The Chiefs next season are "surrendering a home game" to play the Lions in London, and team Chair & CEO Clark Hunt yesterday said that the biggest reason is the "hope of someday bringing a Super Bowl" to Arrowhead Stadium, according to Terez Paylor of the K.C. STAR. Hunt is "hopeful his team’s decision to surrender their home-field advantage against the Lions will take care of that obligation for the next four or five years as it pursues a Super Bowl bid." However, he said that K.C. "still has plenty of hurdles to clear before it wants to play host to a Super Bowl." Hunt, who is Chair of the NFL's Int'l Committee, is "putting an emphasis on expanding its overseas reach." Hunt: "I certainly think four (games) is possible. ... We’ll be the 10th team to give up a home game. The league is in the process of encouraging more teams to do so. I would expect, over time, that the list will grow to a majority of the teams" (K.C. STAR, 11/10). In Boston, Ben Volin notes the NFL has "established its next four Super Bowl sites," and the decisions by the Dolphins and Chiefs to give up a home game for London next year were "certainly interesting, and almost assuredly are tied to the Super Bowl." Owners last week in N.Y. "agreed to a new rule that requires teams that want to host a Super Bowl to give up one home game to London in a five-year window." Hunt and Dolphins Owner Stephen Ross have been "very public and up-front about their desire to bring the Super Bowl to their cities." There is "certainly no guarantee that the Dolphins and Chiefs will host the Super Bowl" in '19 and '20, although Miami "seems like a good bet" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/10).
MISSED OPPORTUNITY? In Orlando, Mike Bianchi wrote Jaguars' management deserved "shame" for playing the Cowboys in London, the team's "most attractive home game." Bianchi: "I don't care how much more money the Jaguars are making and how much exposure the NFL will get across the pond, this is an absolute insult to the thousands of Jags fans who have endured a miserable product over the last decade and yet still invest their hard-earned money to buy season tickets." It is "pretty sad when the NFL seems to think it's more important to win over fans in Europe rather than keep fans happy right here at home" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 11/8).
