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There are many reasons why the NFL wants to expand the league outside of the United States. First of all, if they do they’ll have to change the name of the league. The NFL stands for the National Football League. That nation is America. They don’t even have a team in Canada, aye! I have nothing against the fans in London, Mexico City, Canada or anywhere else people enjoy American football. I’m just saying the name will have to change to the IFL, the International Football League.
That’s beside the point. Even though the NFL sells out just about every game at Wembley Stadium, the league is still losing money. Despite high ticket costs and the people attending the games buying up NFL gear and other items, the financial aspect of this 10-year experiment has failed.
The cost of sending players overseas, daily expenses, hotels, other overhead pricing and the fact that the league spares no expense by making sure the good people of London get their money’s worth. The NFL goes all out and puts on a show every time they cross the pond. However, sponsorships and broadcasting rights are holding the league back from cashing in on manifest destiny.
It is possible that the numbers will even out over the next few years as the NFL has a contract to play games in London until 2019. That license will likely be reinstated since London and the surrounding area has built up a significant fan base. The NFL is even looking into playing games in Germany and China.
I have no problem with the NFL taking their show to different continents if the desire is there. But I don’t see how having a team in London or any other city in the Eastern Hemisphere will benefit the league. Four games will be played in jolly old England this season. Jacksonville beat Baltimore in the Jaguars home away from home as they have been playing games at Wembley Stadium since 2013. I can at least say that the Jags have more fans across the Atlantic than in Northern Florida.
Allow me to summarize this ridiculous idea that the NFL is attempting to have a team in London by 2022. If they aren’t making money now with only 4 games during the season, then how will they cash in if they played 8 games there?! For those of you trying to figure that out, each team has 8 home games out of the 16 regular season games. That’s flying back and forth from Europe to America 8 times a year! Plus the finances for the other eight teams that would visit London each season.
The NFL is all about making money just like any other business in the world. Numbers don’t lie! Over the past 10 seasons, the National Football League has lost money playing games in London. The expenses are tremendous and remember the London team will also have to travel to the U.S. eight times a season for their road games. The overhead for a project like this is doomed to failure. The league has bigger problems to deal with given all the outside distractions and the problems with injuries from illegal hits. Having a team in London should be the last thing on their minds.
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Unless they have an entire division of 4 teams in London then I totally agree this will not work out. Cool post.
Interesting! That may be the only way they ever get this done. I like your thinking. Because it seems obvious that 1 team in London simply won’t work. Good call. Thanks for the comment.
They may as well move all 3 Florida teams to London since most people don’t attend the games anyway. Maybe they can get the Chargers over there too since they can’t sell out a 20,000 seat stadium.