NFL Thread

Will the NFL approve it? I mean surely the other teams will oppose the move due to all the travelling for the games right?
Going from Boston to London doens't make that much of a difference to the players as going from Boston to LA, I think. On top of that, the NFL is pushing hard for a London based team.
 
Will the NFL approve it? I mean surely the other teams will oppose the move due to all the travelling for the games right?

It's a decision that comes from the other owners, they are the other teams.
 
It wont make a huge difference travel wise for the other teams. NFL teams only play eight home games anyway. An extra 3-4 hours on a plane for one game a year for 25% of the league is nothing. The Jags players are the ones that will have to travel a lot.
 
They won't give a shit as long as it lines up the owners pockets.
It's a decision that comes from the other owners, they are the other teams.
So, it's the same in every sport eh? Screw the fans.

Going from Boston to London doens't make that much of a difference to the players as going from Boston to LA, I think. On top of that, the NFL is pushing hard for a London based team.
But what about the teams from California or the west coast? Surely better off starting a new franchise than screwing the fans.
 
So, it's the same in every sport eh? Screw the fans.


But what about the teams from California or the west coast? Surely better off starting a new franchise than screwing the fans.
It will only be four teams (or even less) which have to travel to London since they have no west coast teams in their division (although Houston is pretty far already). I imagine they'll set up the away games in London after a bye, so teams like LA or SF have two weeks to adjust, or to fly to the east coast first before making the trip to London. It's certainly doable.
 
So, it's the same in every sport eh? Screw the fans.

That's not really the same because in other sports clubs grow organically within a community and eventually reach top level, they are tightly linked to that community. In american sports, franchises are totally artificial entities that the leagues and owners implant into a community because said community is a good market, with time people seem to forget that they don't own the franchise that is in their area, this franchise could leave them at any moment if a big market try to take it away from them. For example the Rams going to St Louis or LA, the Supersonics leaving Seatlle for Oklahoma. An other example, the NHL is currently waiting for someone to make a good offer in Quebec, either a city will lose a team or a completely new entity will be created like the LV golden knights.
 
I can't see it happening, at the most 2-3 games a season but just can't see the whole franchise being moved. The logistics would be a nightmare, aparr from the fans and opponents you are looking at players basically being foreign citizens for months and I am not sure a lot of players would want that
 
Browns seriously consider Mayfield at 1, would be a really brave call but I have said for months that he is the guy they need
 
I can see the Vikings trading their first round for an early second round and some change.
 
Browns seriously consider Mayfield at 1, would be a really brave call but I have said for months that he is the guy they need

I think the Browns or someone within the organization has been tactically leaking information about Allen and Mayfield in recent days/weeks.
 
As far as I understand the offer to buy the stadium is from the owner of the Jags.

Therefore doesn’t inherently mean the franchise is moving. It could simply be a business decision although I accept it would seem odd that he would buy without any kind of intention to move the Jags over.

Of course he does own Fulham too so actually commercially it kind of makes sense as he’d get revenue from those games, any Jags games they play there, and also the other Wembley NFL games and all other sports and events at Wembley.

I find it very hard to believe it’s solely with the view of the Jags - because if that were true it would be poor from a business perspective to buy the stadium before any kind of talks or move to formally move the Jags beforehand.
 
I think the Browns or someone within the organization has been tactically leaking information about Allen and Mayfield in recent days/weeks.

I agree. Dorsey notoriously plays things close to the vest, and you'd love to think that they aren't dumb enough to take Allen at 1. It would be the most Brownsy thing to do, but my word would it be pitiful to watch them throw away that kind of draft capital on him. I could see Mayfield working out well for them, particularly with Tyrod as a bridge QB.
 
It will only be four teams (or even less) which have to travel to London since they have no west coast teams in their division (although Houston is pretty far already). I imagine they'll set up the away games in London after a bye, so teams like LA or SF have two weeks to adjust, or to fly to the east coast first before making the trip to London. It's certainly doable.
Still feels like a far stretch. But if the NFL are eager for a franchise in London, they'll probably do everything in their hands to make it happen..
That's not really the same because in other sports clubs grow organically within a community and eventually reach top level, they are tightly linked to that community. In american sports, franchises are totally artificial entities that the leagues and owners implant into a community because said community is a good market, with time people seem to forget that they don't own the franchise that is in their area, this franchise could leave them at any moment if a big market try to take it away from them. For example the Rams going to St Louis or LA, the Supersonics leaving Seatlle for Oklahoma. An other example, the NHL is currently waiting for someone to make a good offer in Quebec, either a city will lose a team or a completely new entity will be created like the LV golden knights.
Even if the clubs grow organically, they are still the property of the current owners. Once fans invest years supporting a team and encourage the next generation of fans to do the same, surely the fact that the club was initially formed by a rich guy should not outweigh the emotions the fans may have developed over the years. I have been following the Eagles for only 4 5 years but I'll be pissed if they move them to some other more profitable city.
 
I think the Browns or someone within the organization has been tactically leaking information about Allen and Mayfield in recent days/weeks.

Yeah that is of course a possiblity. My prediction is Browns Darnold,Giants Barkley,Jets Mayfield , Browns Chubb and Broncos Rosen
 
Even if the clubs grow organically, they are still the property of the current owners. Once fans invest years supporting a team and encourage the next generation of fans to do the same, surely the fact that the club was initially formed by a rich guy should not outweigh the emotions the fans may have developed over the years. I have been following the Eagles for only 4 5 years but I'll be pissed if they move them to some other more profitable city.

You are not getting it, it's not about being formed by a rich guy, it's about popping up out of nothing. You just have to look at the Colts, Ravens or the Cardinals, these franchises relocated not so long ago and they have 100% attendances. Some people might be pissed off but americans are different, they have more loyalty to players, head coaches and their college teams than they have for professional franchises, the way franchises are created doesn't allow for as much attachments as you would see in other sports, people treat franchises as spectacle factories.

@Raoul Am I wrong?
 
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Still feels like a far stretch. But if the NFL are eager for a franchise in London, they'll probably do everything in their hands to make it happen..

Even if the clubs grow organically, they are still the property of the current owners. Once fans invest years supporting a team and encourage the next generation of fans to do the same, surely the fact that the club was initially formed by a rich guy should not outweigh the emotions the fans may have developed over the years. I have been following the Eagles for only 4 5 years but I'll be pissed if they move them to some other more profitable city.

Most US sports franchises are typically viewed as corporations, which can if needed move to another city. The owners can move their teams to a different city as they please and the only time the views of the fans has really come into play was after Art Model moved the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore in 1995. There was sufficient outrage among the people in Cleveland that resulted in them getting another franchise along with the right to name their new team the Cleveland Browns. Legally, the Baltimore Ravens are considered the new franchise while the Browns are considered the old Cleveland Browns, but in practical terms the Ravens are the Cleveland Browns of old.

Al Davis, who used to own the Raiders, had no issue with moving the team to another city each time the existing city couldn't accomadate one of this requests. He moved them from Oakland to LA in the early 80s (winning Super Bowls in both locations) and then back to Oakland in 1995, and now they are back on the move to Las Vegas in a year or so.
 
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You are not getting it, it's not about being formed by a rich guy, it's about popping up out of nothing. You just have to look at the Colts, Ravens or the Cardinals, these franchises relocated not so long ago and they have 100% attendances. Some people might be pissed off but americans are different, they have more loyalty to players, head coaches and their college teams than they have for professional franchises, the way franchises are created doesn't not allow for as much attachments as you would see in other sports, people treat franchises as spectacle factories.

@Raoul Am I wrong?
If the Glazers moved Man Utd to London, Utd would get 100% attendance too. Surely that is dependent on the location as witnessed by the Rams having poor attendances.
My personal experience in Philly has been different as am guessing a majority of the fans will be pissed.
Anyways my exposure to NFL is pretty recent and I'll take your word for it. If most Jags fans don't care, then fair enough.
 
If they were going to move a team to another country, Toronto would make the most sense from a practical standpoint. I suppose the proximity of Buffalo is prohibitive, and not wanting the blowback of moving another OG franchise (Bills) like they did with the Browns.

Though the Browns are much more iconic than the Bills will ever be.
 
Most US sports franchises are typically viewed as corporations, which can if needed move to another city. The owners can move their teams to a different city as they please and the only time the views of the fans has really come into play was after Art Model moved the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore in 1995. There was sufficient outrage among the people in Cleveland that resulted in them getting another franchise along with the right to name their new team the Cleveland Browns. Legally, the Baltimore Ravens are considered the new franchise while the Brows are considered the old Cleveland Browns, but in practical terms the Ravens are the Cleveland Browns of old.

Al Davis, who used to own the Raiders, had no issue with moving the team to another city each time the existing city couldn't accomadate one of this requests. He moved them from Oakland to LA in the early 80s (winning Super Bowls in both locations) and then back to Oakland in 1995, and now they are back on the move to Las Vegas in a year or so.
Yeah fair enough. Never thought of it like that seeing the crazy Philly fans.
 
If they were going to move a team to another country, Toronto would make the most sense from a practical standpoint. I suppose the proximity of Buffalo is prohibitive, and not wanting the blowback of moving another OG franchise (Bills) like they did with the Browns.

Though the Browns are much more iconic than the Bills will ever be.

Its totally doable imo. A lot of people in Toronto do gravitate towards the Bills, but all things said its much further apart than the Jets/Giants - Chargers/Rams - or Raiders/49ers . One snag may be that it would start to completely undermine the value of the CFL if the NFL started cutting in on Canadian turf.
 
If they were going to move a team to another country, Toronto would make the most sense from a practical standpoint. I suppose the proximity of Buffalo is prohibitive, and not wanting the blowback of moving another OG franchise (Bills) like they did with the Browns.

Though the Browns are much more iconic than the Bills will ever be.

To be fair, even in that case the Jaguars or the Titans should be the ones moving. I seem to remember that both have markets problems which is why they are always in these type of conversations.
 
I’ve also heard Mexico City mooted and I do think there were legs to the rumors of sounding out the prospects of San Antonio, as it’s a city on the rise.

Texas isn’t exactly another country of course, but sometimes it feels that way because it’s so damned huge. There’s probably room for 3 franchises there while still having stronger fan bases than the 3 in Cali. The Raiders are still the biggest team in LA, after all.
 
The thing about Texas is that most people there root for the Cowboys anyway. I don't personally know what the likelihood would be of SA-based Cowboys fans switching allegiance if there was a team there. I have a friend from Houston who, somehow, hates the Rockets and roots for the Spurs but doesn't care much for the Texans and roots for the Cowboys. I question his city/team loyalty, but he says it's not uncommon for people in Texas to gravitate to the Cowboys just because of their history as "America's Team." I know I'm one of them, but American sports fans are weird.
 
The thing about Texas is that most people there root for the Cowboys anyway. I don't personally know what the likelihood would be of SA-based Cowboys fans switching allegiance if there was a team there. I have a friend from Houston who, somehow, hates the Rockets and roots for the Spurs but doesn't care much for the Texans and roots for the Cowboys. I question his city/team loyalty, but he says it's not uncommon for people in Texas to gravitate to the Cowboys just because of their history as "America's Team." I know I'm one of them, but American sports fans are weird.

I heard the same thing, apparently it's a very hard for the Texans to exist alongside the Cowboys and adding a franchise would harm them more than anything else. One of the reasons I heard is that highschool and college football are huge in Texas and the Cowboys simply occupied the little room left and there is not enough for the rest.
 
The thing about Texas is that most people there root for the Cowboys anyway. I don't personally know what the likelihood would be of SA-based Cowboys fans switching allegiance if there was a team there. I have a friend from Houston who, somehow, hates the Rockets and roots for the Spurs but doesn't care much for the Texans and roots for the Cowboys. I question his city/team loyalty, but he says it's not uncommon for people in Texas to gravitate to the Cowboys just because of their history as "America's Team." I know I'm one of them, but American sports fans are weird.
Texans are especially weird, highly tribal even if they don’t have any natural local affiliation to whatever they idolize.

But if the silver and black (Raiders being the team I was hinting at) would’ve moved to San Antone, you can bet there’d be a sea change of colors...
 
Texans are indeed crazy about their youth football - High School football in TX is a bigger deal than most college and professional sports in other states. The NFL and its ownership body is all about lining their pockets with more cash, so we'll obviously see teams move around where the money dictates, but I hate that the Raiders are leaving Oakland. It would be an interesting experiment to stick them in San Antonio, for sure.
 
Really can't believe Mayfield could go number one . I just don't see what he has beside the hype.

If Browns don't take Barkley surely they would take Darnold or Rosen
 
Really can't believe Mayfield could go number one . I just don't see what he has beside the hype.

If Browns don't take Barkley surely they would take Darnold or Rosen
Easily the best passer of this notorious QB class outside of maybe Rosen, for one.

But I’m with you on hoping he doesn’t go first; and what is more, I think (and pray) it’s a smokescreen. I’m not sure I’d be able to stomach watching the Browns. Or the dang Jets. Elway might have a mighty dilemma on his hands, and I think if Allen is still there he might make the wrong choice if he sees a version of himself in the strong-armed QB.

Or they’ll just trade back and all of this anticipation was for naught...
 
I think Mayfield has been vastly underrated in the pre-draft buildup. With the pro game moving more and more toward a college-type offensive scheme, the whole idea that "doing it in college doesn't mean anything in the NFL" holds much less weight these days. We've seen QBs who don't necessarily fit the classic mold come into the league and do very well - Cam Newton and Deshaun Watson in particular were college legends. Mayfield produced at a high level in college and his red flags - "too short" and "bad attitude" - are way less concerning than the red flags on other top prospects - Darnold had a shedload of turnovers, Allen couldn't hit the side of a barn if he were standing right in front of it.

I think both Rosen and Mayfield have the highest floors, and Lamar Jackson will surprise a lot of people. Darnold and Allen have the raw tools to reach a higher ceiling, but whether they actually get there is dependent on where they end up, what the coaching is like, and what pieces are around them, to say nothing of the sort of mental acuity and work ethic it's going to take to iron out their weaknesses.