The signs are all around.
The day when American football will be played in Europe on a regular basis, with a permanent team, is closer. It seems only a matter of time until NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s stated goal of an NFL team in London becomes a reality.
Chancellor George Osborne met with league officials and pledged the support of the English government to help a team play at Wembley Stadium full-time, according to a report by the London Evening Standard on Wednesday.
Falcons running back Steven Jackson, whose team is set to face the Detroit Lions here Sunday, wants to be a part of the movement.
“Seeing as I’m in Year 11, I don’t know if I’ll see that day as a player,” Jackson said. “But I can be an ambassador for the league if they need me.”
London fans are devout soccer, rugby and cricket fans. While the popularity of the NFL game is growing, the notion of permanent team is still hard for some to put their arms around. The hardcore soccer fans don’t like all of the stops in play for TV timeouts. They are used to the constant flow of the action in soccer.
Also, the concept of a permanent team has to grow on American-born players. Some NFL players have spoken against the concept because of the travel that would be involved. But Jackson believes that players will warm to playing for a foreign team.
“I think being in the NFL is being lucky and fortunate,” Jackson said. “I think that if you were on a London-based team, you’d be very appreciative.”
Jackson, a world traveler in the offseason, is set to play his second game in London. When he was with the Rams they practiced at the Arsenal Football Club facilities. He recommended that the Falcons practice there when coach Mike Smith consulted with him.
The NFL is playing three regular-season games at Wembley Stadium this season, the most since it started international-series games in 2007. The league played one game each season from 2007-12. In 2013, the NFL played two games in London.
Earlier this season, the Miami Dolphins defeated the Oakland Raiders 38-14, on Sept. 28. The game drew 83,436 fans. On Nov. 10, the Dallas Cowboys and the Jacksonville Jaguars will play the third game this season in the series.
The league may be open to adding a fourth game in the near future.
Jackson has seen the game grow since his 2012 appearance with the St. Louis Rams.
In September, the NFL inked a five-year TV deal with Sky Sports to television games in the U.K. Sky Sports has broadcast live NFL games in the U.K. since 1995. It also picked up the rights to televise “Monday Night Football,” whichs airs locally on Tuesday mornings. British NFL fans will have the opportunity to see as many as 80 live games per year.
“The fan base continues to grow, and the knowledge of the game (has expanded),” Jackson said. “Also the games are on (TV) over here now 24 hours, and that helps the fans who want to understand and learn the game as well.”
All of the games in the series have drawn more than 80,000 fans.
“As long as we continue to play regular-season games here and the fan base gets to see the star players play, I think it will only (help) build the culture here and maybe even one day having a franchise here,” Jackson said.
The players have mixed reactions to the concept of an international team. The concern you hear most pertains to travel.
“I’m just not getting accustomed to it,” Falcons defensive end Osi Umenyiora said. “Jet lag has definitely kicked in a little bit right now.”
Linebacker Paul Worrilow clearly was excited about the game, though.
“You hear a lot about it because it’s one of the iconic stadiums in the world,” Worrilow said. “It should be a really good experience. It will probably be a different environment. I’m interested to see how these fans are compared to the fans back home.”
There would be some logistics that would need to be work out for the London team not to have a competitive advantage or disadvantage because of travel and players coming through several time zones for games.
“I think that the league has done a lot of work and has studied putting a team here in London,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “They have some answers. It’s probably going to happen sooner rather than later. Football, American football, is becoming popular outside of the United States. I think that the NFL is in an expansion mode.”
Lions president Tom Lewand also believes that it’s a matter of time before the NFL decides whether a team will play out of London.
“I don’t think you foreclose any opportunity to make yourselves better, whether that’s as an individual, as a team or as a league, and clearly there are some tremendous sports fans in the U.K.,” Lewand said to the Detroit media at their team’s headquarters.
“We’ve seen the growth of our sport and the popularity amongst those great fans over the last few years. How much we can continue to grow that is a real opportunity in front of us.”
