If NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wants to continue the push for an NFL franchise in London, he will find a willing partner in London’s mayor.
In an interview with Talksport, London Mayor Sadiq Khan expressed optimism that his city could not only host an NFL franchise, but host the Super Bowl as well.
“I’ve been saying since the first day I became Mayor my ambition is to have more American football games in London and ultimately for there to be a franchise there and, dare I say it, even the Super Bowl,” Khan revealed. “I met recently one of the owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Shahid Khan. I’ve met the NFL commissioner on a number of occasions, most recently at the game at Twickenham this year and my team is working very closely with the NFL.”
London is slated to host three NFL games this year, once construction is completed on the Tottenham Hotspurs new stadium, that number could potentially increase.
“This year we’ll have three games in our city for a variety of reasons to do with the availability of Twickenham and other issues,” Khan explained. “Obviously once Spurs open up their stadium that will give us the potential to have more games there, but I’m ambitious – the idea is to have eight games in London eventually, which is the number a franchise team plays and then who knows, maybe one day the Super Bowl!”
Obviously, there are serious competitive and logistical issues with the idea of basing an NFL franchise in London. The team would have to be on the road for nearly a month at a time when making road trips, and any team traveling to play them would be at a serious disadvantage.
A London Super Bowl might be a more realistic possibility, at least from a logistical standpoint. However, advertisers will likely scoff at the idea of holding the most watched television event of the year, five hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone.
A London Super Bowl would also likely be seen as a slap in the face to American fans who consider the game to be a uniquely American event.
Though, the NFL hasn’t seemed to care much about smacking American fans in the face as of late.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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