The NFL has signed a 10-year agreement with Tottenham Hotspur to play two regular-season games annually at the EPL club's new London stadium starting in '18, when the venue opens. The agreement does not mean the NFL is moving away from Wembley Stadium, where it has staged regular-season games annually since '07, including three last year. The league fully expects to renew its deal with Wembley, whose contract with the NFL ends after the '16 season. A deal there would mean the NFL would play games beginning in '18 at both venues. NFL Int'l Exec VP Mark Waller said, "Wembley has been a great relationship for us." However, the league has had concerns about field wear and tear at Wembley, as has the FA, which owns the facility. Wembley hosts English national football games, and national team members have expressed criticism about the quality of the field in the wake of NFL games at the venue. Scheduling NFL games also is an issue at Wembley because of other special events that are scheduled at the venue, such as this fall's Rugby World Cup. At Tottenham, there will be two fields at the stadium: a permanent field for the NFL and, on top of that, a field that can slide out of the venue. Waller said that the Tottenham deal also gives the NFL more flexibility in deciding whether to move a team to London or play a fuller slate of games with more teams.
POTENTIAL U.K. FRANCHISE: In London, Jeremy Wilson reported although the "current focus is staging individual NFL games in a similar way to Wembley, there is also the longer-term potential of the new stadium being used as the permanent home for an NFL franchise." Designs produced by stadium architects Populous "already show a changing room in the East Stand that would be larger than those in the West Stand." This is "significant because the NFL requires locker rooms areas to accommodate more than 50 players and around 20 coaches, as well as additional equipment and medical space." The FA is "also interested in making Wembley the London base for an NFL franchise but accommodating a season of eight matches without moving England out would be challenging" (TELEGRAPH, 7/8). The BBC reported London Mayor Boris Johnson said, "The wise heads that run the NFL have clearly not missed the fact that Londoners are going absolutely gangbusters for Gridiron. Touchdowns in Tottenham can only add to our reputation as a global sporting powerhouse and help us take another step towards our goal of having a permanent NFL franchise in London" (BBC, 7/8). REUTERS' Michael Hann reported the Jacksonville Jaguars have a deal to
"play one game a season at Wembley" from '13-16 and Jacksonville Owner
Shad Khan said on Wednesday, "The NFL's commitment to the U.K. is
absolute and the Jacksonville Jaguars are extremely proud to be part of
it. We've seen incredible
growth in the Jaguars' international following that can be traced
specifically to our agreement to play a home game at Wembley Stadium
through 2016" (REUTERS, 7/8).
