Jags to London in 2018?

[H8IAST8]

Just a guess, but they will play there 4 years in a row, they are the smallest market (outside GB) and was considered an expansion mistake by most people.

Goodell wants teams in London and L.A., in no particular order - NFL - Sporting News

 

[CWooD4]

Well their new owner does own Fulham FC that plays in West London, so it does make somewhat of a connection.

 

[TChawk]

Then they never will get anybody good to play for them

 

[MeatMan]

Then they never will get anybody good to play for them

yeah, that might be a really tough sell to free agents.

 

[H8IAST8]

Then they never will get anybody good to play for them

I'm not sure about that. London isn't that far from about 30-40% of the population (northeast US). London is only 1 hour further than Boston to LA, NYC to San Fran, Seatle to Miami, LA to Tampa, etc. I'm sure some players would much rather live in London than some U.S. cities.

 

[Jjgoiowa11]

 

[H8IAST8]

The University of Hawaii basically does this already. Every road game is a minimum of 6 hours away. If college kids can do it, professional athletes getting paid Millions can do it. Hawaii gets to travel to Maryland this year to play Navy, (11 hour flight)

Maybe they would play double headers 2-3 times a year. Once at the beginning, once in the middle and once at the end of the year. Then 2 normal away games. Each double header would be a 5-6 day business trip (Sunday to Thursday, Monday to Sunday).

 

[ssckelley]

So San Francisco to London is how long of a flight? I have a hard time believing the players union would be for this. Playing Monday, Sunday, or Thursday night football would be brutal for a team from London.

 

[thejumper5]

On a recent NBA preview video, former NBA player Jalen Rose, who was a one-time member of the Toronto Raptors, explained the difficulty of Canadian teams obtaining quality free agents. He noted that an American playing in Canada has to pay income tax in both the US and Canada. He says that the Raptors have a significant disadvantage in attracting American free agents for this reason.

I imagine that an NFL team in London might see some of the same disadvantages.

 

[H8IAST8]

So San Francisco to London is how long of a flight? I have a hard time believing the players union would be for this. Playing Monday, Sunday, or Thursday night football would be brutal for a team from London.

What makes you think San Fran or any west coast NFL city would be a regular occurrence? Once a year maybe. It looks to be an 11 hour flight from San Fran to London. You simply schedule a trip like this after a bye week, or have it be a Monday Night game. San Fran just made the trip to London last weekend. The NFL has given every team that has traveled to London a bye after that game.

Im not saying i like it, im not saying its ideal, but i dont doubt it could happen. Put them in the AFC or NFC East and will always have 3 road games within 7 hours. 7 hour flights are not that bad. Especially private charters where you dont have the hassles the general public has.

 

[thejumper5]

What makes you think San Fran or any west coast NFL city would be a regular occurrence? Once a year maybe. It looks to be an 11 hour flight from San Fran to London. You simply schedule a trip like this after a bye week, or have it be a Monday Night game. San Fran just made the trip to London last weekend. The NFL has given every team that has traveled to London a bye after that game.

Not exactly possible for a team to play night games in London. A MNF, SNF, or TNF game that kicks off at 8:30 PM ET is starting at 1:30 AM London time.