Jaguars Owner Shahid Khan is hoping to soon purchase Wembley Stadium in London. Soon after that, he’s hoping to host the Super Bowl there.
In an interview with the BBC, Khan shared his vision to for Wembley as a stadium that plays host to the world’s biggest events, including the Super Bowl.
“Our role would be to provide a world-class venue,” Khan said. “Wembley is a great stadium and you want to get it configured to hold Super Bowl and World Cup finals.”
The problem with holding the Super Bowl in London is one of layers. Yes, there’s the obvious discontent that would cause among the sport’s American fan base. A fan base which already believes the league has either sold them out or, so scarcely resembles its former self as to be unrecognizable.
However, there are larger, far more formidable obstacles in the way: Time and money.
The NFL makes an enormous amount of money off the fees they’re able to charge advertisers to run commercials during the Super Bowl. One of the reasons why they’re able to draw enough viewers to justify those rates, is because the game takes place at a time of day when the vast majority of Americans are able to view it.
With London 5 hours ahead of the Eastern time zone, six hours ahead of the Central, and a whopping eight hours ahead of the Pacific, the NFL would have to either hold the game ridiculously late at night, or be forced to try to make-up for the loss in American viewers and endorsers, by replacing them with international viewers and endorsers.
The NFL may want very badly to have the Super Bowl in London, but it’s difficult to imagine that they would countenance a loss of tens of millions in advertising dollars to pull it off. Not to mention, American companies and fans would not take kindly to a London Super Bowl. Then again, the NFL doesn’t seem to mind alienating Americans.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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