They won't be London's, the UK's or Europe's team really. Those who don't treat the game with disdain already have teams they follow. Some of us for our (many) sins became Jets fans. There's no history or tradition of franchises in European sport. We are tribal and pick our team then stick with it. No flipping allegiance just because a new franchise is created or moved. Tickets would be sold for a few years as a curiosity, but the majority would be neutral and just along for the spectacle. There are way more Fins and Patriots fans over here than there are Jets fans. Divisional home games would feel like road games - think the average Jets game in Miami only the majority of the fans have no real interest in the home team either. Okay forget that. It's just like the average Jets game in Miami, only in reverse. An expansion team might work, or a team like the Jags with a smaller home market, but it would take a lot longer to establish a true fan base in the UK than it would in another US city.
They would not be Europes team, we don't think like that in the slightest. The reason we voted to get out of the EU an organisation that would have loved to turn the continent into the United States of Europe ie no individual countries and one flag waving in the wind. Back to sport though... Do you really think people from Europe would just pop into a plane and fly over to blighty to watch a game of American Football? I guess there may 50 or so super fans that would come across if their team is playing the London team. Because the NFL fans in Europe all have a team they follow and that isn't one based in London. We are entrenched in the rules of soccer and its special rivalry, you pick your team when young and it is your team forever, if you change it you will be derided as a team changing cunt.
Amongst other reasons obviously but the point being a vast majority of us have never considered ourselves as European, we are English, Scots, Welsh, Irish or British and wouldn't support a team because it was on the same continent. I wouldn't go to Spain for example to watch the Jets if they relocated to Madrid, not sure I would even bother on the TV tbh. In retrospect a franchise move might be the quickest way to end our pain.
I would be glad if they do move so that I can stop following them and legitimately turn my support to another team as I honestly don't beleive that this franchise will ever be successful and I would love to experience supporting a SB winner before I die
My father was born in Wales so, as it turns out, I’m actually a British citizen. Wales doesn’t have any good football teams, does it? I don’t want to be the equivalent of a Jets fan in the EFL if I end up moving there.
You’re wrong. I was at the Jets game at Wembley and talked to tons of the locals. They would 100% adopt whatever team goes over there when it happens. They love American football.
The only teams that would have a chance at winning a game versus a London team in the UK would be eastern time zone teams. And conversely the London team would likely lose most games where they traveled west. The NFL wants to do it but it's just not a good idea. Every game played over there is a turnover slop fest that usually results in a blowout where one team comes to play and the other is still sleeping. The NFL already has this as a big problem in their prime time games - they don't need to add it to their 1pm (9am) slate as well.
I’m thinking Cardiff City but I’ll need to do more research. I might also choose a team that’s based wherever we end up living, which won’t necessarily be Wales.
Sorry bud. I too was there, but then I am British so it was kind of a must-see for me. Yes there is tons of interest in football, but there aren't many unattached fans. I have talked to hundreds, if not thousands, of UK fans one way or another over the years. One pretty much constant is that, if there was a London based team, it would not make them change the team they followed. They might go and watch as a neutral if they were London based (as many do each year regardless of who plays in the London games), but they won't become fans. I'd go and watch if the Jets played but not otherwise. And those who don't have a team? Most are not interested in the game really, there might be some unattached fans and some new ones to be won over but other than a handful of fans I've yet to meet anyone who'd switch just because a franchise switched to London.
Not necessarily. He's long been a businessman before his current post, and so it's not like all his ties to the UK will end once the administration changes. The NFL has been salivating at the idea of a London team. The Jets have, unfortunately, long been "the other team" and haven't stolen any attention from the Giants since the Namath era. There isn't a single area of the country, even in NYC, that is primarily Jets territory. So, why not find a city that can be Jets territory? How do you do that? Torpedo any interest that DOES exist for the team in New York, claim low fan interest and thus low profitability, and request a move to an area where the team supposedly has an absolute monopoly fanbase of an entire country. Now, an easier and cheaper option would be to spend money on good players, not have a clusterfuck of an organizational structure, and hire a good GM who will then hire a good coach who will lead the team to Super Bowl victories, thus generating new local, and national, interest, as well as generating enthusiasm among long term fans. But what do I know?
Most exsisting fans in Europe have their team and subjecting potential new fans to the Jets style of football is likely to result in a rejection of NFL for a generation.
Put a poll up for all the Brits on this site and see what result you get. Baring in mind that the Jets are shit and have been shit for years and your poll will still show that you will garner zero votes for adopting a London team as our new team.
People say they won't support...but they would. Having a team there, all the press reporting and following their every move. The players would do tons of things socially, as the league would push it. People would get attached. Maybe not overnight, but when the league goes there, it will be long thought out and well planned. IMHO.
They love soccer in Europe. NFL would be a afterthought there. The Premiere League rules there. I would think the other famous European leagues and tournaments get plenty of coverage there. The vast majority of people wouldn't give a rat's behind about a NFL team just like the vast majority of people here don't give a rat's behind when their soccer teams play games here.