NFL London franchise

[MidnightVoice]

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/american-football/29813017

..the real goal is a full-time London team by 2022, which would mean at least eight games a season, bringing in £102m, according to Deloitte.

The report was launched by Sajid Javid, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and comes a week after Chancellor George Osborne said he would do everything he could to relocate a team to London permanently.

This support is likely to include the type of tax breaks that have been offered to major sporting occasions such as London 2012, the 2014 Commonwealths and next year's Rugby World Cup, but not to one-off athletics, golf and tennis events.

With rates of income tax lower in the US than in the UK, the lack of such a deal for a London team would cause problems for the league and its relationship with the National Football League Players' Association.

The NFL operates under a collective bargaining agreement between the team owners and the players which limits the total amount each team is able to spend, but also sets minimum salaries based on each player's time in the league.

The agreement, effectively a revenue-sharing deal, also restricts a player's contractual freedom, which could result in problems with European Union employment law.

The BBC understands NFL bosses have started negotiations with the European Commission for an exemption, and not just for one team - if a London franchise was to get off the ground, the NFL would look at expanding elsewhere, with Germany the most likely next venue.

Just thought you all might be interested

[IlluminatusUIUC]

What the hell is the league thinking?

[mightysimi]

What the hell is the league thinking?

$$$$$$$$$

[IlluminatusUIUC]

$$$$$$$$$

Then they are idiots, because football barely drew flies when they had their own league. The London games are obnoxious, the Detroit game kicked off at 6:30 in the morning here on the west coast and if they are seriously considering a team in Germany that would be even worse.

[OpIv37]

Then they are idiots, because football barely drew flies when they had their own league. The London games are obnoxious, the Detroit game kicked off at 6:30 in the morning here on the west coast and if they are seriously considering a team in Germany that would be even worse.

Well I think real NFL guys will draw better than the 2nd and 3rd rate guys that played in the European league.

Still, I agree it's a bad idea.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Well I think real NFL guys will draw better than the 2nd and 3rd rate guys that played in the European league.

Still, I agree it's a bad idea.

An expansion franchise wouldn't be much better in the short term, and they would have significant difficulty attracting and retaining free agents. Not to mention the other significant obstacles (I'm not even sure a draft is legal under EU law).

And hey, just think of the best-case scenario: The London franchise becomes dominant and plays its way to a Super Bowl! ...which kicks off at 10:30 in London on a work night. Oops.

[OpIv37]

An expansion franchise wouldn't be much better in the short term, and they would have significant difficulty attracting and retaining free agents. Not to mention the other significant obstacles (I'm not even sure a draft is legal under EU law).

And hey, just think of the best-case scenario: The London franchise becomes dominant and plays its way to a Super Bowl! ...which kicks off at 10:30 in London on a work night. Oops.

Yeah the logistics are a nightmare with the time differences and travel distance. Imagine when they play West Coast teams. The NFL would probably have to schedule their road games in blocks of 2 or 3 to cut down on the travel.

[DraftBoy]

Does anybody know what the London attendance has been like over the last 5 or so years?

I heard a rumor that there may be 5 games there next year.

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An expansion franchise wouldn't be much better in the short term, and they would have significant difficulty attracting and retaining free agents. Not to mention the other significant obstacles (I'm not even sure a draft is legal under EU law).

And hey, just think of the best-case scenario: The London franchise becomes dominant and plays its way to a Super Bowl! ...which kicks off at 10:30 in London on a work night. Oops.

They'd just move the game to Saturday which they want to do anyways.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

They'd just move the game to Saturday which they want to do anyways.

If they want to move it to Saturday, they can move it to Saturday now. I already think it's a great idea.

[DraftBoy]

If they want to move it to Saturday, they can move it to Saturday now. I already think it's a great idea.

They've already had multiple talks about it, just didn't have a good reason to justify the move.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

They've already had multiple talks about it, just didn't have a good reason to justify the move.

Being a whole hell of a lot easier for the fans didn't enter into it, I gather.

[DraftBoy]

Being a whole hell of a lot easier for the fans didn't enter into it, I gather.

That's not a reason, nor should it be a concern to them.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

That's not a reason, nor should it be a concern to them.

You have a surprising amount of contempt for football fans.

[DraftBoy]

You have a surprising amount of contempt for football fans.

I don't have any contempt for football fans, I just understand that their wants matter very little.

If the NFL played the game on Wednesday nights they would still have record breaking ratings and ad revenues. Nobody is going to move the Super Bowl because its more convenient for fans, they need a legitimate excuse that results in more revenue being generated.

[YardRat]

I'd be surprised if an NFL franchise in London lasted five years.

[DraftBoy]

I'd be surprised if an NFL franchise in London lasted five years.

I'd be interested to see what the attendance figures have been for the past few games there.

The NFL would have to compete directly with the Premier League in England but they play the majority of their games on Saturdays and only a couple on Sunday's. The question is will European fans buy in to what the NFL is selling, if they will then its a no brainer decision.

I think you need a British owner for the team, and in an ideal world a British player which would be near impossible to find right now. The athletes are certainly in Europe to play football should it grow over there.

[YardRat]

Looks like they don't have any problem topping 80k...

http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/sho...29#post4015329

...I doubt they could sustain that over a longer period of time, and in the context of an entire season of one team vs. 'events'.

[OpIv37]

More important than attendance, how are the TV ratings?

The time difference has to screw up the American market and I don't know how ready the Europeans are to embrace American football (and yes, the Brits count as Europeans, at least on this issue).

I could be wrong on this, but I always thought that Europeans thought of American football the way most Americans think of soccer: they don't exactly hate it, but it's "foreign" and they don't completely understand it, and will never embrace it as much as their counterparts across the pond.

Of course, the NFL has already saturated the US market and a good portion of the Canadian market, so it's getting really difficult to grow revenue without some kind of international venture.

[DraftBoy]

More important than attendance, how are the TV ratings?

The time difference has to screw up the American market and I don't know how ready the Europeans are to embrace American football (and yes, the Brits count as Europeans, at least on this issue).

I could be wrong on this, but I always thought that Europeans thought of American football the way most Americans think of soccer: they don't exactly hate it, but it's "foreign" and they don't completely understand it, and will never embrace it as much as their counterparts across the pond.

Of course, the NFL has already saturated the US market and a good portion of the Canadian market, so it's getting really difficult to grow revenue without some kind of international venture.

The market buy by Europeans is why the attendance matters.

As for TV ratings, are you referring to US or UK?

[ticatfan]

Does it need to ''grow'' anymore? IMO It will ruin the game.