.

[MM 6,562]

It is not too much of a challenge, look at the Australian soccer league, they have teams in Perth Western Australia and teams in Auckland New Zealand. That is a bigger trip than what the NFL is proposing. There was a Singapore team in the Australian basketball league for a while too.

 

Mind you the number of players and support staff is a lot less than required for a traveling NFL team.

Plus all the padding!

[nkped 1,208]

It is not too much of a challenge, look at the Australian soccer league, they have teams in Perth Western Australia and teams in Auckland New Zealand. That is a bigger trip than what the NFL is proposing.

Actually not bigger but somewhat comparable, according to our friends at Google, Perth - Auckland is 5,343 km. By contrast Chicago-London is 6,370 km. Longest would be San Diego-London at 8,843.

[Fatboyfat 361]

I have to say I view this with a touch of sceptism. No question, these fully competitive games are really popular at the moment, but would it last?

There was a big flurry of interest in "gridiron" back in the 80s, but it did not last at a high level; support for "non-traditional" sports in UK can be very fickle, even parochial,with regards to say Rugby league outside of the M62 corridor oop north.

How dependent is the NFL on supporters "bums on seats"? I genuinely have no knowledge of that, and it could be unimportant. Maybe not a problem for the UK based franchise, but the US based franchises would not receive much "away" support for the games in US, due to travel costs. At best one or two matches may be picked for support in a season, but not all. ( Hard to see trips to Buffalo, Philadelphia Minnesota etc. being sought after!) Would (or should) Eagles supporters be allowed to travel abroad ?