In the past few years since the NFL started shipping one of
its games overseas to London, conversations considering the possibility of
making London home to an NFL team have been steadily increasing. It’s
understandable: there are many European fans of American Football whom the NFL
sees as a potential customer base. More customers correlates to more money, and
the NFL is driven by money. And London is a prime area for establishing a
concentrated fanbase. It is a dense city that’s not too hard to get to from
other countries. There’s an NFL-ready stadium and an infrastructure already in
place.
From 1991 to 2007, NFL Europe was the main way American
Football was exposed to European audiences. The NFL eventually decided instead
to hold a small number of regular season games in Europe rather than run an
entire league. Now called the International Series, a couple regular season NFL
games are played in London per year.
The crowd at these international games doesn’t usually
support one of the two teams playing, but rather consists of hardcore European
NFL fans who came from outside the country to watch an NFL game. Fans of all
the teams come to watch because it only happens a couple of times a year. Will
all these fans show up for a London team week in and week out? Probably not
because of the huge associated expense.
If a team does move to London full time, it’s imported to
look at some issues that might not be immediately apparent. For instance, laws
are very different in the UK. Would players be willing to play in London if
their pay was taxed more than in the US? Also, every American player in London
would need a work visa. Players with criminal convictions would likely be
denied that visa. There are also labor laws in play. The EU has free movement
and competition laws that may selectively apply, and they also have no age
restriction on sports, whereas the NFL does.
If the NFL wants to expand to Europe there are going to be
many hurdles on the path. As long as they can achieve it without alienating
their American fanbase while establishing a consistent, core European fanbase,
they will succeed.
Sources:
Barnwell, Bill. "London Calling." Grantland Aug 2013
Dosh, Kristi. "NFL Team in London Raises Legal Issues." ESPN 25 Sep 2013
I though it was interesting to read that most of the people who attend this game in London are usually American NFL fans. I thought that it was most likely rich English citizens who didn't follow the NFL very closely.
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