When the Jaguars committed to playing a “home” game in London every year, there was speculation that they might be setting the table for moving the franchise there permanently. That speculation has largely disappeared as the Jacksonville fan base has supported the team so well that this year the infamous tarps were removed for the playoffs.
But Jaguars senior vice president Hussain Naqi still believes an NFL franchise in London is worth considering.
“The UK and London is an amazing market potential,” Naqi told the UK-based Sky Sports. “The fans have shown that they have a great deal of support, whether that means a full-time franchise down the road, we’ll see. But certainly there is a lot of support and the trajectory is going in the right direction.”
The NFL has already announced its three London games for 2018 and has said there will be four games there in 2019 and likely beyond. But that’s a long way from putting a team in London for eight games a year, every year, and expecting American players and coaches to make it their permanent home base. A franchise in London appears to be a long way off and may never happen but league officials continue to be bullish on the future of American football in London.