10 cities that need NFL expansion teams

 4. London

The NFL clearly wants London, so much so they’ve started to put International Series games at places other than Wembley Stadium. English fans surely still prefer their version of “football” to any other sport, American-rooted or otherwise, but they do seem to show up when the NFL comes to town.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have become London’s de facto NFL team, and they could relocate to there at some point. But having a team there full-time would be tough logistically. Other teams that play there would surely have to have a bye before or after going to London more often than not, and the home team would probably have to have road trips with multiple consecutive games stateside to make the schedule work best. Those things would not be impossible to work out, but they are big factors in an NFL team calling London home on a permanent basis.

A move toward putting a team in London seems inevitable for the NFL, via a relocation or an expansion team. Expansion plans could ultimately include having an entire division with teams in England, as unbelievable as that may seem at this point, if only to remove travel concerns as much as possible.

To put a spin on the song “London Calling” by The Clash, the NFL may be “calling London” about a plan for expansion sooner than anyone even expects.