The NFL, eager to continue building its brand internationally, signed a deal to play a minimum of two games per year for 10 years in London at a new stadium being built for English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.
The deal, announced on Wednesday, would begin in 2018, when the stadium is expected to open. Although the building is to include a retractable roof and a grass field, the NFL games would be played on an artificial field that sits below the grass field. This would prevent the necessity of painting the grass soccer field and the possibility of it getting chewed up during NFL games.
The agreement suggests that the NFL remains committed to expanding into Europe. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and other league executives have been coy about whether a franchise would be located in London.
The NFL began playing regular-season games at London’s Wembley Stadium in 2007. The success of those games, which featured a rotating cast of teams, has led the league to expand its schedule to include three regular-season games this season.
However, league officials have looked for a more permanent home for its games in London because of some of the limitations at Wembley Stadium, which lacks some of the luxury suites and other amenities typically found at NFL sites.
The NFL owners are now focused on placing at least one team in Los Angeles, but they might turn their attention to putting a team in London afterward. The Jacksonville Jaguars, who agreed to play one home game in London for four consecutive years ending next year, have been discussed as a potential candidate to decamp to London.
However, there are a number of logistical hurdles, including finding divisional rivals willing to play a road game in London every season. It is also unclear whether English and European fans would support a London-based team as enthusiastically as they have teams like the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have played there every few years.
In addition to the minimum of two games per year at Tottenham’s new stadium, the NFL said it could play additional games elsewhere in the UK during the 10-year agreement. The NFL has two seasons remaining on its deal with Wembley Stadium and the league said it was “optimistic that the relationship will be extended beyond 2016.”
“Anyone who has seen American Football at Wembley Stadium cannot fail to have been thrilled by the spectacle, and the wise heads that run the NFL have clearly not missed the fact that Londoners are going absolutely gangbusters for gridiron,” London Mayor Boris Johnson said in a statement.
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