During a Twitter Q&A, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson stated that he hopes the capital of the United Kingdom will have an NFL team in the next few years.
It’s no secret that the residents of London, England love having the NFL play a few games in their country every year. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has made a point to have the League expand to a global sport. Even Jacksonville Jaguars Owner Shahid Khan has agreed to have one of the Jags’ home games be played in the UK annually.
The NFL has become such a cultural hit in the UK that London Mayor Boris Johnson believes that it is just a matter of time before London will have its own NFL franchise. He expressed his opinion in a Twitter Q&A earlier this morning.
we are working hard on deal - high hopes for Tottenham in the next few years...watch this space #askboris @_gtj
— Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (@MayorofLondon) September 23, 2015
The issues with getting a team over in London are obvious: travel and having a stadium suitable to host at least eight home games a season. In April, the NFL did come to a 10-year agreement with EPL team Tottenham Hotspur for the club to host two NFL regular season games annually once their new stadium is ready.
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With the increasing demand of the NFL product in the UK, it makes sense to at least have a few games played there annually. However getting a team to call London their home is still a pipe dream at this point.
Does it make sense for one of the NFL’s franchises with stadium issues to relocate across the pond? Would this mean the NFL would have to undergo realignment with the divisions for the first time since 2002? If the NFL makes money over in London, then it makes sense to keep hosting games across the Atlantic, but relocation to London will have to take a back seat to the possibility of relocating a team to the second biggest media market in the United States: Los Angeles.
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