Yesterday's Seahawks-Raiders game was the first of three straight that Wembley Stadium will hostGETTY IMAGES
The '18 NFL London Games kicked off yesterday with Seahawks-Raiders at Wembley Stadium, and NFL Exec VP/Int'l Mark Waller is "bullish on the city’s readiness to have its own team," his confidence "built off of 12 years of testing of the market," according to Albert Breer of THE MMQB. Waller does not know "which team it might be that relocates, something he made clear" when asked about reports "indicating the Jaguars are lining things up for a move." He said the league is "building a marketplace" in London, and eventually the owners "will decide if they want a team" there. He added there would then "be a process for who that team might be.” Waller: “I don’t believe we’re in the narrowing down phase. ... The market looks like it’s in great shape.” Games will be played at Wembley Stadium in three consecutive weeks, which Waller said will "be a good test" for the field conditions. He noted a London team would play "three or four games" in a row at home, and then "three or four games in the U.S." Waller said of Jaguars Owner Shad Khan's bid to buy Wembley, "An NFL owner owning a stadium that works really well for us is obviously great. But I don’t think it’s logical to say, ‘Oh, since (Khan) owns it, then if there’s a team to go to London it’ll be the Jags." Meanwhile, the '19 NFL London Games "will be announced at the same time as the rest of the schedule, not ahead of time," marking "another step in an effort to 'normalize' these games." As for the league's international efforts more broadly, the "idea of going somewhere other than London or Mexico City" in '19 is "off the table" (SI.com, 10/15).
FOLLOW THE MONEY: NBCSPORTS.com's Peter King writes the NFL is "all about growing the pie," so the league is "going to act in the interest of expanding, doing something different -- and making a boatload of money." King: "That means a franchise in London. Or two." Two London teams are not "anything close to a sure thing, but it certainly is interesting" that the league and the owners of EPL club Tottenham Hotspur are "working on a stadium refurbishing that would accommodate an American football team." This while Khan is "trying to close a deal to buy Wembley." England is "not the only place where the NFL is increasing its footprint around the globe." TV ratings are up more than 10% in Mexico, Canada and Germany, while "live-streaming of NFL games in China has doubled" from '17 to this fall. NFL owners are "continually looking at new ways to make money," and London "might look like an ATM to them" (NBCSPORTS.com, 10/15).
