Is a London team viable at this stage?

[.Buzz]

4 minutes ago, Hunter2_1 said:

I'd probably disagree that Canada is more culturally similar to America than the UK is, but I can't go into it because it includes politics etc.

It's just proximity and the fact other pro sports have been there and had success.

[JBURGE]

1 minute ago, .Buzz said:

6 minutes ago, Hunter2_1 said:

I'd probably disagree that Canada is more culturally similar to America than the UK is, but I can't go into it because it includes politics etc.

It's just proximity and the fact other pro sports have been there and had success.

Yeah I'm not really sure how Canada wouldn't fit politically but the UK would.... but won't get into that.

It makes sense to do what they're doing with London now. Have multiple games over there every year, and make sure the bye's are matched up accordingly. Having a team permanently there is a scheduling nightmare. Getting players on board to live there and move their families to the UK for half the year. I don't see it as a great option. 

[Hunter2_1]

2 minutes ago, JBURGE said:

Yeah I'm not really sure how Canada wouldn't fit politically but the UK would.... but won't get into that.

It makes sense to do what they're doing with London now. Have multiple games over there every year, and make sure the bye's are matched up accordingly. Having a team permanently there is a scheduling nightmare. Getting players on board to live there and move their families to the UK for half the year. I don't see it as a great option. 

I didn't say 'it wouldn't fit', just that currently, UK is kinda turning into America. But yeah, *zip* from me now

 

I'd personally get rid of the London games....seems a bit cheesy, fans of ALL teams in the stadium and one NFL team has to use it as 'home' game. Seems unfair

[DigInBoys]

16 minutes ago, JBURGE said:

Yeah I'm not really sure how Canada wouldn't fit politically but the UK would.... but won't get into that.

It makes sense to do what they're doing with London now. Have multiple games over there every year, and make sure the bye's are matched up accordingly. Having a team permanently there is a scheduling nightmare. Getting players on board to live there and move their families to the UK for half the year. I don't see it as a great option. 

 

23 minutes ago, Hunter2_1 said:

I'd probably disagree that Canada is more culturally similar to America than the UK is, but I can't go into it because it includes politics etc.

Obvs makes farrr more sense logistically though. Time zone, travel etc

It's not about politics, it's about culture.

Canada is very similar to the US culturally, much closer than the UK. I don't really see whats debatable about that.

[JBURGE]

8 minutes ago, DigInBoys said:

It's not about politics, it's about culture.

Canada is very similar to the US culturally, much closer than the UK. I don't really see whats debatable about that.

No argument from me

[.Buzz]

51 minutes ago, Hunter2_1 said:

if you're an NFL fan in the UK, you've got your team and you're probably quite an ardent fan (it takes more dedication to be a fan in the UK, with the time difference and lack of viewing options etc) of that team. 

SOME will change, if you named them the London (sillynannies) *Somethings*, but not many at all will just switch to a Jags fan even if they became a fixture.

 

 

 

I grew up in Iowa so didn't have a hometown team myself. Got drawn in as a kid to the logo, colors, and Fred Taylor. 

I've lived in Minneapolis, Denver, and Chicago (currently reside in Chicago actually), and it still hasn't got me to switch my allegiance. 

I'd say it depends on what type of fan you are, but I don't think many people can just switch their teams if they've committed a lot of time to a team.

[AkronsWitness]

1 hour ago, DigInBoys said:

I don't think having 3 teams in Florida is justified, especially given Jacksonville's market size.

I feel the same about Cincinnati.

Market size

Cinci- 828k

Jacksonville- 690k

New Orleans- 615k

Buffalo - 577k

Green Bay- 394k

[DigInBoys]

9 minutes ago, AkronsWitness said:

Market size

Cinci- 828k

Jacksonville- 690k

New Orleans- 615k

Buffalo - 577k

Green Bay- 394k

Wrong.

You look at metro(market) size not city size, and then you have to factor in the economy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_statistical_areas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._metropolitan_areas_by_GDP

Green Bay draws from the entire state of Wisconsin and probably areas close to the border in Illinois/Minnesota, Buffalo draws from all of upstate New York. Saints draw from all of Louisiana and probably parts of the neighboring states which don't have NFL teams.

Jacksonville is a distant third in Florida behind Tampa and Miami which are exponentially larger markets.

Cincinnati is a shrinking market and the Browns dominate the state anyway.

Edited January 24, 2020 by DigInBoys

[RandyMossIsBoss]

No matter how much London loves the NFL, I just don't think it will ever be viable. The 7-10 hour flight, and 5-8 hour time difference, is just asking too much. The London team would have to make this trek 8x a year. You'd waste so much money and time traveling. Nobody would want to play for London and have to either relocate their family or live an ocean apart half the year. Just will never happen IMO, not unless some form of hyper speed travel ever goes mainstream.

[AkronsWitness]

7 minutes ago, DigInBoys said:

Wrong.

You look at metro(market) size not city size, and then you have to factor in the economy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_statistical_areas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._metropolitan_areas_by_GDP

Green Bay draws from the entire state of Wisconsin and probably areas close to the border in Illinois/Minnesota, Buffalo draws from all of upstate New York. Saints draw from all of Louisiana and probably parts of the neighboring states which don't have NFL teams.

Jacksonville is a distant third in Florida behind Tampa and Miami which are exponentially larger markets.

Cincinnati is a shrinking market and the Browns dominate the state anyway.

This is where I pulled from

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/nba-market-size-nfl-mlb-nhl-nielsen-ratings/

Trust me that's not city size because Cincinnatis population is 300k but their market size is 828k. People also forget that Cincinnatis market is essentially all of northern Kentucky and extends up to Columbus in central OH.

Cleveland owns northern Ohio down to Columbus and Cincinnati owns everything South of Columbus and into Kentucky

Edited January 24, 2020 by AkronsWitness

[DigInBoys]

3 minutes ago, AkronsWitness said:

This is where I pulled from

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/nba-market-size-nfl-mlb-nhl-nielsen-ratings/

Trust me that's not city size because Cincinnatis population is 300k but their market size is 828k

That's not how the market sizes are determined. Do some research on your own metro market and you'll see based on numbers and logic. There are nearly 20 million people within a roughly 50-60 mile radius of Los Angeles for example.

Edited January 24, 2020 by DigInBoys

[Uncle Buck]

If they want to expand into Europe, I'd like to see them add 4 more teams.  Make it 2 AFC and 2 NFC teams.  This would fill out the playoff brackets and do away with the need for wildcards.  I don't know what the markets are like in these areas, but it would be interesting to see them add teams in major cities such as London, Rome, Munich, and Madrid.  It's doubtful that they would or even could expand that much all at once, but it would be an interesting development if they did.

Edited January 24, 2020 by Uncle Buck

[kingseanjohn]

2 hours ago, DigInBoys said:

The league should expand/move to Canada first. It's similar culturally, closer, is familiar with football and has a good population and economy.

Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal are all huge markets.

Move Jacksonville to Toronto, there's no logical reason why Jacksonville has an NFL team.

This 100%

[bzane]

4 hours ago, .Buzz said:

I know we've had threads on these, but we're getting to the point where it's a legit possibility in the near future.

There's heavy rumors that the Jaguars are looking at an additional home game in London to push it to 2 a year. The fans in Jacksonville aren't likely to be ok with this, and given the poor performance by the organization it's in a not so great spot as far as the long term outlook for the team staying in the city.

Whuh-oh! 

INCOMING: Scream of denial from the artist formerly known as whpdck, now coyly called whppy, defending to the death Shahid Khan, sexy car-bumper billionaire and owner of the Jaguars, to the effect that Shahid is a splendid fellow who loves the city of Jacksonville (despite recently referring to its downtown experience as "a curse"); has made numerous urban improvements, including the Shelter For Homeless Bums, in Jacksonville; proposes a vast Luxury Hotel to entice wealthy business men- 300 rooms! Hot-and-Cold-Running Maids!- who heretofore have fled Jacksonville in horror and disgust; and would NEVER move the Jaguars elsewhere, lest he hurt the feelings of loyal Jags fanboys.

"You tellum, Boobie!"

[x0x]

Euro division of 4 teams, 2 in England and 2 in Germany make the most logistical sense. And yes, I'm assuming all of those teams would be losing money initially if not at least 2 of them. But the stadiums are there (although could be upgraded) and in a 4 team division the travel would be greatly mitigated. Obviously that begs the question of adding 8 teams to have even 5 divisions per Conference, however given the circumstances the league could theoretically have an extended schedule for the Euro division where instead of playing 6 games against eachother they played 9 or even 12. But scheduling games with those teams outside the division now would seem complicated, in a 16 game season. However if the league extended to 17 games that would bring in a whole bunch of logistics.

But having 1 lone team across the Atlantic makes so sense to me. Yeah sure, Toronto is the lone foreign rep in two leagues but geographically it's not a 6 hour flight for most teams.

So whether you have to specially design a 4 team division OR you wait for a mega 8 team expansion or some other type of re-alignment like 2 euro teams and 2 NA team with six 6 team divisons then that makes more sense. Expanding to 36 teams and having 6 divisions does make the most short-term sense. I imagine Bills-Pats-Ravens-Jets and 2 EU teams would make sense geographically.