2014-15 NFL Discussion thread

[TightEnd]

they won't live here for six months

Off season workouts and training camp would be in the US

they would be in the UK for their blocks of games, 3-4 weeks at a time

Tax and residency will be an issue to being based here full time


the eli manning/philip rivers trade of 2004 is a real rarity. 99% of the time players start off with the team that drafts them. Wll be no different for London

[arbboy]

it wouldn't be made up of rejects...for starters expansion teams are giving the number 1 draft pick in two drafts so theoretically you'd get a top quarterback for one of these. You could strike it Andrew Lucky, and have a poster boy for your franchise

nothing to stop a london team repeating the success after formation of the panthers and jags who hit the play offs within 5 years of their start

My biggest concern is how many players are actually going to want to play for a franchise outside of the US and presumably live in a different country for 6 months a year from the start of the playoffs to potentially a Superbowl?

Imagine the 2 QBs drafted with the first 2 picks in the '98 draft (Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf) are in a London team's 1st draft, and they have the #1 pick. The Eli Manning situation from 2004 happens with the guy (Peyton) you want to draft as your franchise QB. Instead of drafting the next Peyton Manning, you get the next Ryan Leaf, instead.

Is a London franchise going to be disadvantaged by having some significant % of players not wanting to play for a London team?

I would say living in London for the vast majority of nfl players would be preferable to living in Green Bay, Carolina, Minnesota etc etc.  Like one of the US comm's said last week at the Wembley game 'players will be happy to play in Alaska as long as they get their pay check'.  I really don't see this being an issue at all.  US sports pros are used to huge volumes of airline travel as standard (even from their college days).  Some will obviously prefer to stay at home but the vast majority of players look like they really enjoy their trip to London during interviews etc.

[icles test]

it wouldn't be made up of rejects...for starters expansion teams are giving the number 1 draft pick in two drafts so theoretically you'd get a top quarterback for one of these. You could strike it Andrew Lucky, and have a poster boy for your franchise

nothing to stop a london team repeating the success after formation of the panthers and jags who hit the play offs within 5 years of their start

My biggest concern is how many players are actually going to want to play for a franchise outside of the US and presumably live in a different country for 6 months a year from the start of the playoffs to potentially a Superbowl?

Imagine the 2 QBs drafted with the first 2 picks in the '98 draft (Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf) are in a London team's 1st draft, and they have the #1 pick. The Eli Manning situation from 2004 happens with the guy (Peyton) you want to draft as your franchise QB. Instead of drafting the next Peyton Manning, you get the next Ryan Leaf, instead.

Is a London franchise going to be disadvantaged by having some significant % of players not wanting to play for a London team?

I would say living in London for the vast majority of nfl players would be preferable to living in Green Bay, Carolina, Minnesota etc etc.  Like one of the US comm's said last week at the Wembley game 'players will be happy to play in Alaska as long as they get their pay check'.  I really don't see this being an issue at all.  US sports pros are used to huge volumes of airline travel as standard (even from their college days).  Some will obviously prefer to stay at home but the vast majority of players look like they really enjoy their trip to London during interviews etc.

Agree with this and think it would be important for the fan base element that they were indeed a london based team and not just a team that fly in.

[RichS]

I have been thinking what would I do if I were the NFL with the calls for London, LA and Vegas franchises. I wouldn't want to move 3 teams from their current markets so the other option would be an expansion.

So my expansion plan would be as follows:

Create two more divisions per conferance and have 3 teams in all divisions - this gives 36 teams in total, 4 extra allowing for the 3 named locations and another.
Each of the new divisions would be made up of one new team and two teams from existing divisons.
With 6 divisions per conferance the Wildcard spots into the playoffs would be replaced with division winners
As the new teams would be getting the first draft picks the worst teams in the NFL lose that edge that otherwise suposedly brings parity so therefore the teams that finish bottom in each division the year before expansion are the teams that are moved to the new divisions. While these new divisions may initially be seen as weaker divisions it gives all the teams in them a chance to make the playoffs rather than new teams struggling for the first few seasons. Yes the winner of the divisions may end up with a losing record in the regular season but then again look at the NFC South this year.

What do you think? I would support a London team if there was one though they would be my second team

[vegaslover]

Vegas is never getting a franchise

[Kmac84]

Vegas is never getting a franchise

Why not?  I have aways thought it strange that there was no NFL franchise in Vegas.

[AndrewT]

Vegas is never getting a franchise

Why not?  I have aways thought it strange that there was no NFL franchise in Vegas.

There's no major sports team in Vegas because of sports betting.

[AndrewT]

Article by an NFL rookie

http://mmqb.si.com/2014/10/29/joel-bitonio-cleveland-browns-rookie-what-ive-learned/

[Kmac84]

Vegas is never getting a franchise

Why not?  I have aways thought it strange that there was no NFL franchise in Vegas.

There's no major sports team in Vegas because of sports betting.

Thought that might be the answer but would also have thought it one of the reasons to have a major franchise there.  Meh who knows. 

[vegaslover]

Vegas is never getting a franchise

Why not?  I have aways thought it strange that there was no NFL franchise in Vegas.

There's no major sports team in Vegas because of sports betting.

Thought that might be the answer but would also have thought it one of the reasons to have a major franchise there.  Meh who knows. 

Yeah, as Andrew posted. Too much risk to games being rigged due to betting.

Did anyone go in the 5-a-side sports bar right outside the stadium last week? I went to watch 2nd half of the ManU-Chelsea game and girl behind the bar didn't have a clue on the prices. Five pints were £14!!!

[Tal]

Vegas is never getting a franchise

Why not?  I have aways thought it strange that there was no NFL franchise in Vegas.

There's no major sports team in Vegas because of sports betting.

Thought that might be the answer but would also have thought it one of the reasons to have a major franchise there.  Meh who knows. 

Yeah, as Andrew posted. Too much risk to games being rigged due to betting.

Did anyone go in the 5-a-side sports bar right outside the stadium last week? I went to watch 2nd half of the ManU-Chelsea game and girl behind the bar didn't have a clue on the prices. Five pints were £14!!!

Each? Yeah that's pretty standard at Wembley.

[Marky147]

Vegas is never getting a franchise

Why not?  I have aways thought it strange that there was no NFL franchise in Vegas.

There's no major sports team in Vegas because of sports betting.

Thought that might be the answer but would also have thought it one of the reasons to have a major franchise there.  Meh who knows. 

Yeah, as Andrew posted. Too much risk to games being rigged due to betting.

Did anyone go in the 5-a-side sports bar right outside the stadium last week? I went to watch 2nd half of the ManU-Chelsea game and girl behind the bar didn't have a clue on the prices. Five pints were £14!!!

That's cheaper than it was last time I went out in London, about 5 years ago!

[redarmi]

Vegas is never getting a franchise

Why not?  I have aways thought it strange that there was no NFL franchise in Vegas.

There's no major sports team in Vegas because of sports betting.

It is interesting that this has never been suggested as a bar to having a franchise in UK.  Fwiw I don't think a franchise in the UK would work.  The odd game is great and people will travel for it but it is prohibitively expensive to travel to London for a game (especially a late game) and the tickets themselves are pretty expensive.  Effectively they will probably have to get 60k a fortnight from the London area which seems a bit of a stretch to me and I am also not sure about the corporate sales element either unless they are going to be able to sell to the States.

[arbboy]

Vegas is never getting a franchise

Why not?  I have aways thought it strange that there was no NFL franchise in Vegas.

There's no major sports team in Vegas because of sports betting.

It is interesting that this has never been suggested as a bar to having a franchise in UK.  Fwiw I don't think a franchise in the UK would work.  The odd game is great and people will travel for it but it is prohibitively expensive to travel to London for a game (especially a late game) and the tickets themselves are pretty expensive.  Effectively they will probably have to get 60k a fortnight from the London area which seems a bit of a stretch to me and I am also not sure about the corporate sales element either unless they are going to be able to sell to the States.

I agree with this eso for the NBA which has been discussed about moving to London, I really think we should keep it as it is now. The best of both worlds, imagine if burnley moved to Kansas to play in the epl. How many Kansas lol donks would rock up to support them?

[vegaslover]

Vegas is never getting a franchise

Why not?  I have aways thought it strange that there was no NFL franchise in Vegas.

There's no major sports team in Vegas because of sports betting.

Thought that might be the answer but would also have thought it one of the reasons to have a major franchise there.  Meh who knows. 

Yeah, as Andrew posted. Too much risk to games being rigged due to betting.

Did anyone go in the 5-a-side sports bar right outside the stadium last week? I went to watch 2nd half of the ManU-Chelsea game and girl behind the bar didn't have a clue on the prices. Five pints were £14!!!

That's cheaper than it was last time I went out in London, about 5 years ago!

Cheaper than it usually is at this bar too. The regular guy wasn't there and it is usually £4 a pint. Poor girl wasn't expecting a large crowd, just the usual kids who play football there and only go in the bar to watch the game