London Franchise...Impossible

by holtfan on Jan 20, 2012 5:41 PM CST

I've seen a lot of speculation recently about the Rams moving and the NFL wanting a franchise in London some day. Well, I'm here to let you know that there will never be a franchise in London and why the NFL has not realized this is baffling.

Let's start off with the obvious: travel. London to NYC flight is 7 hours or so. With jet lack and having to travel back and forth across the Atlantic every couple of weeks does not sound plausible, much less players/coaches wanting to do it. I believe after the current teams go to London they have a bye week. So that means that any team that goes to London to play an away game would need to have a bye following. What if a team plays a Monday Night game and then has a Saturday game in London late in the season? The travel would be more wear and tear on the players then I believe they would want. What if the London team has 3 away games in a row? Will they just stay in the U.S. play a lot of money for hotels and renting complexes or go back to London every week?

Next point is divisions. They would have to be realigned to allow the London franchise to play all East Coast teams in their division. This would not happen. I can't see owners giving up rivalries and moving conferences and divisions for one franchise.

I'd like to see a poll of players and coaches to find out how many of them would even want to play over there. I think that would be a major problem. How many players would bolt from the London team if they were free agents? How would they attract free agents? Having said that, think about current roster. How often is the bottom third being tooled with? Think about how often players on the practice squad are cut and replaced. Players get picked up for a couple of weeks and are cut. Does that make sense to fly to London to get cut 3 days later?

I really don't see how it is possible to permanently put a franchise in London.

On another note, I seriously doubt the Rams relocate to L.A. AEG, the company sponsoring planning and footwork being put in to get a stadium there, has already said a stipulation for whatever team moves there will be that they will purchase at least a minority share in the team. Does Kroenke seem like the type of business man who would sell part of the Rams 5 years after purchasing them. I don't think so.

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College ball makes it work with Hawaii and your home field REALLY becomes an advantage

not only in the regular season but shit if you did well enough to get home field throughout…yikes. I think any coach would take the job if it was a shot at HC or Coord or the next leg up. It would be tough to get the big time names to come and play, but you could still cultivate through the draft…even NFL europe in some cases (Kurt Warner played there right?)

But I dont think it will happen this way. Sending any team over there is destroying that fanbase and juxtaposing it with a much smaller new fanbase that you have to cultivate. Not very efficient. If you are going to do it in this way, it would be way better to start new franchises over there.

I think the way you do it is to develop the sport over the long term with their own league like NFL europe or world league…I know they have been major failures but you have to keep swinging until you connect with the people. I think that is what the NFL is doing and intends to do in the future. These games in london are to give the sport over there a little boost and show people what it could be like.

But ultimately the ideal way is to grow a league and then when it reaches maturity, you merge it with the NFL. Just like the AFL and NFL became the AFC and NFC in the NFL.

- And here's the Rams' 2010 season in a series. Incomplete pass, 18-yard run, incomplete pass, 7-yard run, 5-yard pass, 3-yard run, sack, incomplete pass, punt. Shoot me. - 3K

by leadhead on Jan 20, 2012 7:24 PM CST reply actions

Its dumb anyway. I dont even know why the NFL wants to dry hump europe so hard when

there is so much opportunity on your own continent with the CFL in Canada and why dont you start teams in Mexico. I mean shit half their population is over here anyway, I think the Mazatlan Banditos would be a smash hit in Mexico and the US.

- And here's the Rams' 2010 season in a series. Incomplete pass, 18-yard run, incomplete pass, 7-yard run, 5-yard pass, 3-yard run, sack, incomplete pass, punt. Shoot me. - 3K

by leadhead on Jan 20, 2012 7:29 PM CST up reply actions

lol

Think about the tailgating before the games for the Bandidos

by jmo53 on Jan 22, 2012 4:11 AM CST via Android app up reply actions

Exactly! :)

- And here's the Rams' 2010 season in a series. Incomplete pass, 18-yard run, incomplete pass, 7-yard run, 5-yard pass, 3-yard run, sack, incomplete pass, punt. Shoot me. - 3K

by leadhead on Jan 22, 2012 8:56 AM CST up reply actions

^

…and the beer would be like $1 each instead of $9.

by jmo53 on Jan 22, 2012 4:17 AM CST via Android app up reply actions

The NFL belongs in the USA.

by Ramfan4life on Jan 21, 2012 2:26 AM CST reply actions

bills play a ton in canada

Beating off the dog is never appropriate when we have company over...... I mean EVER!

Follow @Sergey_Konyshev

by sergey606 on Jan 21, 2012 7:57 PM CST up reply actions

Cardinals fan here

And I agree. The idea for a London franchise is dumb. First of all, there going to have a hard time attracting FA’s, because I’m pretty sure no one wants to make a 7 hour flight 8 times a year. Besides, can London even support an NFL team consistently?

If any international city gets a team, it’ll be Toronto. But if Toronto gets a team, then the Bills will have a hard time, because they depend on having a large following in Toronto. And after Toronto, Mexico City would be next in line. So London has a long way to go.

Joe Saunders: "They Giants played a really good game, so hats off to us"

by Skii on Jan 21, 2012 2:27 PM CST reply actions

they're*

Joe Saunders: "They Giants played a really good game, so hats off to us"

by Skii on Jan 21, 2012 2:27 PM CST up reply actions

Eventualy we'll have faster air/space travel

Until then the only way to make the NFL pheasable in London would be on a partial season basis. Say Stan decides to play 3 or 4 home games there and the rest in StL and you would have something. Actualy something potentially more lucrative than a move to LA. The London home games could take place consecutively in the middle of the season allowing the visitors to have a bye week to recover. While far from ideal for St Louis it would be far better than losing the team completely. As crazy as this notion is it’s essentially what Stan has committed to on a scaled down basis for the next three seasons. Could it be a test? Might we see 2 games go to London the following years and then perhaps even 3? Both these markets are so desperate for football that I could conceivably see it working out. The only real issue would be would you call the team the St. Louis Rams of London, the London Rams of St Louis or the World Rams ; )

The real intrigue for the NFL in Europe would be tapping into that television market and I suspect having a tie to a team would help greatly with this objective.

by Sggladden on Jan 21, 2012 9:21 PM CST reply actions