An NFL team for London...someday?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4588350

LONDON -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell expects the league to start playing multiple regular-season games in Britain in the next few years -- an expansion that could lead to putting a franchise in London.

Goodell said Friday that "every indicator" shows the British market can support more games and that having a franchise here is of "tremendous interest" to the league. But he stopped short of giving a timeline for expanding the NFL's overseas presence.

"I expect that sometime in the next couple of years, we could be playing multiple games here," Goodell said. "If we brought more than one game here, and it continues to have the same kind of enthusiasm and growth of interest, I think that is about as good of an indicator you can get that it could successfully support a franchise. And that's what we're looking at."

How cool would that be?  I'll never abandon my beloved Dallas Cowboys, but it'd be cool to have a local team, too. 

My Husband is super excited about this  and he's the Brit! We read the article last night about the possible new London team. I asked him if he would become a London fan when the team is a reality and he said nope "Dallas Cowboys all the way!" We want to get tickets to one of the game in London but they get sold so far in advace. Next year four NFL games are going to be played in London but I'm sure we wont manage to get tickets   

I am Cowboys fan from waaaaaaaay back!  But I could back a London team...except when they play the Boyz!

Are there really enough fans in London for an NFL team to be based here?  Sure, I can see a game a year being a sell out, but I wonder if it would still be as popular after a couple of years.   Not that I am cynical or anything, but I wonder if they would start the team here, let the popularity wane, and then sell for a gazillion bucks to Los Angeles.

I'm still hoping for some NHL hockey teams to come there! It's in the top 3 of things I will miss from the States!

I still find it highly unlikely for a number of reasons

1. The people that go to the Wembley game are in a variety of jerseys, they already have their teams.
2. People come from all over the UK (and Europe), last year it cost the pair of us £400 including hotel and train fare (plus meals) - ok for a one off but not feasible for 8 games a season.
3. It would be a losing franchise for at least 3 or 4 years.....would people continue to support?

Good points, TykeMan.  I have my doubts, too, mostly based on the logistics of having one team located thousands of miles and an ocean away from the rest of the league.  As for the level of support in the UK, Goodell seemed to say they're thinking of having games in Manchester and Glasgow in addition to London, and if they're able to get consistent support for those games, it would give them an indication of how much support they might get for a London team.

Given that London has over 7 million people, I think there would probably be enough support for an NFL team to justify a franchise.  They'd only need to get 60 to 80 thousand people involved, and if you widened out to say 30 miles outside the city, I'd bet there are that many people who would support a team.

But like Karrit, I'd have to root against them when they played Dallas. 

I think it could work! Lets not forget about all the Die Hard Fans that would come over when their team is up against London! 

The UK had a league back in the early 90s, I think. We had the London Monarchs, I believe. I bought a jersey and went to games and it all just died a death. It was a real shame, but I just can't see it taking off here. I hope I'm wrong.

The UK had a league back in the early 90s, I think. We had the London Monarchs, I believe.

That's right, they were part of NFL Europe.  It was kind of a farm league for the NFL, but was killed off when they started looking at playing regular season games overseas.

I had no idea it went on until 2007