NFL or College football Fans

[dom9]

I would not be at all surprised if that happened.

It's the obvious next step for the NFL, and based on their policy of letting anyone in North America have a franchise if they pay enough money, then I guess why not?

[paulg]

I've never understood the franchises upping sticks, especially multiple times. All the fans invest years into the team, the owners and councils spend millions too. It doesn't make much sense to me.

[Hollowman]

There would be massive obstacles to a London team. Quite aside from the logistical nightmare of a single team being five timezones away from any other team, there would be huge legal implications. It would require a UK ministry friendly enough to come to tax arrangements and, more importantly, willing to accept the fact the league is heavily unionised and exempt to a raft of US labour laws as it is. Despite specialising in looking like craven cunts, how pitiful would this Tory government look making huge union concessions to the NFL whilst simultaneously dismantling unions and their cords to opposition parties over here?

That's before we even get to the notion of people already invested in existing teams giving up their loyalties and putting in with a new made up team (which, as Dom suggests, is a very American phenomenon). Getting a few folk in the Denbigh Stadium is one thing. Hoping to get 85,000 in Wembley eight times for a team with no history and that has zero chance of success is something else completely.

The Rams situation is funny. They complain that the home crowds are down (which they are - bad last year and the worst in the NFL this year), but the team hasn't had a winning record in a decade, the owner clearly doesn't give a **** about Missourian fans, and the crowd figures declined slowly. It took a decade of ****ness to gradually fall this low, and they still get over 50,000 at each game.

People seem to forget the Rams had **** attendance previously in LA. They were a consistent playoff side in the seventies and eighties, when they got some steady but unspectacular crowds, but one bad season in 1990 and their figures fell off a cliff. They were barely getting 40,000 in Anaheim by the end. And that's in the nation's second largest city. A city that, by the way, is so interested in professional football that the Inglewood project will be the first stadium they've ever built specifically for pro ball. Still, Kroenke is nobody's fool, so I guess he has solid numbers to suggest he can make a go of it (and he must be confident - it'll be the second biggest stadium in the league, and if he doesn't consistently fill it he'll be writing his own headlines).

I imagine it's the LA TV market they're most interested in. NFL is all about the telly. It's a ratings juggernaut. That's why some teams moving about is no big deal (and let's be clear, it's only some teams - the apocalypse will come before an NFC North team relocated again). The sort of deep parochial loyalties we associate with our football teams are the domain of college ball teams in the States. The Cowboys get the largest NFL average crowds - almost dead on 90,000. There are ten colleges who average more than that, six of whom average over 100,000 at each home game. If you ignore the Cowboys, there were 18 colleges whose average attendance in 2014 was higher than the second NFL team, the Packers.

[spud_gun]

Could they move to Wembley?

If any of the BFL franchises move to London it'll be more than likely the Jacksonville Jaguars.

[Hollowman]

Christian McCaffrey is the most exciting player in America.

And his grandpa, Olympic sprinter Dave Sime, just went to the starting blocks in the sky.

[Chazza]

Seattle have had a shocking start.

4 play drive by the panthers for TD and then Wilson gets intercepted for a TD.

14-0 after about 4 minutes.

[Chazza]

24-0 Wilson picked off again.

[Chazza]

31-0 at HT.

[Chazza]

Game on 21-31

[Chazza]

Anyone going to try and stay up for it only to fall asleep at the end of the first Qtr?

[Oberon]

That'll be me...

[Chazza]

One year I will organise myself to have nothing on the Monday after so I can give it a proper go.

[spud_gun]

Anyone else fancy the Bronco's tonight?

Got the feeling that Defense is going to have it's way with the Panther's O line tonight.

[topscorer]

I'm with Carolina's but they are playing ****. Half-time, 7-13.

[shanks69]

I fell asleep just after 2nd half started then woke up just after 3 to see that Broncos had won then I crashed out again.