Quote:I still maintain the overwhelmingly strongest factor that drives NFL franchise relocation is stadium issues.

 

That said, following the discussion you and Marty are having, there is, I think, a very underrated factor that could sneak into the equation, assuming producing a bad team to facilitate a move to London is Khan's endgame.

 

Part of the argument against having a team in London full time are the problems with travel.

 

The prevailing thought has been the travel demands would be too taxing on the team that visits London to make scheduling viable.

 

However, this year, Indy became the first team ever to travel to London for a regular season game and not follow it up with an immediate bye week.  In fact, the Colts beat the Bears 29-23.  The implications here should be obvious.  If a team is NOT put at a competitive disadvantage for travel to and from London, then having a team there full time becomes something of a more viable proposition.

 

Of course, there are myriad other issues that potentially make having a team in London full time that make such a move potentially less than optimally tenable, including taxation (of individuals, the team, and the league), citizenship, cases of players/coaches with felonies, etc.

 

I hear what you are saying, but again the issue was raised that teams don't move because of poor play. They move because of stadium issues. Which I said became an issue in Jacksonville because poor play could lead to the stadium lease being voided. There was not a mention of London.

 

But I can offer my opinion on the London issue, whether it be Jaguars or any other team. To facilitate the travel pressures the London team could play all home games the first 8 weeks of the season, then relocate to the central part of America (Memphis perhaps) to play their remaining 8 away games. The personnel could own homes in  Memphis and simply reside in London for the 8 game stretch. This could work as a temporary work visa with the UK. The team would have a relatively short travel to any other venue within the States. I'm certain the power and money of the NFL could make it work to acquire the European market.

 

Regards...................the Chiefjag

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