Thursday 3 May 2018 13:29, UK
NFL UK managing director Alistair Kirkwood says there is no chance of London hosting an NFL Draft or Super Bowl in the near future despite the continued growth of the game in the UK.
Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan's £1bn offer to buy Wembley has been seen by many as a precursor to relocating the team to London, although Khan, who also owns Fulham, insisted he was merely "protecting" the Jaguars' interests as other teams were becoming "more interested" in playing games overseas.
But speaking on Sky Sports' NFL podcast Inside the Huddle, Kirkwood said the Draft and Super Bowl were so integral to the domestic market it would be difficult to justify pitching for either, even if a team did move to the capital.
"You have to respect all the other markets that are out there in the US," he said.
"In terms of hosting the draft, there are a whole load of relatively cold-weather cities that get the Draft that would find it difficult to get a Super Bowl.
"If you look at Chicago or Philadelphia, they are locations where it might be challenging to get a Super Bowl - therefore you have to have some respect. Denver and other places would be on that list.
"It would be difficult to justify lobbying really hard for something over and above those locations that have had fanbases and teams for a lot longer than we have been operating.
"The Super Bowl is similar terms of scope. Both would be huge and brilliant for us but you have to be sympathetic and empathetic to the US fanbases.
"If we were ever in a situation where there was an NFL team, we would be the same as every other team and we would be lobbying as equals.
"There will be times where we will push and say fanciful things, but when it comes down to it, those events are so core to the domestic fanbase in the States that we should not be lobbying for it."
