Imagine the disadvantage to any and all away games for a team in London. It would be a west coast trip times 3.

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I think when a team, any team, moves to London it would be a big blow to my interest in the N(NATIONAL)FL. Its not what it was even 10 years ago, and adding such a logistical nightmare in the name of the dollar would be a huge turnoff in terms of competitive play/advantage for the team having to play 16 games traveling as much as a London team would. Maybe in a few decades it makes more sense, but I just don't see it working out for any team that would call London home. London is a soccer town, and the NFL is already getting diluted with dumb rule changes, politically charged nonsense, regardless of what side you're on, and the softening of the game would all just pile on and I think a team in London(especially if its our team) would be it for me.

I tend to agree with a lot of this..

The market is visibly growing in the UK for the NFL. However; I don't think moving a team to, or creating a team in, London would be hugely successful. England is, and always will be, predominantly a soccer country, London especially so (12 professional teams, of which 5 are in the Premier League).. Also, anyone who is already an NFL fan over here has their team already. Even if we had a UK based expansion team, the Jaguars would still be MY team and I think most UK based NFL fans would be of the same mindset for their respective teams, of course.

I'm not sure there would be enough call for an expansion team over here. I don't think it would be on the level that it would be in the US, it would be far from it. Also, where would they play? I don't think any of the soccer teams would share their stadiums with an NFL team. I certainly don't see Wembley allowing a team to 'move in' to that stadium, and I think building a stadium just for a team is far fetched.. Now, I know Tottenham Hotspur (North London) are building a partnership deal to host NFL games at their new stadium (I'd read it will have a retractable soccer pitch with an NFL Field Turf field underneath), but I'd imagine this would replace the Twickenham games as there are mumblings that Twickenham (The Home of Rugby) don't like hosting NFL games.

All in all, I think we would still see the NFL bringing games over here (possibly even more in the future) but I can't see a team being based here, be it an expansion team or a relocated one.

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80% of what I talk about is nonesense.. the other 25% is made up statistics...


 

And I'll repeat something I said before.  People who think Khan would move the team to make money are ignoring the fact that, if you look at how Khan's net worth has risen since buying the team- it's gone up by 4 or 5 BILLION dollars since he bought the team- the guy is making billions of dollars selling bumpers.  He doesn't need to move the team to make money.  So I don't think money would be his motivation for moving the team.  It would have to be some other reason.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenha...683810243f

Forbes' update from two weeks ago had us as the 25th most valuable franchise at 2.07 billion dollars. It was estimated a London franchise right now would be worth just north of 4 billion, 2nd only to the Cowboys 4.8 billion. This doesn't include the monopoly a London franchise would have with a lot of extremely lucrative revenue streams being the only team in Europe. You don't think that's going to tempt Shad, or whichever other owner? It doesn't matter how rich you are, 2+ billion dollars is going to get your juices flowing. If the logistics can be overcome, someone will be volunteering to move their team there. There might even be a fight over it.

I think it's going to be fairly simple to know if it's going to be us or not. Sometime in the not near but not far future, Shad is going to ask the city for a brand new stadium that is at least half if not more publicly funded. If the city agrees they will stay, if not they will go the London route.

Do you really think the NFL is going to let Shad Khan just scoop up 2 billion dollars?  No, they're going to charge a relocation fee that is commensurate with what he would gain by moving.   So if moving the Jags meant an increase in the value of the team of 2 billion dollars, they will undoubtedly charge a relocation fee of...   you guessed it, 2 billion dollars.   They're not going to just give away 2 billion dollars.

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Imagine the disadvantage to any and all away games for a team in London. It would be a west coast trip times 3.

It would be much worse than that.

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I don't know all of the intricacies involved in moving a team and the fees associated with it but, a 2 billion dollar relocation fee seems a bit excessive. I'd think the owners and teams worth would be irrelevant. By that logic, if the information above about the cowboys is correct, then moving to London wouldn't add much to the cowboys worth. Does that mean they would hypothetically pay way less in relocation fees? And yes, I understand the cowboys will never be moving to London.

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I don't know all of the intricacies involved in moving a team and the fees associated with it but, a 2 billion dollar relocation fee seems a bit excessive. I'd think the owners and teams worth would be irrelevant.  By that logic, if the information above about the cowboys is correct, then moving to London wouldn't add much to the cowboys worth. Does that mean they would hypothetically pay way less in relocation fees? And yes, I understand the cowboys will never be moving to London.

The logistics people worry about are what happens after a team would move to London, not the actual move itself.

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I don't know all of the intricacies involved in moving a team and the fees associated with it but, a 2 billion dollar relocation fee seems a bit excessive. I'd think the owners and teams worth would be irrelevant.  By that logic, if the information above about the cowboys is correct, then moving to London wouldn't add much to the cowboys worth. Does that mean they would hypothetically pay way less in relocation fees? And yes, I understand the cowboys will never be moving to London.

The logistics people worry about are what happens after a team would move to London, not the actual move itself.

That was in reply to Marty suggesting it would be close to a 2 billion relocation fee if the Jags went to London.

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With the lease agreement, he couldn’t just pull up stakes and move the team without opening up the books to a judge showing the team has lost money for three consecutive years. Either that, or they’d have to prove in the courts that the city has not fulfilled their obligation to maintain the stadium and facilities to match the needs of an NFL franchise.  Since neither of those things are going to happen, the odds of the team moving are almost zero.  

Naïveté requires one to ignore facts, which you’ve done an outstanding job of in this post. 

The cost to move the franchise minus the relocation fee would be closer to $200 million. Considering Khan has all but pledged to invest $500 million into the city aside from the investments made for the team itself, his best position is to stay put, continue to pursue his vision for the team and this city, and turn Jacksonville into a market similar to cities like Nashville or Charlotte.  That’s a far more likely approach.

BTW, Khan hasn’t agreed to give up two home games.  He has expressed interest in playing back to back games in London.  The team has said it would be a home/away scenario.  The only sheep here are people like you who continue to perpetuate the notion that this team is destined for London, buying into the media narrative.  It’s highly unlikely.

I agree with what you said, except for the part about the lease.  My impression is that he has two options: walk away from the lease by paying the penalty, which does not require him to open the books, or, walk away without a penalty, which would require him to jump through hoops, prove he lost money, open the books, etc etc.  

So, I may be wrong, but this is the way I remember it- he doesn't have to open the books if he pays the penalty, which as I recall would come to something like 100 million dollars.  

This whole London deal- to me, the NFL would be much better off just rotating a slate of games through London with different teams playing there.  It would give the fans over there a chance to see their favorite teams, provide profits for teams that are struggling to make money in their home cities, and alleviate the need to move a team there, with all the logistical and financial hassles of basing themselves over there.  I don't know why the fans in London would want their own team, when they can in effect have all the teams.

And I'll repeat something I said before.  People who think Khan would move the team to make money are ignoring the fact that, if you look at how Khan's net worth has risen since buying the team- it's gone up by 4 or 5 BILLION dollars since he bought the team- the guy is making billions of dollars selling bumpers.  He doesn't need to move the team to make money.  So I don't think money would be his motivation for moving the team.  It would have to be some other reason.

He has to go to court against the city regardless.  He can’t just walk away.

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

Where would he take this team anyways? LA is a crappy market as we're seeing right now. A team based in London full time? The rest of the league, players especially, would HATE that. Jacksonville is a good football market and it's getting stronger too.

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