America’s Team could soon be playing in somewhere other than America. For a game.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Cowboys are the “leading contender” to face the Jaguars in London next year.
Other options include the Giants, Steelers, Browns, Colts, Titans, and Texans. The league typically avoids exporting divisional games to London, since it would transform the home-and-home series into a home-and-neutral arrangement.
The Giants and Steelers already have played in London. The Browns are, well, the Browns. (Sorry, Browns fans. We wish that wasn’t true.)
The Cowboys, who recently were named the most popular NFL team in the United States by a Harris Poll, would bring a little sizzle to a game that otherwise isn’t very compelling because the Jaguars are, well, the Jaguars.
Folks in and around Jacksonville could be troubled by the prospect of losing the Cowboys game to London. Tarps could be removed and plenty of premium tickets could be sold if the Cowboys were coming to EverBank Field.
The Jaguars have agreed to play one game per year in London for four seasons. The quartet commences on Sunday, against the 49ers.
The goal is to see if the Jaguars can build a fan base in London, which would justify continuing the arrangement. That could be a challenge in the short term because the Jaguars are, well, the Jaguars.