http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...don-project-building-a-fan-base-for-one-team/ We're an east coast team. We share a city and a stadium with another team. We're treated by many in the league, many in our city, and even many of our own fans as the local B-squad. I for one would think the Jets ownership would kill to get this opportunity, and the NFL would have to agree that it makes a lot of sense. The article mentions the Patriots as another possibility, but says they probably wouldn't want to lose the home games. We currently have 16 home games played at the Meadowlands every season, more than any place else, so you can make the argument that New York football fans would miss 4 home games less than fans in any other city, and that our stadium can afford to lose the games more than anybody else (there is something silly about the idea of a stadium only being used for four football games a year, but ours would still be used for 12, more than anybody elses). Of course, I'm also not a season ticket holder, so whatever country we play our home games in, I'll be watching them from the same place. Thoughts?
I hope they just scrap this all together. Players HATE going overseas to play. If they want to expand so badly, work on Canada. Take a shit franchise like Cleveland before you take my beloved Jets!
I'm not into this. I agree for the UK fans on here but other than them, I could care less to go there.
I'm not at all for this even though it would make it much easier for me to see the Jets. 1 hour plane ride and a commute from airport against 7 hour plane ride and commute from the airport LOL. Seriously the travelling from the States to the UK for a single game is extra than a West coast game and for it to really work there would need to be back to back games. and that means players on the road for an extended period. I know we speak English here but it's real English *smile* and I can't think of a topnotch practice facility that exists. NFL please make me happy. Bring back NFL Europe and the Scottish Claymores. but fund it properly this time. BTW was a jet before I was a Claymore fan
I would like to see the Jets over here next season for the 1 off game but even though im from London i dont think it would be cool for the Jets to spend half their season in London. Would rather they went with a london Franchise or just have 4 games of mixed teams. There are a lot of NFL fans in the UK and so having more than 2 teams over in a season would be amazing. Also if they had 4 games that means 8 teams and so could also mean the Jets are over here once every 4 years which would be amazing.
I don't see the point in having these games over here, it does nothing to help grow the sport. The NFL needed to start pumping some money into the grass-routes of the sport during the days of the Bears, instead all we got was some second rate import infested league that everyone got bored with after a few seasons.
Not taking home games from me. Take them from teams like the Jags and Oakland who are getting blacked out.
Thats one argument, take home geams from a team where the home city won't miss them. It holds some water, except that almost every team struggles to fill a stadium when they spend a couple years in the gutter. Thatd be the Jets getting blacked out if we were as bad as we were in the mid 90s, so to take a team from a city based on blackouts becomes arbitrary; it could happen to any team, depending on when you do it. The other is, give it to a team that can do it without it being as much of a distraction. Oakland has to go halfway across the globe to play a game in London. London and New York are like sister cities, it's not overly burdensome on the team to get over there to play the game, and frankly, it's a heck of a lot easier for the fans to make the trip along with them if they're so inclined. And can I just say, I'm surprised how many european jets fans have responded to this thread already. Are the Jets actually somewhat popular overseas, or is it just that european NFL fans have a strong presence on the internet since they're further removed from the NFL (ie, I can go get the paper and keep up on the Jets news, I don't assume the london papers carry much NFL chatter).
Why would you sacrifice any semblance of a home field advantage and the first year in a brand new stadium?
I don't think they just spent billions on their new stadium to leave it and go play in England. Just a hunch.
Hey mate NFL were never going to put money into UK grass roots development at any time. World League which became NFL Europe was the attempt to grow the sport in terms of pro teams based on over optimistic finance projections. The set up of that league showed that multi time zone non continental US leagues don't work. Growing fan bases is problematic due to dominance of the round ball game over here. In my view NFL Europe was a great place to build interest. The allocate system seeing a lack of continuity was a problem in sustaining non commited fan interest. As for me I was already into the game and the access that fans got through the Claymores was second to none. For every season the Clays were based in Glasgow I was able to go to practice several times a week be on the sidelines and watch first hand up close technique drills position drills and how the game works up real close. Fantastic and cemented my love for and excitement of the game. I speak for a lot of others that I spent time with going to practices games here and on the road Best thing for me as a Jet fan was getting to know Brandon Moore when he was here and watching him develop to be a solid starter who has only improved over time. Some difficulty for the allocates in making NFL roster was the fact they had already played up to 10 games 11 if they were lucky before camps even started
Why in the world would any fan of a team want them to have to travel to another continent to play a game? I can think of many disadvantages - jet lag, lost home game, etc. What is the advantage? It's not exposure. The games are on TV anyway.
London will get a team, eventually, but it won't be the Jets. There are several teams that are in small markets that could be sent, Jacksonville, Oakland, St Loius. However, Godell is on record as saying he wants any new NFL franchise to be created through expansion, not moving, so the point is moot. I think they are yeballing the cities they have played games in (including preseason) like Tokyo, Mexico City, London. As far as Canada goes, the only cities large enough are Montreal and Toronto. The french could care less about the NFL, and Toronto is only an hour from Buffalo, another small market team. I smell a total realignment of conferences down the road when they do this expansion. Split right down the middle of the country. The west coast teams get Tokyo. The East coast teams play London. Two conferences that don't play each other anymore. Just like in the old days. Our division: NYJ NYG NE Philly London Maybe the Redskins. That is off the top of my head, without much thought going into it. Houston, Dallas, TB, Miami, Jax and Atalanta.... and Mexico City. Moving a team defeats the whole mission the NFL has. Expansion, not moving teams. More teams, more markets, more money. The NFL has BIG plans in the long term. I'll bet they envision having an entire division playing in europe in the 20 year plan.
Having the Jets over here for a one off game would be amazing - would certainly save on the seven hour flight! But long term, definately not.
