A european team would only work if they played a small number of home games.

The travel would just be too much of a nightmare.

Mexico/Canada wouldn't be quite as bad.

I seem to remember some kind of stats done last year that showed teams played remarkably worse the week after travelling overseas for games. Obviously the sample size was small, but it was still pretty interesting. Keep in mind that it not just effects them the week of the game, but also the week coming back as well. It's essentially playing two games at a disadvantage.

Remember that west coast teams also have a very bad record playing noon east coast games as well.

I have no idea whether it actually impacts much, but the precedent is out there in some capacity.

Lol what NFL player would want to spend any time in Mexico City?

yea wtf? Mexico City would be a nightmare

Logistically having a team in London wouldn't be that difficult. Obviously the players wouldn't enjoy it, but it could be done. The team could be actually based in NY, and play their 8 road games in a row. Then they could spend two months in London playing their 8 home games. For visiting teams, it would be a huge pain, but they are already sending teams to London now and it works.

better than buffalo

I dunno. Personally I'll take snow over getting kidnapped.

Absolutely this. On the UK broadcast they said that a London franchise was under consideration, along with a second Wembley game annually.

Now, surely Canada needs a team, and would be better than a European team. But if a European team, then why the hell should it go to London? THe Monarchs (NFL Europe for those who paid no attention) had to fold long before the league was wound up, at which time the German teams, and the Dutch and Scottish were still rolling along trying their best, and in the case of the Germans, still getting great crowds.

It seems that the NFL are mistaking where they wish an overseas franchise could go (presumably based on language alone), with where it would be best for it to go.

As a 'European', if any team joins the league from outside of the USA, it has to be Canada, but better that it is what it is, American Football, and it stays in America.

One important thing to keep in mind: there will be entities in Canada who would be none-to-welcoming to an NFL team moving to Toronto, to the point of being downright hostile. In the 1970s the WFL planned on putting a franchise in Toronto, and they wound up being kicked out by the threat of emergency legislation (the Canadian Football Act) that would have prevented Toronto from fielding a team.

Dunno how much things have changed in 35 years. I do know that the CFA's greatest opposition came from the mayors of the largest Canadian cities, and that Canada did host some WLAF franchises.

You really didn't hear about SA embracing the Saints during the 2005 season, the way Oklahoma City embraced the Hornets. It's probably a viable market, but not a prime market.

lol Mexico City. It would be great until players families started getting kidnapped and the whole team inevitably became a drug front.

This is very true as many people drive across the border to see games. If Toronto got a team it would be a sellout every game. Plus weather not a concern with a domed stadium

Here's the problem with San Antonio. Normally, such as in the case of the Spurs, you are going to get a reasonable amount of people coming in from Austin to watch the games. But with football, Austin already has the Longhorns which they will love more than any pro team in anything ever and as such I imagine the residual Austinite attendance is greatly diminished.

Naw, the NFL shouldn't put one team in Europe, what they should do is put a whole league over there and try to develop it. It would probably take ten years, but then we could probably have pretty competitive teams. At which point we could have joint playoffs and an actual real World Cup. I see no reason why this couldn't work. Euro's all speak English and they like sports.

NFL-Europe failed financially but yeah maybe if they redid it and it wasn't a developmental league but instead some lower tier league a la CFL (except with NFL rules) there may be a chance to revitalize it if the ambitions aren't too huge. I think 20-30k people sold out stadiums (i.e. play in smaller stadiums) are about what one should aim for.

The problem with NFL-Europe was that there wasn't exactly huge identification with teams due to rotating players. I'm sure there's enough second grade player talent around that would rather play in Europe than get a regular job after college.
Some coordination with the soccer leagues would be required starting with what would be the main day of play. I think it would be best to start the season during one of the soccer breaks either summer or winter. Winter kinda sucks weather wise but otoh there isn't a huge tournament (world cup, euros) every two years to collide with either.

I was joking man

Toronto

Also, I know hockey =/ football in Canada but the Leafs have been terrible for years and still sell out every game playing 41 home games per year.

With the amount of media in the city plus the population I can't see them not selling out games and I think it would become one of the biggest NFL franchises relatively quickly if they managed even a little bit of success.

Yeah, I remember that. The Cowboys also like having training camps down there because they have lots of football fans.

I guess I just question whether it's big enough to really have the market the NFL would want. SA has tons of fans, but not a whole lot of higher income people. So you'd have to import the higher income fans from Austin. Well, Austin already has people going to football games 5 weekends a year, and many of them have been doing it all of their lives.

Rams back to LA

Bills to TOR

Jags to HAVANA, VIVA IMO

Dont think theres any doubt a London team would be put in the AFC East

New England vs Old England etc

I can't see this happening, and wouldn't want it to.

Lol as I started reading this post my first thought was "why?". I honestly forgot there was football in Canada.

Wtf put a team back in LA before you start expanding overseas.

Also, London >>>>>>>>>>> Mexico City. Who the **** wants to live and play in Mexico?

There's a 5 hour diff between London and the East Coast. That's not significantly worse than East to West coast.

Obviously you would have to fiddle with the sched a bit and it would be really tough for west coast teams to go there. They could do a 2-3 week road trip followed by a bye and come out here, but that's a bit harsh.

West coast teams tend to suck when they go east. So every home game for a European team would be a huge advantage against an east coast team. It would be hell for a west coast team heading over there.

How would they deal with the taxes? Nobody would ever ever play in london.