The London Silly Nannies.

[Colts01]

From "Family Guy" to reality......

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jacksonville Jaguars are going to be England's team. The NFL and the Jags announced Tuesday the team will play one home game in London for four years in a row.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and team owner Shad Khan made a joint announcement about the move in Jacksonville. The small-market franchise will play four games at Wembley Stadium, one every season beginning in 2013.

Khan has made it clear he wants to play games overseas in hopes of increasing the team's brand globally.




Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

[ScottDCP]

Khan has made it clear he wants to play games overseas in hopes of increasing the team's brand globally.

If he can sell that, more power to him.

[mkocs6]

I know Goodell and many other executives would love a team--or a division full of teams--in Europe, but sending the Rams and Jaguars over there to play for the next five years or whatever may not be the best way to sell them on the game.

[wxwax]

The Rams are out. Their deal with the stadium makes it impossible.

[mkocs6]

The Rams are out. Their deal with the stadium makes it impossible.

The long-term deal is out, but they're still playing there this year. And the NFL apparently thought it was a good idea to send St. Louis over there for three years first.

[Afrocomb]

Grrr! As a British through & through NFL fan, this annoys the hell out of me! The NFL hierarchy seem nearly clueless on how to spread the game.

1) Having one team come over to the UK won't work. I'm a Bears fan and will remain a Bears fan. That loyalty is pretty consistent throughout the UK fanbase. The Jaguars coming over 4 times on the trot is not going to suddenly make them well supported in the UK!

2) As relatively poor as the Jaguars attendance has been, they still have loyal fans who do not deserve to lose one regular season game for the next four years. When you take from one group of people to give to another it breeds resentment. Go look at most messageboards when this subject is brought up and you will see a storm of bigotry and nationalism!

This is why I continue to be a proponent of the 17 game/ 19 week schedule. An extra regular season game means extra revenue... The owners win.
An extra game is more than counterbalanced by an extra bye week & extra wages... The players win.
An 8 home, 8 away, 1 neutral site schedule means no US fanbase loses a reg home game, but they will get two extra weeks of televised football... US fans win.
Some of the 16 neutral site games a season can be spread nationally amongst the 28 states without an NFL franchise... More US fans win.
The rest of the neutral site games can be spread internationally to UK, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Japan etc... International fans win.

When the conversation about going to an 18 game schedule was at it's most intense, I fail to see why this compromise wasn't debated more!

[Pruitt]

There's something, well, illegitimate about games played on neutral sites - or in the Bills' case, up the highway in Toronto. These games seem like exhibitions, and partially reduce the significance of an NFL regular season game to the level of a Globetrotter's game.

Other than the Jags, which team is the least important to fans? One might argue the Rams, but the fact is that the NFL is presenting the sports fans of London with a dismal team to support.

Hey, it's not like sports fans in London are starved for live sports during the winter. There are currently 6 premier league teams in London as well as 3 teams in the Championship (one level below the premiership). Add in rugby and I highly doubt that your average Londoner will be lining up to buy Blaine Gabbert shirts in the near future.

[darvon]

Perhaps Minnesota could play in LA once per year. Just to get the fan base interested in the NFL?

[SpartaChris]

Perhaps Minnesota could play in LA once per year. Just to get the fan base interested in the NFL?

IIRC, Minnesota just completed a deal for a new stadium. Perhaps San Diego should go up and do an exhibition game once a year?

[iwatt]

Grrr! As a British through & through NFL fan, this annoys the hell out of me! The NFL hierarchy seem nearly clueless on how to spread the game.

1) Having one team come over to the UK won't work. I'm a Bears fan and will remain a Bears fan. That loyalty is pretty consistent throughout the UK fanbase. The Jaguars coming over 4 times on the trot is not going to suddenly make them well supported in the UK!

2) As relatively poor as the Jaguars attendance has been, they still have loyal fans who do not deserve to lose one regular season game for the next four years. When you take from one group of people to give to another it breeds resentment. Go look at most messageboards when this subject is brought up and you will see a storm of bigotry and nationalism!

This is why I continue to be a proponent of the 17 game/ 19 week schedule. An extra regular season game means extra revenue... The owners win.
An extra game is more than counterbalanced by an extra bye week & extra wages... The players win.
An 8 home, 8 away, 1 neutral site schedule means no US fanbase loses a reg home game, but they will get two extra weeks of televised football... US fans win.
Some of the 16 neutral site games a season can be spread nationally amongst the 28 states without an NFL franchise... More US fans win.
The rest of the neutral site games can be spread internationally to UK, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Japan etc... International fans win.

When the conversation about going to an 18 game schedule was at it's most intense, I fail to see why this compromise wasn't debated more!

Love this idea, btw