Jaguars owner Shad Khan withdraws bid to buy Wembley Stadium

[HX76]

Que sera sera whatever we'll be we'll be we're going to Wem-Ber-Ley que sera sera

 

[Corbin]

So the whole of Hadrians wall isn't really there any more. There are parts you can visit. You could hike the route but you would only be running alongside the wall itself for parts of the journey. To be honest there are bigger, better, more established hiking routes in Scotland that i would recommend if that's your thing. There's a lovely hike from Fort William in the West to Inverness in the East that takes you along the full shoreline of loch Ness. Its beautiful and accessible. Would take maybe 4/5 days. If you come give me a shout and I'll take you for a whisky!

But I don’t want Nessie to eat me! lol Actually that would be pretty cool as well. Isn’t there a really popular forest next to that Loch as well? Or maybe I’m thinking of somewhere else.

 

[tiger1971]

Wembley is a national icon but the Football Association still have a debt from building it in the first place and having a £800 million offer on the table will be tempting. Plenty of England fans are keen on England playing around the country in club stadiums as they did whilst Wembley was being built. FA Cup semi finals can again be played at neutral venues whilst the Final could still be hosted at Wembley on a contractual basis.

Wembley is a great stadium, I've seen my football club play there on three occasions, England at least three times, the Rams once and other NFL games about half a dozen times. Still love going there but the major issue with it (for me) is that it is in London.

IF the Football Association do sell the stadium then the thinking is that the profit can be invested in facilities for developing young players, however I'm not sure many regular fans actually trust the FA to deliver on this!

 

[Prime Time]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/05/01/shad-khan-wants-the-super-bowl-at-wembley-stadium/

Shad Khan wants the Super Bowl at Wembley Stadium
Posted by Michael David Smith on May 1, 2018

Khan told the BBC that if he owns Wembley he’s going to push for the biggest events in the world to be there, which for British fans first and foremost means a World Cup final, but would also include the Super Bowl.

“Our role would be to provide a world-class venue,” Khan said. “Wembley is a great stadium and you want to get it configured to hold Super Bowl and World Cup finals.”

The NFL would undoubtedly alienate some American fans by moving the Super Bowl overseas. But would having the sport’s biggest event in London attract enough international fans to justify the move? It appears that Khan thinks it could work, and given how seriously the NFL has taken the prospects of building a bigger fan base in London, he may have some support within the league office.

 

[HX76]

She wore, she wore, she wore a yellow ribbon
She wore a yellow ribbon in the merry month of Feb
And when I asked her why she wore that ribbon,
She said it's for my Rams cos they're going to Wem-ber-ley
Wem-ber-ley Wem-ber-ley,
We're the famous LA Rams and we're going to Wem-ber-ley
Wem-ber-ley Wem-ber-ley

 

[Corbin]

She wore, she wore, she wore a yellow ribbon
She wore a yellow ribbon in the merry month of Feb
And when I asked her why she wore that ribbon,
She said it's for my Rams cos they're going to Wem-ber-ley
Wem-ber-ley Wem-ber-ley,
We're the famous LA Rams and we're going to Wem-ber-ley
Wem-ber-ley Wem-ber-ley

Is that the Rams chant in merry ol England bloke?

 

[den-the-coach]

First off there is so many twists to this, it's simply amazing. Have to hand to Shad Khan, I was rooting against him being the Rams owner because I wasn't sure if he hand enough capital, well, I was wrong about that. Many have written, he's put a ton of money in Jacksonville and there is absolutely no way he will move his franchise. Sounds familiar to those who said, there is no way an owner would leave a city, that was building him a new stadium down by the river....You just never know the end game and Khan IMO, is not buying Wembley for Soccer, but again, it's the number one sport in the world.

 

[Prime Time]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ts-sell-out-fast-and-uk-nfl-fans-arent-happy/

London tickets sell out fast, and UK NFL fans aren’t happy
Posted by Michael David Smith on May 2, 2018

The good news for the NFL is that its London fan base is big enough that games at Wembley Stadium sell out quickly. The bad news is there’s a growing perception among the UK fan base that the NFL is a greedy interloper fixated on maximizing profits while pricing out average fans.

Tickets for two games at Wembley Stadium went on sale yesterday, and the NFL announced early today that the Eagles-Jaguars game on October 28 has already sold out, while the Titans-Chargers game a week earlier has only “very limited single tickets available.”

That’s a healthy sign that the NFL is profitable in London, and it’s one of the reasons that Jaguars owner Shad Khan is eager to buy Wembley Stadium and put more NFL games there. At the same time, it was frustrating to local fans who couldn’t get tickets, especially when many of those tickets immediately popped up on resale sites for significantly more than the listed price.

“Due to the unprecedented demand for this sale, we understand that fans who missed out on tickets are frustrated,” the NFL said in a statement.

Liz Fox, who writes about the NFL from a UK perspective, noted that tickets on resale sites are priced so high that fans might as well buy a plane ticket and fly to the United States for a game.

“We love the fact we get games here in the UK, but if tickets are ending up on resale sites for £500 [$700] a ticket, fans will opt to save their money and head to America to see the real action,” Fox writes. “Genuine fans are being priced out by greedy individuals and businesses. If this continues, the NFL will see less fans being able to attend games, and in turn fans confidence will be lost when it comes to a franchise.”

The NFL has become popular enough that it can sell out a stadium in London. But it wants to become popular enough to generate big television ratings in the UK. And a perception that it’s catering only to the fans who can afford the expensive tickets at Wembley could hold the league back in the long run.

 

[Mackeyser]

So it’s popular, but scalpers are ruining it for everyone.

Why am I not surprised.

 

[dieterbrock]

I cant decide if I think a Superbowl in London is a good thing or not...

 

[Prime Time]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...Shahid-Khan-FA-make-Wembley-cash-machine.html

Khan is looking to continue basing his team in Florida, regardless of staging their home games at what he anticipates would be the new jewel in his London property portfolio
By IAN HERBERT FOR MAILONLINE

Shahid Khan is not letting the grass grow under his feet. Even before the FA Council’s 127 members discuss selling Wembley Stadium to him on Thursday, the Fulham owner’s staff are examining how to limit the tax he will pay in the UK when bringing his Jacksonville Jaguars to what until now has been the home of English football.

Tax liabilities are already complicated enough for NFL players who, under Internal Revenue Service rules in the US, must pay a percentage of their income to each state they play in during the NFL season. It’s why Khan's staff are keen to avoid dealing with the UK’s Inland Revenue.

By flying into London for games, perhaps on a Thursday, and leaving immediately afterwards, the team will also avoid exhausting journeys from London to the US west coast for ‘away’ games and the Florida climate will be conducive to players.

The point is that Khan has fierce financial focus. He’s turned the Jaguars’ stadium into a commercial goldmine by attending to the small details of how to sweat the asset.

Doing that is a financial necessity in the NFL, where TV and sponsorship revenues are shared out equally between franchises and the only way of extracting commercial advantage is by working the bricks and mortar to death all year round.

Those who have worked with him say he will do precisely the same at Wembley. England might be negotiating to ensure 'major fixtures' are still played at the stadium but the national stadium will, in every sense, be lost.

 

[IBruce80]

I went to the Rams V Cardinals game and it was awesome.
You have your fans of the two teams, but mostly the crowd was fans of all teams.
For the NFL to play in London, it is quite a spectacle. A great attraction or even a novelty.
The NFL has a big following again in the UK, just like in the 80s.

Apart from travelling 17 times a season, where will the fans come from?
British fans already support an NFL team.
Being British myself, I wouldnt stop supporting the Rams because there is a team in England.

 

[ReekofRams]

Hey Chargers, we finally found you a home.:effemine:

 

[fearsomefour]

It is Fing amazing.
The NFL leadership could mess up a wet dream.

 

[I like Rams]

The Jags are just now getting some attention and possibly winning over new fans. Moving the team across the pond will insure putting the team back into obscurity. Just the schedule alone is going to kill that team and they will more than likely end up perennial losers every season.

 

[bubbaramfan]

The NFL has been angleing to expand abroad for several years. Having games in London and Mexico City and plans to have games in Bejing and Tokyo.

Kahn buying Wembly Stadium is just a next step for the Jag's to move to London. Chargers are the only team in the NFL that doesn't have their own stadium, making them the perfect team to relocate. Mexico City has sold out every game the NFL has played there. They've long had a fan base there as San Diego is right next to the border.

Total speculation on my part, but relocating the Chargers to Mexico City just makes too much sense. (and gets them out of "Who's House?").

 

[Prime Time]

Kahn buying Wembly Stadium is just a next step for the Jag's to move to London.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.c...ms-shad-khan-plans-to-move-jaguars-to-london/

A former employee of Jaguars owner Shad Khan’s English soccer team claims that Khan’s impending purchase of Wembley Stadium is part of a plan to move the Jaguars to London.

Craig Kline, who served as assistant director of Khan’s Fulham Football Club, has made a number of allegations against Khan as Khan attempts to complete the Wembley deal. One of those allegations is that Khan, who publicly says he’s committed to keeping the Jaguars in Jacksonville, is privately planning to turn Wembley into his NFL team’s regular home field.

Kline claimed Khan told him to stay quiet about his plans to buy Wembley and move the Jaguars to London in 2022, the Telegraph reports. The Independent reports that Kline has said of Khan that “moving the Jags from Florida to the UK remains his priority.”

Jim Woodcock, spokesman for Khan, said, “This is nothing more than the same ongoing nonsense and bogus claims made by a former employee who left the club in 2017. Nothing here merits a further response.”

Although it hasn’t been discussed much in the American media, the British media have had several stories suggesting that Khan wants to make Wembley the Jaguars’ permanent home.

If Khan wants to move the Jaguars to London, he’ll need the support of at least 24 of the 32 owners, and it’s unclear whether he’ll have that. It’s also unclear how the NFL would handle some of the logistical challenges of basing a team in London for eight games a year.

Right now, a permanent NFL team in London seems unrealistic. But it’s possible the atmosphere could change in the coming years. Perhaps by 2022, the league and London will be ready to do business on a full-time basis.

For now the first of three 2018 games at Wembley Stadium is set for this Sunday when the Raiders play the Seahawks. A week later the Chargers play the Titans, and the week after that is the annual Jaguars’ home game at Wembley, with the Eagles as their opponents.

 

[dieterbrock]

When the announcers stop calling them
Jag warrs (2 syllables)
And start calling them
Jag you ahs (3 syllables)
You know the gig is up