The NFL Needs a London Franchise

The New York Giants and Miami Dolphins squared off to play one of the weekend’s first football games in a rain-soaked stadium on October 28, 2007. However, most people present at the stadium were more interested in the rough, close game than the performance of either team. On the converted soccer pitch at Wembley Stadium, the Giants and Dolphins were playing the NFL’s first exhibition game in the United Kingdom. More than 81 thousand fans showed up to watch the spectacle, and though the 13-10 score was less than impressive, Londoners were happy with the product. Over the next several years up to 2021, the NFL would host 30 games at various venues in London. The crowds that each game drew suggest that London is capable of having its own NFL team and that such an endeavor would even prove profitable for the NFL. However, the league has been hesitant to move forward with this plan.

Part of why the league remains ambivalent stems from the NFL Europa League, or the World League of American Football. This league featured franchises such as the Ohio Glory, the Montreal Machine, the Berlin Thunder, and the London Monarchs. Even Scotland had its own team. If you haven’t heard of this league, you’re not alone. It was an experiment put forth by the NFL to try and garner international attention, but was never very popular compared to the NFL. It was a solely European endeavor from 1995 to 2207, with teams from Germany and several other European nations, such as England. Attendance at each game never surpassed 21 thousand and only reached 20 thousand during Europa League’s last year of operations in 2007. Though the league garnered some undrafted talent like Kurt Warner, who would later lead the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl victory, it was mostly a quiet venture. Were it not for this league’s failure, NFL executives would likely be more enthusiastic about the lucrative benefits of a London team.

When founding a franchise overseas, “the big issue is the football logistics,” as recognized by NFL Chief Strategy and Growth Officer Chris Halpin. For many NFL franchises, including the Chargers in 2020, finding a venue has been a significant issue. However, London has several venues which could host a team. Though most games have occurred at Wembley Stadium, home to the English national soccer team, the NFL has hosted several at Twickenham Stadium, where the English rugby union team is located. The NFL hosted two games in 2019 at the newly constructed Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which the NFL contributed £10 million ($12.8 million) to the construction of. That $12.8 million allowed the NFL a say in the stadium’s design. Outfitted with purpose-built turf, American football locker rooms, and press boxes, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the NFL’s field of choice. Even if the NFL were to spread home games across these three venues like they have for exhibition games, fans would be willing to make it out to each stadium, as signified by the consistent attendance of 60 thousand to 80 thousand fans for each exhibition match. “The investment in this stadium, it requires a very long-term vision and our relationship with the NFL with the initial contract we signed for 10 years, but we very much hope there will be a franchise in London, and we would very much like this stadium to be used for that club,” Chairman of Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur Daniel Levy said.

Another trouble has been flights. There is no doubt that a team heading from the United States, especially the west coast, to London would be jet lagged and at a disadvantage compared to the home team. Team personnel and trainers are trying to combat this issue with special sleep schedules, and to some extent, they have succeeded in minimizing the effect of jet lag. The Seattle Seahawks shared their strategy with the world, showing how their players got extra sleep during the flight and practices were rescheduled and lightened. Seahawks Director of Player Health and Performance Sam Ramsden prepared three-sheet guides for the team to help them manage their sleep and adjust their schedules for better gametime performance.

The NFL’s procedure for its current exhibition games is to allow the teams returning to the states a bye week to rest and recover before their next set of games. The sheer amount of personnel and equipment that goes into each NFL game, most of which goes unnoticed by the crowd, measures in the tons. The NFL has to charter multiple planes between London and their traveling opponent to support the team’s arrival. And that’s not including customs declarations, passports, and the special regulations that come with going abroad in general. Unlike Canada, there are fewer unique programs that Americans get when traveling to the UK to expedite security processes. Though these problems exist, the league has been able to combat them, as shown by the exhibition games, but upping the scale will take some effort from the league-wide logistics team. The cost of these flights could reach $1 million per cross-Atlantic transaction. However, this cost is outweighed by the $30 million in ticket sales at the NFL’s Wembley games, a significant amount that stands to grow over time if London is granted its own team to cheer for week after week.

In terms of scheduling, there are some issues that are too large to combat. After an away game, a team will typically return to its home city for practices before the next game. However, a London team facing away games would find this routine very difficult. Therefore, it is likely that the NFL will schedule London’s team in blocks, grouping sets of home and away games together. This system means that London’s team would be forced to share practice facilities and equipment with their next game’s host or would need a special practice facility built in the United States that would serve as their hub when away. The latter option, clocking in at a multi-million dollar price tag, is not yet in consideration by the NFL.

Finally, there comes the subject of players. The UK does not have a considerable number of talented youths who would be willing to play American football, meaning that most of the London team’s talent would come from American sources. Setting aside the national pride this sourcing may harm, there are severe issues. Sam Wendover from Wendover Productions brilliantly summarizes that the NFL would have to persuade their players “monetarily or otherwise.”

The UK government, however, has recognized the effect of American football in the nation. “The NFL has become a regular fixture in the UK’s brilliant sporting calendar,” UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said. NFL research shows approximately 13 million NFL fans watch the sport in the UK. The cultural hold suggests that facilitation for youth in the UK to play American football is in the near future. Plus, with enough financial incentive, odds are that most NFL players would be willing to play across the Atlantic, considering the monetary hardships that many, especially those with unpaid college careers, begin with. Though the NFL has not researched whether or not players would be willing to cross the Atlantic, a small financial stipend would likely seal the deal for enough talent to cross.

There is a flipside to this story. Though the NFL is terrified of a lack of success suggested by the failure of the Europa League, the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors have been handling a similar charade for years. As a Division 1 Football team, their students have had to play games in places ranging from Las Vegas to Amherst, which sit at similar distances from Hawaii as London to New York and California. Additionally, as students, the Hawaiians are brought to the continent closer to games than exhibition teams are brought to London.

If the Hawaiian Rainbow Warriors didn’t exist, there would be significant implications for Hawaiian talent looking to find a place in the league. For London, a growing British fanbase in the sport has presented a strong case for expansion in the nation’s capital. The league has made it clear that unless a franchise from the States would like to move, which is not favored by any team at the moment, it is not yet prepared to allow the foundation of one in London. However, there is serious incentive for putting a new franchise in the business capital of Europe. At some point, if the NFL wishes to expand culturally and financially, it has no choice but to bring joy to Londoners with the promise of a real NFL franchise in the city.