Those games drew crowds of over 100,000 people, with the most recent one being played in 2005 between San Francisco and Arizona, where 103,467 fans attended. Scotland already had a team, the Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe, but they only enjoyed marginal success. [1][4] The NFL's UK operation has pointed to the success of the 1995 expansion team the Carolina Panthers having grown a fanbase in a previously untapped market to support the idea that a London team could do the same. Since it would be the first of many new teams, fans should look forward to London's first NFL franchise the most. [2] It has been speculated that the current (2012) US market was saturated, and so it was unlikely that an expansion team within the US would generate the NFL's desired growth without a fundamental change in their funding model, such as the introduction of pay-per-view TV, which was also seen as unlikely since the league's current broadcasting contracts run to 2022. The population is only 650,000, so the market doesn't seem very large, but the Galaxy's past success probably left a strong enough mark to leave fans waiting for another team. "[25], One possible method of accommodating the full schedule of an NFL franchise that the FA is investigating (as of 2014), is playing some home England fixtures at other football stadiums around the country, something which had not been done since the stadium had been reopened. It has been suggested that the NFL's use of a draft system and a minimum age limit on players would come into conflict with the EU's laws regarding freedom of movement for workers and competition. Capacity is over 82,000, falling shy of only Fed Ex Field and the Meadowlands among NFL stadiums. They drew over 40,000 people for a game during the eighties (Civil War vs Oregon), but with the huge investment recently made at Reser Stadium Oregon has shown that they care about their football. Each existing team has to make five players from its roster available, and only one of those players can have 10 or more years of experience in the league. You’d have a lot of dead fan bases in the league. In Orlando, the recently successful UCF Knights have drawn bigger and bigger crowds every year according to the school's newspaper, and they are only a Conference USA team. Speaking during the 2015 International Series, Waller stated "We’re currently at four million, we were at about 2.3  million when the International Series started [in 2007]. Don't assume Jaguars are moving", "Roy Hodgson fears NFL game will spoil Wembley pitch ahead of Euro 2016 qualifer [sic] against Slovenia", "Why the NFL matters to Wembley Stadium's financial future", "England could hit the road as FA mulls idea of Wembley NFL franchise", "England could play games around country if Wembley gets NFL team", "Jaguars owner places offer to buy Wembley Stadium", "Wembley: Shahid Khan withdraws 'divisive' offer to buy national stadium from FA", "Tottenham Hotspur will host NFL matches at new stadium", "The NFL just got closer to putting a team in London", "Tottenham sign deal with NFL to stage American Football matches at new 61,000-seater stadium", "Twickenham agrees deal to stage NFL games", "NFL to play at Twickenham as three-year deal is announced", "Before putting an NFL team in London, league wants to check logistics", "London looks increasingly likely to get NFL franchise but could it work? [20] The Bills' lease has an exit window in the 2020 offseason (which it opted not to exercise)[21] and expires after the 2022 season, coincidentally the end of the NFL's current TV contracts. [23] The stadium's owners, the Football Association, are reportedly interested in using Wembley as the base of a London team, but it has been suggested by The Telegraph that they may struggle to accommodate a full programme of NFL games, as well as hosting the England national football team. "[35], Speaking after talks with the UK government, Dan Marino argued that probably the biggest challenge facing a London franchise is the physical logistics of moving the staff and equipment across the Atlantic for every away game. Throughout years of experimentation in Europe, Germany has always had several teams competing, and football seems to have really gained a foothold there. With much of the United States and the world stuck in quarantine, we’re doing this a little earlier this year: it’s time for our third annual NFL expansion series. Countering one reason often cited as why the Jaguars would move, their low attendances, it has been argued that there are other franchises such as the Buccaneers with even lower attendances and less potential for growth in their own market in comparison. Football will always thrive in Texas, and all things considered it's absolutely amazing that San Antonio hasn't acquired a team yet. If crowds like that are attending the college games, imagine how well a pro team would do there. The only thing I have a market on right now is a lack of knowledge. An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. In the alternate universe that is MLS, this can still be considered a weird one. Football's inherent excitement allows a much better chance at success. Students definitely make up a high percentage of those numbers, but they definitely don't make up those crowds themselves. 0 of 12. As the NFL season looms fans get ready to cheer on their home team. The one thing that we’ve got to do more work on is how would it work from a team operational standpoint?" Toronto may be more involved in football than Montreal or any other Canadian city right now, but our northern neighbors could have more than one successful team. It was built with locker rooms which are twice the size usually found in soccer venues, which allows them to accommodate a 53-man NFL roster. On May 4, 2020, the entirety of the scheduled 2020 International Series games, including the London games, were moved back to the home stadiums in the United States due to the international COVID-19 pandemic. While Khan admits the move has been a success in terms of improving the finances and profile of what was a small and struggling franchise, he has nonetheless been reluctant to commit to a move, preferring the current arrangement.[11][12]. 24 or more clubs would have to approve of the decision. With rumor winds blowing harder than ever about an NFL return to LA, expansion of the league is … Analogies have been drawn to soccer, where players from outside the European Union must be shown to be bringing something "special and different", and teams are required to comprise a minimum number of EU citizens. "[38] Speaking at the start of 2016, he said "The fan base is big enough and passionate enough that it can support a franchise". Related: NFL Expansion: 5 Cities that Deserve the Next Relocation or Expansion Franchise. [1] However, as all NFL Europe franchises outside Germany and the Netherlands, the Monarchs were ultimately relocated due to lack of public interest. Another potential issue is the natural grass pitch (following the first International Series game, the pitch was upgraded to a partly artificial Desso surface[1]) – with previous England team manager Roy Hodgson having complained about the state of the surface after just two International Series games,[10] claiming one player injured his ankle in 2014 because of the cut-up pitch. As happened with the Buffalo Bills in 2014, even franchises with relatively long lease agreements but which are otherwise seen as struggling in their own market, are often named by the media as potential candidates for relocation to London, on the basis that those advocating relocation to a more lucrative market would be offering more money than those proposing to stay put. There were some players that did well and came over to the NFL, like Jake Delhomme and David Akers, but overall the league's talent just wasn't very good. To overcome this, he speculated that the NFL might follow the example of other sports like basketball and baseball, where some teams play away games in back to back series of three or four games, allowing the team to stay in the US for this part of their schedule. Football is already doing okay in Sacramento anyways in the UFL, where coach Dennis Green and quarterback Daunte Cullpepper reunited to lead the Mountain Lions last year. The perennially less successful Aggies of Utah State understandably attract much larger crowds, but BYU does better out in Provo. Average crowds last year exceeded 60,000 according to Desert News. The one thing that we’ve got to do more work on is how would it work from a team operational standpoint? Players that would prefer not to go abroad would most likely be more open to barely crossing the border than going to a place like London or Berlin. [4] The NFL's Executive Vice President International Mark Waller is more specific, expressing the goal as "to build a fanbase that would be able to support a franchise". The NFL future opponents are based on the NFL's scheduling rotation. Also, I noticed some people saying Las Vegas, but the NFL, just like the NBA, currently is totally against having a pro team (in the league with the highest gambling totals) in the gambling center of the U.S. . [37], The NFL has set a target of reaching a total of 6 million "avid fans" in the UK before they will consider a London franchise viable, and surveys the UK annually to assess this figure; an avid fan being defined by the NFL as someone who says they're "extremely interested" in the NFL or that it is their favorite sport. Jaguars fans show up when the team is doing well, but if they ever hit a slump they disappear. [22], Given the size of London, it has even been suggested by Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank that there could ultimately be more than one franchise located in London, although not before a team in another European country.[6]. It's over an hour and a half from Portland to Corvallis (home of the Beavers), and even a bit further to Eugene (Ducks). Special thanks to picnik.com and pdclipart.org for help creating the fictional logos. With football even being more popular in the Lone Star State there's no reason to believe that the NFL shouldn't add one too. Join the discussion on XFL expansion in our Discord channel. [45][46] Last negotiated in 2011, the current version runs until the 2020 season. The National Football League is the largest and most successful sports league on the continent. The London NFL franchise is a hypothetical National Football League (NFL) American football team based in London, United Kingdom, formed as a new expansion team or by relocating one of the existing 32 NFL teams currently based in the United States. Portland could add a team to bridge the huge northern gap between Seattle and Minnesota. This seems to work well enough for places like Minnesota, Tennessee, Arizona, etc. It was their first season in Sacramento after moving from San Fransisco, and they were pretty successful in their inagural season. View the future NFL schedules and opponents for the AFC and NFC at FBSchedules.com. At any rate, they definitely shouldn't struggle to find cheerleaders. On November 3, 2015, the NFL also announced it had reached a deal with the Rugby Football Union to host a minimum of three games in three years at Twickenham Stadium, beginning from the 2016 International Series. The NFL estimates that there are over 22 million NFL fans in Mexico and if you didn’t know, Mexicans go absolutely ballistic for their sports teams. What separates London from other international locations is that it has enjoyed the most success recently and it seems to be Goodell's favorite potential international expansion city. Speaking in 2015, Waller stated "we've never had real discussions about a shared market". Tampa Bay, New Orleans and Jacksonville are among those with relatively older stadiums and team leases expiring by 2030. The population of the metro area is just under three million, and with football being as popular as it is in the Golden State a Sacramento team could add fuel to the west coast rivalry fire. If the NFL added a 33rd franchise, what might that team … American football is still relatively new in Europe, so it should still be a few years before the NFL really tries again across the pond. Citing sports lawyer Andrew Nixon, ESPN suggested in 2013 that while the draft may be permissible for the same reasons it is in the US, the age restriction had no US analogy, and so how it would be interpreted by the European Commission would be difficult to predict. [7] According to CBS however, as of 2012 the club owners were generally satisfied with the league's 32 team model, and would prefer a relocation. Still, it's a good start for establishing interest to precede an NFL expansion attempt. Markazi also reports that the site—Industry/Grand Crossing—has finally been decided and the funding is coming together. They are better structured, they have more money to invest in the league, and most importantly, they have better players than they did 20 years ago. The team could just be a nationwide team (Ireland Dragons), because even if there was a huge expansion there aren't any other cities large enough to have their own team. Up until their move to Los Angeles was announced in January 2016, this also included the former St. Louis Rams owned by Arsenal F.C. The Expos didn't work out, but to be fair they weren't exactly fielding good teams too often (13 winning seasons out of 36, no World Series titles). and "Most players enjoy the experience of going over to London and from our perspective a team based in the UK could be viable – but only if the working conditions and health and safety aspects are satisfactory". Omaha and Lincoln both demonstrate huge fan bases with their teams, so the NFL should take a long hard look at the heart of the nation in Nebraska. Similarly, another issue is whether or not it would have a base in the US for the off-season period, the gap between whenever their season ends until the start of the following training camp, in which the club will normally hold several meetings regarding staff and player contracts. Football might be better suited off the southwestern coast in Ireland where football actually has a fairly long history. 5,762,000 people live in Madrid Spain. being unlikely to consider them anything other than their favorite second team at best, and a potential rival at worst. A team in San Diego seems like the right thing to do and the NFL has had a history of awarding franchises to former NFL cities. We would go from 8 divisions of 4 teams to 8 divisions of 4 and a … California's capital might be about to lose their NBA franchise, but an NFL team could land there some day. Shouldn’t the Second City have a second one, too? America's favorite sport is obviously already established in Mexico and a Mexico City team could be the first team of many south of the border. The term is most commonly used in … Los Angeles would get two teams (which would share their stadium ala the Giants and Jets), and San Antonio would get the other. Despite the dark cloud of doubt surrounding this NFL season, Skysports reports that London is fully expecting to host their fifth wildly popular regular season match up, which will be between the Chicago Bears and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this year. Rome is the biggest city in Italy, with a population of over 3.3 million people. The NFL could never support that. [24], To test the implications of a full season at Wembley, the NFL scheduled two International Series games over two weekends, followed by an England association football game, to see how the surface copes. - Page 10 Cost and logistics concerns made this scenario unlikely, and the Raiders ultimately decided to renew their agreement with the Oakland Coliseum after initially stating they would not do so.[19]. [5] It has been noted that this approach may be problematic as it requires players to spend multiple weeks at a time away from home (whether home is in the US or London), something they would not have to do in a US based franchise. Next weekend (Feb. 23) will be the first time the St. Louis Battlehawks wil… [37], The league has been encouraged by the fact that the International Series games were still attracting over 80,000 fans for a game like the Detroit Lions versus the Kansas City Chiefs on October 31, 2015, the teams which had the 24th and 31st best records in the NFL at game time, leading The Telegraph to observe that Middlesbrough vs Brentford would be the equivalent English soccer fixture on the day (based on their positions in the Football League Championship). Spain probably isn't ready for an NFL team just yet, but be sure that they would get involved quickly if professional football spread to Europe. If [they] realize that any of them could be traded to the London team, or could have a London-based team as their only option for ongoing NFL employment via free agency, keeping a team out of London would keep that from ever happening. [2][3], According to The Guardian, as of 2015 it was "well-known" that a London franchise was a goal of the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, although "he tends to avoid specifics on the process to make that happen". [13] If done, the team would be the first NFL franchise to have a training facility built outside of the U.S. On April 26, 2018 it was reported that Khan had made an offer to the FA to buy Wembley Stadium,[14] although he subsequently rescinded that offer. In 2003, they moved to Olympic Stadium and drew an average crowd of over 12,000 despite going 3-7 on the year. XFL - 32 Team Expansion and Alignment Proposal - Duration: ... timtwoface 147,403 views. If expanded to a full slate of regular season games, it has been suggested that unless the government granted exemptions to attract the NFL, which have been applied to some but not all sports/athletes, then the difference between the UK and US tax codes would be have the effect of making the after-tax value of a player contract considerably less when signed by a UK-based team compared to a similar contract with a US-based team. Collegiate and professional teams (other than the Jags) do very well there. Discord. Spain has potential to house other teams as well, with huge cities like Valencia and Barcelona being other top candidates for a team. American football isn't exactly established there, but it's on its way. Chicago. According to ProFootballWeekly, the city is biding their time until L.A gets their team, then they will make their move for the next team. 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