Paul Higham looks at the NFL's next steps in the possible introduction of a London franchise
Wednesday 29 October 2014 13:42, UK
There are a big couple of weeks coming up in the ever-evolving growth of NFL in the UK, after another successful Wembley game and the most exciting finish we’ve seen to an NFL International Series match.
As the Detroit Lions coming back from 21-0 down to edge the Atlanta Falcons with the last re-taken kick of the game showed, NFL can be a thrilling sport for the spectators and the fact that three games sell out Wembley so comfortably only illustrates this further.
While the ending to the game was thrilling for fans, it was the start of the game that was the big experiment for the NFL this time around. With the 1.30pm kick-off providing a 9.30am ET start back in America and a national TV audience for the Wembley games for the first time.
The addition of a ‘Breakfast Bowl’ makes it an even longer NFL Sunday for fans to savour, and testing the water with the start time is another piece in the NFL’s jigsaw on the road to a possible franchise being based on this side of the Atlantic.
With early ratings suggesting that the live game outperformed the usual pre-game shows in the States, the early kick-off could become the hook to entice viewers to watch regular Wembley offerings, and could even in the future be the standard kick-off time for the London team – ensuring national coverage and exposure for any new franchise.
Although speculation on Sunday suggested that this rapid expansion of NFL games in London would see five contests played at Wembley next year, the Rugby World Cup looks to have put a stop to that and it will be three contests again for 2015.
On all known projections, five games would again be a decent bet to sell out England’s national stadium, so the NFL may use next year to test another part of the UK market in the appetite for back-to-back games on successive Sundays.
The Lions-Falcons contest is followed just a fortnight later this year by the Jacksonville Jaguars 'hosting' the Dallas Cowboys. Ticket sales suggest that the market can easily support two games in that span, but what about in successive weeks?
It’s just another way the NFL can prod and probe the UK market to see if a franchise can truly be sustained in this part of the world – as like it or not that is now most definitely the road we are heading down at increasing pace.
Any London franchise would have to play two, maybe three weeks in a row so playing back-to-back games in 2015 will be a solid way of testing out the strength of support for the game. Even if there is no London team but just regular International Series games it would still be good to know if two could be held so close together.
While having enough fans to fill the stadium and enough TV interest in the States are two of the major factors in bringing more NFL to the UK, a minor point many in the USA focused on was the condition of the Wembley pitch, which seemed to cut up badly.
It will be interesting to see how it handles the Jaguars-Cowboys game in such close proximity to the last outing, when more sporting giants will dig their cleats into a turf usually reserved primarily for ‘soccer’. And while it does seem minor, that state of the playing surface will become a bigger concern if there is more regular action to be held on it.
It’s no secret anymore that the NFL would like a London team – even at a recent owners' meeting a rule was passed saying teams who won the rights to stage a Super Bowl had to then give up a home game to play in London within five years.
The British government has even vowed to support the cause while the FA would also welcome a high-paying tenant for the national stadium, enabling the England team to play around the country after dwindling attendances at recent internationals.
Of course there is still huge dissent in the States, it is America’s game after all and having a team based outside of the country may just be that one step too far in the NFL’s great expansion plans.
Games at Wembley look here to stay though, and now all eyes turn to 'America’s Team' as the Dallas Cowboys ride in to town for the final London game of 2014, when we will see a lot more how the city, the fans and the pitch handles two games in close proximity as we creep ever closer to the NFL coming to the UK to stay.
