A London Franchise? - UK thoughts

[theramsruleUK]

The 49ers are playing the jags in London this weekend and I'll be watching it with plenty of beers on the TV from my home 30miles from the stadium. Next year there's 3 games... and i think we all know where this might lead too..

And next year, yeah, i'll go and see one of the three games at London... I know a lot of people that will do because we simply can't afford a flight across the river + Hotel + Game tickets + Drink + Food etc....

But the reason these games are successful is because it attracts "ALL" fans of every team... Not just the teams that are playing... There's jerseys of every team there..
Which bring me to my next point... MOST OF US ALREADY SUPPORT A TEAM!! I'm a ram till I die... Just like my mate who supports the dolphins... It's for life...I wont just switch to the London team because they play near me.... I just cant see a London Franchise happening..

The UK is a big market for the NFL, they can see how much money the Premier League makes globally and its understandable why they are pushing this market... but I think its a big mistake..

I love the NFL and theres plenty of people in England who love it as much as me, but lets be real.. It's an American sport.. It will always be an American sport, that doesn't mean that it isn't a global sport.. but its based in America... And personally, I'd not want it any other way... The same way I wouldn't want a premier league football team in America?

I'm interested to know if you guys think the same as I do?
Safe

 

[CGI_Ram]

The biggest issue I see with a London team is the time change.

Currently; the biggest swing for any NFL team is 4 hours. One might argue that is already a big enough problem to deal with.

For an Eastern Time Zone team; London is a 5 hour swing. That might be "manageable" but the farther west we go it becomes 6, 7, 8, and 9hr swing. It just doesn't feel reasonable to me... and I can't help but wonder the impact on player safety.

Next; if you are an American Football player and drafted by the London team? Personally, I would love to experience more of that part of the world but what about Joe College Boy?

 

[ScotsRam]

You nailed it with the teams. I'm a rams fan, I've invested 15 years of my life following this team- why would I change now?

It's a stupid idea that I seriously hope doesn't happen.

 

[Rams and Gators]

I've watched some truly awful Rams ball over the years, and it hasn't swayed me, a London team wouldn't either.

The biggest issue for me is that it runs out at about the same to get from where I live in Cheshire + tickets + concessions for 8 games as it would to fly out and see the Rams, I'd rather do that than the London whoevers.

I'm going to watch my Gators for the first time next year and am looking forward to that 100 times more than two random teams at Wembley (and I love the IS games).

Oh and getting home at 1:30am 8 times a year would be awful.

 

[ScotsRam]

I live in the north of Scotland, there's no way I can make 8 trips to London a year. People go to the IS games from all over Europe. They'll reach saturation point with 3 games next year.

 

[mr.stlouis]

If they call themselves "The Redcoats" then I'm all for it. Otherwise no....

 

[PhxRam]

The biggest issue I see with a London team is the time change.

Currently; the biggest swing for any NFL team is 4 hours. One might argue that is already a big enough problem to deal with.

For an Eastern Time Zone team; London is a 5 hour swing. That might be "manageable" but the farther west we go it becomes 6, 7, 8, and 9hr swing. It just doesn't feel reasonable to me... and I can't help but wonder the impact on player safety.

Next; if you are an American Football player and drafted by the London team? Personally, I would love to experience more of that part of the world but what about Joe College Boy?

4 hours?

Eastern to Pacific is only 3. Where does the other hour come from?

 

[Thordaddy]

But the reason these games are successful is because it attracts "ALL" fans of every team... Not just the teams that are playing... There's jerseys of every team there..
Which bring me to my next point... MOST

I would suspect that gate on these games is pretty well a secondary revenue stream , as long as TV revenue continues to justify more games IMO they will keep adding games.

I would love to get a feed of Brit. announcers for one of these complete with commercials

 

[ScotsRam]

One of the best things about being a US sports junkie is the adverts- your adverts are significantly better than ours. The one with cam Newton and the kid, the one with Aaron Rodgers and 'grill class', the e-trade baby.... We have nothing like that!

 

[Rams and Gators]

I would suspect that gate on these games is pretty well a secondary revenue stream , as long as TV revenue continues to justify more games IMO they will keep adding games.

I would love to get a feed of Brit. announcers for one of these complete with commercials

Our announcers for all British born sports are awful, I can't imagine the pain that would come form sitting through 3 hours of British commentary on any US sport. Although we do have one or two good analysts.

 

[Rams and Gators]

One of the best things about being a US sports junkie is the adverts- your adverts are significantly better than ours. The one with cam Newton and the kid, the one with Aaron Rodgers and 'grill class', the e-trade baby.... We have nothing like that!

One of the things that makes Game Pass superior to MLB.tv is the adverts.

 

[rafa]

Just want to know when a game will bring to Brazil!! :cheese::cheese::cheese:

 

[theramsruleUK]

I would suspect that gate on these games is pretty well a secondary revenue stream , as long as TV revenue continues to justify more games IMO they will keep adding games.

I would love to get a feed of Brit. announcers for one of these complete with commercials

Brit announcers would be rubbish for NFL haha...

Although one thing i do like about the British coverage on Sky Sports, is that we get the US feed, but we dont get the crazy amount of commercials you guys have! It often cuts back to the studio where they analyze the last couple of plays, or go for a redzone update... Rather than ford tough, and ram commercials!

Good ol Kevin Cadle and Cecil martin...

 

[Thordaddy]

Yeah I would pretty well just want to hear Brits on the NFL for the novelty, didn't think they'd be better than Emmit Smth in the boof

 

[CGI_Ram]

4 hours?

Eastern to Pacific is only 3. Where does the other hour come from?

Atlantic Time! :heh:

Oops, good catch. I think my math was right the other direction!

 

[theramsruleUK]

Interesting comments from Goodell today..

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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the NFL's overseas success doesn't mean the Super Bowl is crossing the Atlantic or that the league is going back to continental Europe.


Goodell said the expansion from two to three NFL regular-season games starting next season has the league exploring how to continue growing its International Series brand. More games could come to London, which will need a franchise before it can even dream of hosting the Super Bowl. And that is some time away.

''We don't have a timetable for (a London franchise). We want to continue building interest, and if it continues to go well we believe a franchise could be here. The Super Bowl won't be played anywhere where we don't have a franchise,'' Goodell said on Saturday.

Goodell also discussed the league possibly returning to Los Angeles.

"I'd love to be back in Los Angeles. But it has to be done the right way, we have to do it successfully ...

"I want both [London and LA], but it doesn't matter which one is first."

The NFL created a European league in the 1990's that had teams based in in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain, before it folded in 2007.

''Right now, our focus is on the U.K. since the European fans can get here. We want to build on our success here, and whether it leads to a permanent franchise or not, then we can see. What happens here will dictate that.''

Goodell said demand from NFL teams to play in London was more than it could handle, and that a game could be held in Sunday prime-time hours next year. Monday and Thursday night games in London have been ruled out, as has holding preseason games or the Pro Bowl overseas.

Goodell applauded the Jacksonville Jaguars for embracing the International Series, with the Florida-based team signed up to play four regular season ''home'' games at Wembley Stadium over four years. The first is on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.

''Jacksonville is an interesting experiment. I think fans there see that it's good for their community, that it's putting Jacksonville on a global stage,'' Goodell said while addressing some Jaguars fans complaints about losing one home game over these four seasons. ''Whenever there is going to be change, there is going to be resistance to change.''

Goodell met with a selection of NFL fans alongside 49ers great Joe Montana and former Jaguars offensive lineman Tony Boselli on Saturday.

The enthusiasm of overseas NFL fans was palpable inside the Grand Ballroom of the Landmark Hotel, with a scattering of NFL team jerseys in the audience featuring names such as Brady, Kaepernick, Bettis and even Tebow.

So while local fans are enjoying the experiment, they are not expecting a London-based franchise to arrive any time soon.

''It's a minority sport here, you don't see people out in the park throwing an American football around. It's all about this spectacle. I won't wear this jersey unless there's an event on,'' said 42-year-old Jonathan Gardner, clad in his orange Denver Broncos jersey featuring John Elway's No. 7.


While Gardner was beaming at being in a room surrounded by so many fellow football fans and the presence of Montana, he was weary that the future would feature anything beyond regular season visits.

''I don't see a franchise coming here,'' said Gardner, who played amateur football in his native Belfast as a teenager. ''Football still has to overcome a load of prejudices here, many people think they aren't real athletes and compare them to rugby players, who are just as physical but don't need pads.''

 

[EastRam]

Our announcers for all British born sports are awful, I can't imagine the pain that would come form sitting through 3 hours of British commentary on any US sport. Although we do have one or two good analysts.

Thats two more good analysts than we have here. lol

 

[V3]

If the NFL really wants to have a team in London, they should consider buying their own Concord(yes, I know they've been decommissioned commercially. That's why they'd have to buy their own.) jet and use it for the teams that have to make the trip. The NFL can afford it and it would make the trip manageable. As for time change, it's always going to be an issue but as long as they play the games at a later time in London(like 7pm), it shouldn't be too bad. The west coast teams would definitely have it the worst but, honestly, considering that SF, SEA, and ARZ would be in that group, I don't really care all that much. To me, that's even more incentive.

 

[fearsomefour]

Terrible idea that I dont see happening....talk about a home field advantage. Lets get a team in North Tijuana....err, LA first.

 

[-X-]

I remember an earlier edition of Madden, I started an expansion team and put them in New Mexico. I called them the New Mexico "Fire" because the announcers (Summerall?) would say the name Fire due to the NFL Europe teams that were in the game at the time (Rhein Fire). I didn't get much attendance at first, but then I started winning games and put together some nice marketing campaigns, and was able to get over 60K per game. And the cool part of that game was that the concession food was indigenous to the area. Haven't played Madden in a long time, but I might break out that edition again sometime.