The league’s London slate will begin Sunday, with the Bears and Raiders breaking in Tottenham Hotspur’s $1 billion stadium. While the NFL plans to continue the same international format next season — four games in London, with a fifth likely in Mexico City — future games in Canada and Germany are being considered, Albert Breer of SI.com notes.
While momentum appears to be building for a game in Germany at some point in the early 2020s — but not 2020 — the NFL’s push for a London-based franchise by 2022 looks to have slowed. Issues with the schedule, including what would happen if the London team made the playoffs, remain the top roadblock, per Breer. But one item that may help matters — giving a London team a U.S. base to assist with travel — has generated discussions. A scenario involving the NFL buying the Falcons’ Flowery Branch, Ga., practice facility, with the Falcons moving closer to downtown Atlanta, has been discussed, Breer notes.
Next season will feature two games at the English Premier League club’s new stadium and two more at Wembley Stadium. Beyond 2020, though, Germany could be in play. The NFL’s recent pivot to discussing a 17-game season, something Jerry Jones confirmed (via Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News, on Twitter), would open the door to future international dates.
The next CBA including a 17-game schedule would accelerate the league’s international push, and Canada games would not require the unique preparations contests in England do. The NFL has played regular-season games in Toronto before, with the Bills hosting multiple games there in the recent past, and the Raiders and Packers convened for a preseason game in Winnipeg this year. (Though, that did not exactly go as planned.)
that’s just called the CFL
How about Goddell’s back yard?
I am thinking he has a big back yard with the money he makes so why not have a game there
With roughly 20% of the league still winless, expansion just isn’t appealing. More games for more bad football & more injuries? Mexico City clearly wasn’t ready as they pulled the game last season. Plus new stadiums in Atlanta, LV, & LA. Why move the games elsewhere?
Do teams have to agree to play these games? I’ve always thought it was messed up that local municipalities are usually on the hook for the cost of building new stadiums, then their teams end up not even playing a full slate of games there
I remember I think last year’s London game having a snafu and a team refusing to travel because the infrastructure wasn’t set up to figure out who would cover the travel/lodging expenses of the coaches and staff.
Then look at the travel involved, the time zones change, and nobody really knows what the playing surface is like because no football team is monitoring it all year long.
This is something that should come up in the new CBA and the players should vote it down.
The last game in Canada had to be played on an 80 yard field, and they’ve had to move a Mexico game because of a bad field. Don’t bite off more than you can chew nfl.
Anybody remember The World League of Football? True it wasn’t NFL caliber football and you can argue there are some NFL teams that aren’t playing up to that standard, but that league flopped had.
Relocating a team outside of the US, even Canada, could prove problematic from a logistics point of view. Do the players earn salaries in USD, or the currency of their home team’s country? Do they need to pay taxes in two different countries? I know some Orioles players in baseball had trouble playing games in Toronto because of having certain legal issues, namely Troy Patton who could not play in Toronto because of his DUI conviction. We all know football players aren’t saints so how do you rectify that problem?
Another poster brought up even more expansion teams. There just isn’t enough talent to go around as it is. I would suggest relocation. The Jaguars haven’t been doing well with attendance and it was suspected for awhile that they would relocate. The Rams and Raiders already have. What other teams are out there that could move based on poor financials or lack of fan interest?
Excellent comment Ed. I agree with you that foreign countries are not going to take as casual a stance to illegal acts by NFL players as occurs in the United States…particularly if those acts are related to alleged sexual abuse.
These gimmicks are ridiculous. Maybe the Bills play 1 game in Toronto like they used to do but German really? The 4 major US sports commissioners love these international money grabs
The Jags owner already owns a English Premier League team, so they could be a logical choice to relocate to England
Can we just stop with this insanity. Other countries have soccer and could care less. Plus it kills both teams and someone’s home schedule.
+1