The NFL establishing a permanent franchise in London is massive news for the UK's 12 million American Football fans. For a long time, die-hard supporters have tuned in to broadcasts on Sky Sports and Channel 4, not only to listen to below-par commentary from British TV hosts, but also to stay up late and watch their favourite teams play, sometimes until 1:30am.
Now, fans may soon be able to watch regular season games live from the new and upcoming stadium in Tottenham, while those who wish to become fans (and see what the NFL is all about) will have the chance to support the newest team addition to the NFL, the London Jaguars/Monarchs/Bull Dogs [Name to be decided].
However, adding a new team to the NFL (and presumably, the AFC/NFC East) is no easy feat. Numerous pundits and experts have detailed issues that need to be addressed before Roger Goddell can cut the ribbon and welcome the NFL's first international team since the days of NFL Europe.
Such issues are:
- The NFL has tried this before: Over the course of NFL Europe's timeline, the National Football League sunk between $400-500 million into the minor league system across the Atlantic, only for the London based team to be disbanded in 1998 and moved to Berlin.
- Time difference: The UK (minus day light savings), is 5 hours ahead of New York and 8 hours ahead of Seattle. This means that prime-time games don't start until 1:30pm, and the NFL's elite program, the Super Bowl, begins at 11:30pm (highly inconvenient when millions of Brits have to work on the following Monday morning).
- Distance: London is 5,300km away from the nearest NFL team on the east coast, and an away game at the Seattle Seahawks would require a round trip of 17,000km. Considering teams play 8 away games per season, that is a lot of travelling, meaning higher travel costs, and extreme jetlag for players.
- The players: maybe some players could move from the NFL to the new team in London, but there is no doubt that the American Football talent in the UK is no where near that of the USA. Most kids in the US learn American Football from a young age, and are competing by the time they reach their teens. In the UK however, you will struggle to find any high school that offers American Football on the curriculum, and most players in the UK only become competitive once they join their University team (that is, if their University offers American Football on their curriculum too).
- The fans: most NFL supporters in the UK already have allegiances to current National Football League teams. It will be no easy feat to have fans switch allegiance based on geography.
When difficulties such as this are presented, it seems hard to imagine that any NFL team could be successful in London. However, where there is a will, there is a way. With a little tweaking of the current status quo, an NFL team in London not only becomes possible, but probable:
Problem: "
The NFL has tried this before"
Solution: NFL Europe was somewhat of a disaster for the National Football League, but lets not forget, the reason it all came crashing down was because the interest was not there. The quality of teams was poor, and the players themselves were anything but celebrities.
An NFL franchise solely in London however, competing with the highest calibre of players in the world like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Julio Jones and LeVeon Bell, brings huge interest to the UK (the International Series tickets selling out year after year is testimony to this). Lets be honest with ourselves too, the Brits love a good matchup, and we love to cheer on the underdogs, so for a homegrown team in London to take on the New England Patriots or the Pittsburgh Steelers is all too tempting for NFL fans. Sure, NFL Europe was a black mark on the NFL success story, but with markets becoming more globalised and sports fans always looking for multiple outlets to cheer on their favourite teams, a London franchise will have little in common with the European league of old.
Problem: "
Time difference"
Solution: As much as the NFL tried to distance itself from the similarities of rugby as much as possible, this is where Mr. Goddell will need to take a leaf out of SANZAR's book.
The Rugby Championship (informally known as the "Quad-Nations") is an annual rugby contest between South Africa, Australia, Argentina and New Zealand. Of course, these teams have huge distances to travel and play in a sport which, lets face it, is much more physical than American Football and subject to the effects of jet-lag and time-zones. To put it in perspective, the South African team must travel over 11,500km to play in New Zealand, and New Zealand must travel over 9,300km to play in Argentina.
However, the solution decided to combat these issues is for the teams to play
in blocks. This means that Argentina travel to play Australia and New Zealand in one go, and the return fixtures are played a few weeks later.
It's a little tricky, but the NFL could certainly adopt this approach. The London team could play 4 home games in a row, and then play 4 away games in a row. After all, if the Rugby Championship can manage this year after year over vast distances, there is no reason why, with a little tweaking and cooperation from teams, that the NFL wouldn't be able to utilise this idea.
Problem: "
Distance"
Solution: The issue of jet-lag has already been covered in the point above, and to some degree, so has the issue of travel costs for teams. However, this seems to be the least of the NFL's concerns, considering they are a multi-billion dollar corporation who have already begun talks with Virgin Atlantic about a possible loyalty discount for a future London based franchise.
Problem: "
The players"
Solution: The UK will never have the pool of talent to play American Football like the USA does. For starters, we don't have American Football as part of a national school curriculum to get kids involved at a young age, and our population resources are slightly less than those of the Americans (65 million in the UK compared to over 350 million in the USA). However, for home grown talent to play in a London based NFL franchise, you need to look no further than one of the greatest, most physically enduring sports on the planet (which coincidentally, just so happens to be filled with talent from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland)...rugby.
San Francisco running back, Jarryd Hayne, is a perfect example of how former rugby players can be adapted to the American equivalent. After all, if a rugby player can run on a field for 80 minutes with nothing more than a gum-shield for protection, there is no reason why said player cannot be adapted to run for 60 minutes (stopping and starting) in full protective gear.
And that's if a London team decides to sign British talent. The possibility has also arisen that a current NFL team may be permanently relocated to London, just as happened with the Los Angeles Raiders, the Los Angeles Rams and the Houston Oilers many years ago. The bookies favourite is the Jacksonville Jaguars, as their owner, Shahid Khan, not only owns Fulham Football Club in the Premier League, but also signed up the Jaguars to one "home" game per season for 4 years. In addition, the Jaguars are the only NFL team to have an official UK based fan club, and considering the average attendance for Jaguars fans at EverBank Field in Florida hovers just around 59,000 people each game (out of a potential 84,000), it is a business initiative for Khan to relocate the Jaguars to Wembley's 90,000 capacity stadium (or more moderately, Tottenham's new state of the art stadium, set to be completed in 2018 with a capacity of 61,000).
Problem: "
The fans"
Solution: Will UK fans switch their allegiances from the Patriots, 49ers, Chargers and Packers (among others) to supporting the London [Insert name]? Probably not. Let's not forget, most people in the UK select their chosen NFL teams because of family members living in that particular state, or because it was where they saw their first NFL game, or some other sentimental reason for pledging their support. You only have to attend one International Series match to know that fans do not attend the game to cheer on whoever is playing at Wembley that day. Most turn up in different jerseys, simply because they love the game, and want to experience the NFL live. However, with an NFL team based in London, it is highly likely that fans will somewhat adopt the team as their second squad...cheering on the Texans in their Sunday morning matchup, while cheering on the London franchise in their afternoon matchup (for example). It the London franchise lasts the test of time, it will grow its own fan base naturally, but it's doubtful that the world's first NFL team outside of the USA, competing with the best teams on the planet and giving UK fans the opportunity to witness the NFL live on a constant basis will draw a limited number of fans. With 8 home games a season (only 3 more than what the NFL International Series is proposing in 2017, drawing sell-out crowds), expect the fans to come and support their national team.
Problems arise in every great business venture, but what makes a business venture successful is the way corporations find ways around those problems. The NFL has the reputation, the budget and the brains to solve each of the problems faced with establishing an NFL franchise in London, and by using (or taking note) of the above solutions, there is very little reason to suggest that it cant make the idea of a UK team become a reality, especially with the growing support and desire within the United Kingdom.
Owner - Shahid Khan
Head Coach - Gus Bradley
