Quote:
LONDON (AP) -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says the league hopes to start playing multiple regular season games in Britain in the next few years. He also says putting an NFL franchise in London is of "tremendous interest."
Goodell says "every indicator" shows the British market can support more games, but stopped short of giving a timeline for expanding the NFL's overseas presence.
Goodell spoke at a sports conference Friday ahead of Sunday's game between the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Wembley Stadium. It's the third year in a row that the NFL is staging a regular season game in London.
Goodell said if interest continues to grow, the NFL could have a franchise in London.
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What do you think?
In theory, I like the concept of expanding into Europe. But scheduling will not be easy. Does an eventual London team play only teams in the eastern half of the US, to save travel time? And would you need a full 4-team division over there to make this work (that would take care of 8 of your 16 games).
The NFL started a new UK website too:
NFLUK.com
Interestingly, I read a few comments by UK NFL fans, who said they would NOT support a team there, and that their attendance should not be assumed. They already have allegiances to particular NFL teams and would keep supporting those American teams instead. So I guess the key is to build a bigger pie of new fans.