Multiple London games could be coming in 2010

In May, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell mentioned the possibility of playing more than one game per season in London.

On Thursday, Goodell repeated the desire, and sounded more confident it would happen — soon.  Goodell said that it’s possible there will be multiple games played in London as early as 2010.

He also said that he could foresee a franchise in London someday, although that possiblity will be far off.

The NFL doesn’t have the total overseas presence that the NBA and Major League Baseball do, but interest in Europe is clearly growing.  Adding a second game will only help.

The trick will be finding two teams every year willing to give up a home game to play overseas.  Finding one seems challenging as it is.

40 responses to “Multiple London games could be coming in 2010

  1. As long as the Raiders and Lions play there every year, I’m ok with that. Teams that are possible contenders should not have to have all that travel time.

  2. Great NFL. A time when our economy is hurting we are gonna move these great money making events to anther country.
    These games bring in so much to the local economy its not even funny. I am not talking about the owners of the football team but the local business owners, bar tenders, taxi drivers and merchants which is all taxable income.
    Makes me sick that these the NFL was made rich through us fans want to take away these events that are just huge for local economy.

  3. Roger Goodell sucks so much ass. So very much.
    I wish they would fire him and then hire Isaiah Thomas. The NFL is such a strong property that even HE couldn’t eff it up like Goodell is doing.
    Incredible.

  4. Maybe he should focus on getting a TV deal set up for this season in the UK instead of talking about a possible franchise in the future.
    Less than 2 weeks away and nobody has signed a contract to put NFL season on their schedule yet, what a great way to expand that fanbase.

  5. I say pick a team who had local tv blackout the year before to lose a home date. If there are more than 1 team with a local blackout have a lottery to see who goes overseas.

  6. Thank God the Bucs get their turn in the barrel over with this season. They will suck anyway, why not lose by 30 overseas than at home other than screwing season ticket holders for a game. I’m just a bit sick of Goodell wanting all these overseas games. Football is American, not global. KEEP THIS GAME WITHIN THE 50 US STATES! Period. Let canada play their form of the game but the NFL is a US game, period.

  7. Goodell needs his freakin head examined. When the tax payers have to contribute to stadiums where millionaires get to work they damn better get something from their investment and shipping games overseas doesn’t accomplish this. Losing just one home game is a huge loss for the community in most cases. Why the hell would they want to expand to the U.K when they cant sellout home games in the states ?
    Goodell needs to step away from the bong.

  8. With the teams having only 8 home games, I think this is a horrible idea.
    I would prefer they just forget the overseas thing.
    Start a developmental league so they can play over there, and we don’t have to swallow the farce of the college athlete.

  9. give me a BREAK with this crap….am i the only one who just thinks this is despicable?? we wait ALL year for the NFL and get only 8 opportunities to go to the games, and more and more are going to be taken away??? i HATE the idea of taking ONE SINGLE game away from home fans. Hey Goodell, focus on getting a CBA done rather than screwing us out of our beloved home games!

  10. This is all part of the globalization of our economy into one world economy. It won’t be long until everything will be this way. The controlling elite have been working on this very thing for the past 100 years.

  11. With a 18 game season, 1 should be a neutral site game, each team loses 1 home game every 2 years, you could theoreticly make 2 games neutral site games as well, LA, Mexico, Toronto, and London. Bringing the NFL to those cities without needing full time support of a native team.

  12. I will hazard a guess here and say that the teams that will not be giving up a “home game” to play in London will include: Dallas, Giants, Jets, Patriots, Bears and Redskins. Teams that are most likely “up” for “home games” in London will include: Bengals, Lions, Rams, Saints, Vikings, Falcons, Jaguars, Bucs and maybe the Dolphins.

  13. Hey, DcNinerFan, why didn’t you put the Niners in that group? When was their last playoff appearance, 2002?

  14. why is it so important to take the NFL away from the American fans. Is Roger Goodell so arrogant that he feels as thou the world is begging for the NFL? How is it possible that he is unaware of homlorew disappointing it is for American fans when games that would have been played in the home stadium are instead played on neutral turf?
    I can notm decide if I hate Goodell or respect him. It seems that the further along we get into his administration the more the NFL has appeared to become a monarchy. There is something disturbing about the judge also being the juryand pellate court. There must be a balance of power established or the NFL could be corrupted by the power of one man.

  15. This is rediculous. I am Brit living in Britain and I love football but exporting games over here isn’t going to help the sport grow and is just a kick in the balls to all the hometown fans who are going to have one of their games stolen and shipped overseas like a travelling circus.
    If the NFL want to build up interest overseas they need to lay some foundations to build on. The games are too much too soon. The first thing they need to do is sort out the TV coverage, because with the last round of the pre-season games about to start, no one knows which channels will be showing it and there is a very real possibility that there will be less coverage than there has been in years.
    The NFL should forget about overseas games and looking for profits from selling the broadcast rights to subscription channels. They need to get as much coverage as they can on the free to air channels, paying for air time if need be. They also need to cut the prices for internet packages because no one except the die hard fans are going to shell out the sort of cash they are asking.

  16. as big as a hat – because there is only one game in london, so why would I want to put anyone but the 2 worst teams in the league. Duh. Besides, the Niners have a much better chance to make the playoffs over the next few years than either of those 2 teams.

  17. What a TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE idea for an NFL team to have to travel to London. It gives that team a distinctive competitive disadvantage with other teams that don’t have such a exhausting requirement on their schedule. The NFL allows a scoreboard to be allowed within the field of play and now more of this London crap. I would have thought Mike Brown is the commissioner.

  18. If I were a season ticket holder, I would absolutely be ticked about losing a home game opportunity.
    The reality is most football fans never get to the stadium, so why get all twisted around the axle? Whether the 1:00 sunday game is played in Wembley or Miami or Hackensack or Tampa, etc… what’s the big deal?
    This feels to me a bit like whenever sports leagues introduce a disruption… NFL scheduling interconference games; MLB/AL with the DH… we react passionately, but the change is not necessarily bad.
    Full disclosure, I took advantage of the ability to get NFL/UK tickets to the Bucs/Patriots game. I’m parlaying it into a nice London vacation and looking forward to it. As I said, I could sit home and watch it on TV. I chose to go to the game.

  19. If I were a season ticket holder, I would absolutely be ticked about losing a home game opportunity.
    The reality is most football fans never get to the stadium, so why get all twisted around the axle? Whether the 1:00 sunday game is played in Wembley or Miami or Hackensack or Tampa, etc… what’s the big deal?
    This feels to me a bit like whenever sports leagues introduce a disruption… NFL scheduling interconference games; MLB/AL with the DH… we react passionately, but the change is not necessarily bad.
    Full disclosure, I took advantage of the ability to get NFL/UK tickets to the Bucs/Patriots game. I’m parlaying it into a nice London vacation and looking forward to it. As I said, I could sit home and watch it on TV. I chose to go to the game.

  20. If I were a season ticket holder, I would absolutely be ticked about losing a home game opportunity.
    The reality is most football fans never get to the stadium, so why get all twisted around the axle? Whether the 1:00 sunday game is played in Wembley or Miami or Hackensack or Tampa, etc… what’s the big deal?
    This feels to me a bit like whenever sports leagues introduce a disruption… NFL scheduling interconference games; MLB/AL with the DH… we react passionately, but the change is not necessarily bad.
    Full disclosure, I took advantage of the ability to get NFL/UK tickets to the Bucs/Patriots game. I’m parlaying it into a nice London vacation and looking forward to it. As I said, I could sit home and watch it on TV. I chose to go to the game.

  21. DcNinerFan says
    Besides, the Niners have a much better chance to make the playoffs over the next few years than either of those 2 teams.
    Yeah, the Niners are building a real contender over there. Alex Smith, Vernon Davis, Michael Crabtree, that overpriced corner that plays like his helmet is on backwards…they do have that good linebacker, though. Maybe they can build on that. And they say Raider fans are delusional. Go figure. What I don’t get is why the Rams never get lumped in with Detroit. That is a consistently bad team.

  22. Having been to games in Tampa each of the last 4 years now, I have been looking forward for years to heading down to see the Patriots play in Raymond James this year. This would have happened, if it weren’t for this ASININE idea of sending regular season games to London. Guess I will have to wait til sometime around 2018 or so to see this matchup.
    As much as I’d love to slam Goodell for this, Bob Kraft is as much to blame since this works right into his globalist agenda. Makes me sick. America first.

  23. SF Saints Fan says:
    September 3, 2009 7:07 PM
    Teams that are most likely “up” for “home games” in London will include: Bengals, Lions, Rams, Saints, Vikings, Falcons, Jaguars, Bucs and maybe the Dolphins.
    ————————————————-
    One of my best friends is a Dolphin season ticket holder, if they lost another home game to London he’d search down Roger Goodell alla Liam Neeson in “Taken” and tie him to a chair and electrocute him.
    Now, I don’t have anything against the games in London, it’s a cool idea but it’s called America’s Game for a reason. BECAUSE IT’S OURS. I don’t give a $h!t if the rest of the world doesn’t play it or care about it, because you know what? They can’t! What other countries could produce NFL caliber atheltes on the regular. Obviously kickers don’t count as they should wear Ks and Ps on their jerseys rather than numbers.
    There’s no need for the NFL to try and go global.
    Hell, there’s no reason for it to be in Jacksonville!…….no offense to all three actual Jaguar fans out there.

  24. The Jaguars and Vikings would increase home attendance if they gave up their home games to play overseas.
    They can also study the possibility of moving permanently.

  25. Keep the games on american soil!
    Us europeans will happily fly across the pond to watch our favorite football teams (no sarcasm intended)

  26. Roger Goodell is digging the NFL’s grave with his crazy ideas.
    A permanent franchise in England? Goodell you douche bag, it’s called the NFL for a reason.
    It’s the NATIONAL Football League not the International Football League.
    New commisioner needed STAT

  27. Don;t they already have a football league in Europe–where American NFL hopefuls go play to stay in shape & hone their skills?
    How ridiculous would it be to have a franchise in London. Every Sunday some team has to pack up & fly to London for a game. At leat 8 times a year theh London team has to fly here. Logistics are nightmarish. Imagine the London team gettin homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
    We are discussing possible blackouts in several American markets & at the same time entertaining the thought of a franchise in London. Have the empty seats I’ve been seeing in the stands a mirage? (I know, I know, it’s preseason but there will be empty seats in regular season also). If Europeans want American football so badly then rape the networks over there like you do the ones here & enjoy the revenues while they watch their tellies..
    On top of that, go see a game in London and you’ll have to drink warm beer.
    NFL–take a cue from NASCAR–dance with the ones that brung ya. Lots & lots of empty seats at NASCAR functions this year. First time in 20 years seats were available at Bristol.
    It’s the economy stoopid.

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