City Of London

NFL Eyeing Significant Expansions To Europe, Mexico Schedule

October 12th, 2022 at 4:40pm CST by Sam Robinson

The COVID-19 pandemic slowed the NFL’s efforts to expand its foreign-soil footprint, but after this season’s five-game docket, the league will look to move further on this front.

Few matters are more important to high-ranking NFL officials than the expansion of the league’s Europe and Mexico efforts, Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post notes. This will likely mean moves to at least double the league’s Germany and Mexico schedules, while the potential for a major England expansion remains on the radar.

The prospect of moving a team to London has died down, though Roger Goodell did not shoot down the notion there could one day be two European-based franchises one day. For now, however, La Canfora adds the concept of a “London Season Ticket” — which would feature eight games at various venues throughout the country — is on the radar. The NFL, which is playing games at four non-American venues this season, also continues to explore the possibility of playing a game in Brazil.

Prior to the format for the NFL’s 17th game being unveiled, a report indicated the league would push for 16 overseas games to give every team eight home games, eight road games and one neutral-site tilt. That has not yet come to fruition, and moving from five overseas games to nearly that would be an extreme step. The bridge to that reality could also become complicated. Said bridge might be coming by 2024, with one high-ranking source informing La Canfora there will likely be more than five non-American games by that point.

This year, five teams lost home games because of London, Germany or Mexico assignments. If more foreign-soil games are coming in two years, a scenario in which nearly half the teams in a conference are docked a home contest enters the equation. While the advantage gained by the teams that are not forced to make such a concession would be minimal, the seven-team playoff bracket rewarding one bye per conference makes such matters more important.

Goodell entertained the idea of a European division when posed that question. The longtime commissioner indicated the goal of determining whether multiple cities in Europe could house NFL franchises remains. We seem a long ways off from that becoming a serious possibility, and the NFL has not expanded nor realigned its divisions since 2002. But Goodell’s regime has refused to let the reality of overseas-stationed teams fade.

“That’s part of what we’re doing, right?” Goodell said, via Sky Sports. “We’re trying to see ‘Could you have multiple locations in Europe where you could have an NFL franchise?,’ because it would be easier as a division.”

NFL Exploring Games In Germany; London Team No Longer In Play?

June 22nd, 2021 at 7:08pm CST by Sam Robinson

After the COVID-19 pandemic nixed all overseas games in 2020, the NFL’s International Series is set to return this season. Two England games on the 2021 slate. Although no Mexico City game is on this year’s schedule, the league plans to return there. The NFL also has intentions of expanding to continental Europe.

The league is high on a game taking place in Germany as early as 2022, Peter King of NBC Sports notes. NFL reps have begun considering locations for the Germany game, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero. Allianz Stadium, which hosts soccer power Bayern Munich, will likely be the venue for the NFL’s foray into Germany, King adds, but other cities — such as Berlin and Frankfurt — could come into play.

Although the NFL has been playing regular-season games in England since 2007, no game that counts has taken place in continental Europe. The league is eyeing an annual Germany game to go along with four United Kingdom contests and one in Mexico. Germany has a notable American football following, having played host to NFL Europe games in the 1990s and 2000s. Five German teams played in that league for most of its run.

Another takeaway here: the NFL appears far less bullish on moving a team to London or placing an expansion outfit there. Myriad logistical issues have caused owners to cool on the once-frequently mentioned prospect of a London team, King adds. The Jaguars were the franchise most mentioned as the London guinea pig, and although owner Shad Khan agreed to have his team play two games in England each season, the pandemic has delayed that effort. It is unclear when the Jags will begin making two England trips per year, but the notion of them relocating overseas appears off the radar. The Jags will face the Dolphins in London this season.

NFL Schedule Not Expected To Include London Games?

May 3rd, 2020 at 1:27pm CST by Sam Robinson

The NFL is on track to release its 17-week, 256-game schedule this week. But it may feature a major change. The league is no longer expected to include London games on this year’s docket, according to Matt Hughes of the Daily Mail.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL does not view it as feasible to play its four-game London slate. Soccer club Tottenhan Hotspur is bracing for news its new stadium will not be hosting the two games expected, Hughes adds.

The NFL and Tottenham reached a 10-year agreement to hold two matches per season at the venue, but the coronavirus appears likely to alter part of this deal. This will mean Wembley Stadium, which has hosted NFL games dating back to 2007, will miss out on its two contests as well.

This year’s London docket was set to include a Broncos-Falcons tilt, a Patriots-Dolphins divisional matchup and two Jaguars home games. The Falcons and Dolphins were set to be the hosts in those England games. The NFL has not yet considered a centralized location for its 2020 games, so as of now Atlanta and Miami would be set to host an extra game in 2020. Jacksonville would also be on track for a rare eight-game home docket. Earlier this year, the Jaguars had reached an agreement to play two home games in London going forward. Although a league announcement may be imminent, The Athletic’s Nicki Jhabvala notes the Broncos have not yet heard their London game is off (Twitter link).

Given the issues that COVID-19 has caused for international travel, it certainly makes sense the league would nix its London games. This report also points to the NFL’s fifth international game — a Mexico City contest which was set to involve the Cardinals — being held at a domestic site as well.

Jaguars President: Khan Wants To Keep Team In Jacksonville

February 6th, 2020 at 7:40pm CST by Sam Robinson

The most frequent team sent to London since the NFL began holding games there annually, the Jaguars have doubled down on their overseas commitment. They are set to play two London games in 2020, stirring understandable speculation about their future in Jacksonville.

The Jaguars are set to become the first team to play multiple home games overseas; they will do so in back-to-back weeks. Both games will occur at Wembley Stadium, a venue Khan was in talks to buy before backing out of the pursuit.

This could be interpreted as the NFL testing the waters for a long-rumored London team, and Jags owner Shad Khan has connections to England sports as owner of the English Premier League’s Fulham F.C. But Khan, per Jags president Mark Lamping during a Sirius XM Radio interview (via Pro Football Talk), is “committed to keeping the (Jaguars) in northeast Florida.”

“The most important thing (Khan) wants to do is bring a Super Bowl to Duval County, and obviously we have a lot of work to do on that front,” Lamping said. “But the other thing he wants to do is ensure that there’s NFL football in northeast Florida for many generations to come.

“… London supplements what we’re doing in Jacksonville. It certainly doesn’t replace it.”

NFL inroads to a possible London team have stalled, to some degree. But the Jags, who have played a game in London each season since 2013, have long been the top candidate to relocate — if, in fact, the NFL opts to relocate a team to England rather than launch a UK expansion team — to the point that Khan as secured a right-of-first-refusal arrangement regarding an NFL London move.

Lamping, however, insists the Jaguars doubling up on their London schedule has no connection to a potential relocation.

“This isn’t about next season or the next few seasons in Jacksonville, but really about the next 10 years, 25 years and beyond,” Lamping said in a team announcement. “There is no better time than now to capitalize on the opportunity to play two home games in London, where we will continue to develop our loyal and growing fanbase there and throughout the UK, during a period in which I will be focused heavily on creating a new downtown (Jacksonville) experience that we want, need and must have here.”

Latest On NFL’s Push For 17-Game Season

November 18th, 2019 at 1:16pm CST by Sam Robinson

Over the past two months, the prospect of a 17-game season has gained steam. While the NFL has ditched the concept of an 18-game season, a longtime fringe talking point, the league is serious about adding one game to the schedule.

The NFL plans on presenting its revised CBA proposal to the NFLPA after this season, and Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports “momentum is growing” among owners to make this happen. Additionally, some within the NFLPA may be warming to it as well.

The most notable part of this push: a radical adjustment to the NFL’s calendar. The league’s new plan still features the season beginning after Labor Day, but the fall schedule would grow from 17 weeks to 19. The double-bye structure (used only once, in 1993) was not previously mentioned in these talks, but the 17-game plan now includes it. The playoffs would be pushed well into February, with La Canfora adding the new schedule would slide Super Bowl Sunday into the final weekend of February.

Each team’s extra game would be an out-of-market event, with the league wanting to push its United Kingdom schedule to eight games. The Jaguars would be featured in two of those London tilts, per La Canfora, who adds other international locales like Mexico, Germany and Brazil are on the table. Roger Goodell has indicated strong support for the eight-game London slate, JLC adds. This would seemingly represent an expanded trial balloon for a full-fledged London team. More domestic sites would also be included in a 17-game season. Support has surfaced for holding games at Notre Dame, in Alabama and potentially in Canada and Hawaii.

A 14-team playoff bracket has been rumored as well, though it is not included in this report. The NFLPA has voiced opposition to an expanded postseason field. The preseason would be condensed into a two-game slate, but La Canfora reports, though the notion of intersquad scrimmages held at stadiums has come up.

With the NFL having used a 16-game schedule for the past 42 seasons, featuring home sites almost exclusively, this proposal becoming reality would be one of the most significant changes in league history. It would also mean pushing the Combine back, with free agency’s start date presumably being slid further into March as well.

The NFL is willing to bend on some issues — like marijuana and Goodell’s power over investigations — to make this happen. The next window for the CBA to be finalized looks like the days around Super Bowl LIV, with La Canfora adding negotiations are scheduled to take place throughout January.

Could Chargers Relocate To London?

November 5th, 2019 at 9:55am CST by Rory Parks

The 2019 four-game London series has come to an end, and it was by all accounts a smashing success. As Vincent Bonsignore of The Athletic writes, television ratings and merchandise sales across the pond are on the rise, and the attendance figures and the energy of the crowds during this year’s series show that the UK may be ready to embrace American football on a full-time basis.

For a few years now, we have heard about the possibility of an NFL franchise permanently moving to London, and Bonsignore writes that the possibility of relocating the Chargers to London has been broached among league personnel. Further, Bonsignore says that while the Bolts are fully committed to moving to their brand new $4.5 billion stadium with the Rams in 2020, owner Dean Spanos would at least listen if the NFL wanted to discuss the possibility.

After all, the Chargers have not really been embraced in Los Angeles thanks to a crowded sports market and the presence of the Rams. And while some fans in San Diego have remained dedicated to the club, a large percentage cut ties completely when the team moved to LA, and it’s unknown how many will buy season tickets for the Chargers at their new venue. Per Bonsignore, owners are worried enough about the Chargers’ long-term viability in LA that they would provide necessary support to Spanos should he want to take his club to the UK. That includes transferring the $650MM relocation fee the Chargers still must pay for the LA move to a London relocation, as well as a potential realignment of divisions.

There are plenty of logistical hoops to jump through, but London does offer a legitimate, contemporary venue (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium), as well as the unique opportunity for the Chargers to develop a new, eager fanbase. If Spanos wants it, London could be there for the taking.

Other reporters, however, are skeptical that such a move is plausible. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk points out that Jaguars owner Shad Khan has secured a right of first refusal with respect to a London relocation, so he has to say he does not plan to take his team to London before anyone else can consider it. Further, Florio’s sources suggest that no one from the league has ever talked to Spanos about moving to London, which leads him to believe that the sources behind Bonsignore’s report are pushing some other agenda (like forcing the Jags to make a decision).

Bonsignore adamantly denied Florio’s speculation (via Twitter), but Jason Cole of Bleacher Report says that no one in the NFL has talked to the Chargers about moving to England (Twitter link). Coles concedes that the topic may have been broached among other league personnel, but his source says that the Bolts are definitely staying in the US.

Either way, it’s an interesting possibility to consider, especially since the NFL seems closer to having a permanent London team than it ever has.

NFL Eyeing Games In Canada, Germany

September 30th, 2019 at 2:39pm CST by Sam Robinson

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.)

Extra Points: Super Bowl, London, Callaway, Browns, Cooper, Cowboys

October 27th, 2018 at 5:47pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

There’s been a lot of talk about the NFL and London recently. There were rumors earlier this month that the Jaguars were eyeing a move to London in the near future. Just days later, the NFL’s vice president of international said the league was ready for a team across the pond right now. While Jaguars owner Shad Khan recently pulled his offer to buy Wembley Stadium, throwing cold water on the rumors for now, the NFL is still very invested in expanding the game abroad.

One possibility that’s been suggested is holding the Super Bowl in London. While Roger Goodell is acknowledging that it’s “been talked about a lot”, he said the league currently isn’t planning on doing it anytime soon, according to Nick Shook of NFL.com. Goodell said the Super Bowl is supposed to be a reward for fans, and that he won’t look to put a Super Bowl in London until London has its own team. Overall, Goodell’s comments suggest the league still plans on having a franchise overseas sooner rather than later.

Here’s more from around the league:

Browns receiver Antonio Callaway has a well-documented legal history. He dealt with lots of off-field issues while at Florida, then was arrested this summer and reportedly didn’t tell the Browns about it until it was reported in the media. Now, Callaway was pulled over for speeding on his way to the team’s game against the Chargers a couple of weeks back, according to Robin Goist of Cleveland.com. It’s a very minor incident, but still worth noting due to Callaway already being on thin ice with the team. Callaway’s role has been reduced in recent weeks, even with injuries piling up to the Browns’ pass-catchers, and it seems like he’s in the doghouse with the coaching staff.
The Cowboys had been looking for a number one receiver for a while before trading for Amari Cooper, Cowboys VP Stephen Jones said, per Jon Machota of Dallas News (Twitter link). Jones revealed the team heavily pursued Sammy Watkins in free agency but missed out. Since then, they didn’t find a possibility they liked until Cooper became available.
In case you missed it, a breakdown of all the recent drama surrounding ownership of the Denver Broncos.

NFL Aiming To Expand London Schedule

September 24th, 2017 at 7:24pm CST by Sam Robinson

The NFL remains intent on gauging whether or not a franchise could function as a full-time London operation. To measure this, the league wants a team to play in multiple London games during a season.

NFL executive VP of international Mark Waller said more games coming to London in subsequent seasons, with as many as eight regular-season contests potentially on tap for England in the near future. Along with that, Waller told CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora he would like to see a team play in more than one England contest in a season.

“I’d like to do both of those. I don’t think you have to go four games, five games, six games, seven games, eight games,” Waller said, indicating the league could soon see a multi-game jump for future London itineraries instead of a one-game increase like this season brought.

“I think we’ve shown by the strength of the foundation that the demand is there, and I definitely think you could play across a full season [eight regular-season “home” games] and slate the games and I definitely agree you’d want to see a team coming over and playing two or even three games, and then going back to the States and seeing how that works.”

Waller, though, told Albert Breer of SI.com an increase beyond four London games is unlikely to occur next season. But it’s clear bigger plans are in the works.

As far as the effort to simulate a team playing in London full-time, Waller said he would like to see a team play in England in back-to-back weeks. He appears to envision that happening this decade.

“I don’t think you could expect a team to travel backwards and forwards every week,” Waller said, via La Canfora. “So we’d like to see what it’s like to play here back-to-back weekends, and I’m sure we’ll get to that in the next couple of years.”

Winners over the Ravens on Sunday, the Jaguars lead the pack in terms of London participation. They’ve played an England game in each of the past five seasons. And Waller expects the team to extend its agreement — one that stipulates the franchise plays at least one game in London per season — past 2020. Naturally, this would lead to speculation the Jags would be the guinea pigs for the multi-London-game experiment and loom as the franchise most likely to relocate to England down the road.

“Obviously, they’ve still got three years to run on that agreement,” Waller told La Canfora, “and I’m sure after this year we’ll start the conversation there. I’d be very surprised if they didn’t want to continue. It’s worked, I think, incredibly well for them in London, and I believe it’s really helped the city of Jacksonville gain visibility and exposure, and even inward investment into Jacksonville as a result, and it’s work fantastically for us. So I’d be disappointed if there wasn’t an extension to that arrangement at a minimum.”

Regarding a potential timetable for a London relocation, Waller told Breer the goal when the NFL began the International Series in 2007 was to have a team stationed in London by 2022. Waller believes that date remains realistic, also noting that giving the London franchise a second base of operations in the Eastern part of the U.S. would be under consideration to help with logistics.

“If the team had a second base on the East Coast, and when they came over to the States they were going back to a familiar place, there’s a general feel [among teams] that it would solve a vast number of the operational issues,” Waller said, via Breer. “Whether it’s transportation issues, talent issues and making sure week-in, week-out, you have the talent you need on hand, increasingly there’s belief that’s the right solution.”

Latest On Potential London Team

October 1st, 2016 at 3:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

Naturally, the latest London game brought more discussion of where the NFL bringing a team to England on a full-time basis stands. When the subject of a London Super Bowl surfaced, Roger Goodell pumped the brakes on such a maneuver until the NFL has a team stationed in London, via James Palmer of NFL.com (on Twitter).

As far as the seemingly monumental task of relocating a team to London, or installing one there as an expansion outfit, more emerged on that front as well. Jim Irsay is in favor of a London team but notes it can only be a worthwhile venture if a forward-thinking owner runs it with an understanding of both the American and European market.

“That’s my goal as an owner, to find the right owner and the right team to come here,” Irsay told George Bremer of the Herald Bulletin (via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk). “… We look forward to having a permanent NFL team here.”

Smith points out the NFL remains serious about a London team. Several owners believe this is the league’s popularity apex in the states and the only way for the game to grow further would be a move overseas. While the right owner would help, it wouldn’t solve the logistical issues that continue to plague it. This makes Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star doubt this long-rumored London project will happen.

We heard in June the owners discussed this issue in-depth at a meeting, right down to what a playoff bracket would look like if a London trip was involved. But what did not come out of those meetings were how a London team would affect regular seasons and the players who uprooted to Europe to play for this hypothetical franchise.

Doyel doubts a London team could field the same kind of talent due to the life-changing relocation it would require and doesn’t think the NFLPA would back the move, as it would have to. Additionally, Doyel points out the team’s division mates would be at a disadvantage in having to make the trip annually — not to mention the actual London team’s road games occurring between five and eight hours apart from its time zone, with only one bye week to help for restoration purposes.

“That would be tough,” Colts defensive end Kendall Langford told Doyel regarding being on a London-stationed team. “It would be tough for me, especially when you have to go to the West Coast. (But) anything is possible in this league.”

Nevertheless, this will continue to be a key topic in league circles, especially during weeks the league’s London showcase opens its Sunday slate.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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