NFL Wants Jaguars Relocated to London?

[dino1828]

Correction needed.  I meant to type the "Houston Oilers", not the "Houston Rockets". 

I'm pretty sure you meant the Texans.

And why are travel issues, " insurmountable"?  Instead of traveling on the Friday before the game, fly on Tuesday.  There are plenty of areas that could be used for practice/film reviews.  Just because it hasn't been done doesn't mean it can't be done. 

Not saying it is the best of ideas, but it is certainly achievable..

You're right.  My mistake.  Houston Texans.  Sheesh.  The question has been raised: What explains the attendance at recent NFL games in London?  Anyone know how many U.S. expats are currently living in London?  Just a ruffy scuffy number.  Enough to fill the stadium?  Then add the curious.  And hesto presto, sold out.  But can you repeat that attendance game in and game out over a 16 game regular season plus 4 preseason games?  I don't think so. 

Travel distance issue.   Maybe a European 3- or 4-game road trip could be baked into a league's playing schedule.  Minimizing the impact of jet lag, but you still have security clearance and in-city travel slowdowns that exhaust you.  Absent a teleporter, I'm just not seeing it as do-able.  Ask Beckham what all that flying around Europe and across the Atlantic did to his ankles.  Dino refers to the Jags current lease as "iron clad" until 2025.  With respect, I don't believe that's the case.

I'm not lying look it up they have a lease tell 2025 to break the lease the Team would have to open up there accounting books (this has never happened in the history of the NFL) and prove they have lost money for 3 consecutive years. With the NFL profit sharing this is very tuff to do is to loss money, because the NFL is a money making machine. There is a team that is looking to move the Rams there lease is over in 2014 but I still don't think any teams would move over there.

[Forever Fulham]

Some interesting followup to La Canfora's CBS sport article.  The relevant portion:


Next Rob Foldy-USA TODAY Sports In what has been a rather annoying week of national media reporting regarding the Jacksonville Jaguars, it is just another day in the life of a Jaguars fan.

From New York Post writer Bart Hubbuch to well-known CBS Sports NFL insider Jason La Canfora, the Jaguars' fanbase has been hit over and over again with rumors based on Roger Goodell's statements regarding the NFL in London, England.

From playing two home games in London to eventually moving there, Hubbuch and La Canfora are both the epitome of why the Jaguars' fanbase cannot stand the national media.

While conversing with the media, Goodell stated that he would like to play a third game in London each year, and would ask the Jaguars to play twice.

There is no doubt that Goodell would like to do that—it means more notoriety and more money.  Two things any business looks for.

The issues that Jaguars fans had right away was the very poor reporting done on the situation by Hubbuch.

Displaying his opinion on Twitter, Hubbuch made a statement that set the Jaguars' fanbase on fire.



Hubbuch states that he believes we will see the "London Jaguars" in 2020.

To make a long story short, bad move Bart.

Since the tweet, Hubbuch has dealt with both extremely angry and angry Jaguars fans.  Taking a look at his feed, it would seem as if he has gotten little sleep and battled nearly every Jaguars fan possible.



While refusing to back down on his opinion, La Canfora backed Hubbuch with an article explaining that he believes that the Jags would be the best fit for London.

La Canfora received the same warm welcome that Hubbuch did from Jaguars fans.

The Jaguars nation has taken Twitter by storm and targeted these two writers out of passion and anger.



It is one thing to speculate, but it is another to pour more crap onto the national perception of the Jaguars.

From articles about the Jaguars moving to Los Angeles to how they have a small fan following, the national media has done very little to report anything with substance to the followers of the NFL, nonetheless the fans of Jacksonville.

Some things that seem to get missed with all of the opinions from these "experts" are the facts and common sense that go into making any of these assumptions.

Let's start off with the Jaguars' stadium, EverBank Field.

The lease for the stadium runs through 2027.  Are there ways out of the lease?  Of course, as you can buy out of anything.  But what is the cost?

The conditions of the lease were reported beautifully by Timothy Gibbons.

The most important facts to take from this are that the Jaguars would owe the remaining amount of the $135 million, 35-year lease due whenever they would make a move.  In November of 2011, they still had nearly $100 million left on the lease.

The lease becomes somewhat tricky if the team begins to lose money.  If the Jaguars' revenue was below the NFL average for three consecutive years, then the team would be able to get out of the lease without as many penalties.

This is where it turns to those same passionate fans that are torturing the media after making statements that the team may move to London.

Fill the stadium, and there should be no chance of the team moving anywhere.

If the Jaguars' owner, Shad Khan, had any interest in a move in the near future, why in the world would he be pulling for a $50 million stadium upgrade?



Phil Sears-USA TODAY Sports
Khan wants something that makes the team stand out in Jacksonville.  His idea of the having the largest video boards in the NFL backs up this very idea.

A year into upgrading the weight room and locker room, Khan has seen millions of dollars spent on upgrading the current stadium for years to come.  The Jaguars also have plans for an indoor practice facility and may begin construction for the 2014 season.  That will be another $10 million paid by the Jaguars.

We cannot forget about the money that was just shelled out to completely change the team's logo and uniforms.

[Forever Fulham]

Here's Timothy Gibbons' article about the lease.  I don't know why the hyperlink to it didn't attach to the above-pasted copy:  http://jacksonville.com/sports/football/jaguars/2011-11-30/story/jaguars-lease-makes-it-costly-leave-jacksonville-2030

There's a giant escape clause, an early-out provision, baked into the lease, if certain conditions happen.

[Putney]

Don't blame them, La Canfora's an idiot.

[btings]

That article links to a PDF of the lease itself, if anyone is interested.  It's here:  00 09-07-1993 Lease

It's actually not impossible to think that the NFL assumes they will move the franchise -after- 2025.  A move of this magnitude for the league would probably have at least a 3 year lead time just to get everything sorted.

[Forever Fulham]

Yes, that's what I'm thinking, too, btings.  They must be planning a long game.  A 12-year window within which the NFL plans to build (or acquire and convert) stadiums, a viable youth training system, a farm structure that will work in Europe (which doesn't use university sports as the stepping stone farm system to the pros), time to win enough hearts and minds over to supporting NFL football.   I don't see how they can ever make that happen, whether it's 12 years from now, or 20.  What is far more likely to happen, though, is English football gaining an ever-increasing following in the U.S. (and Canada) during that same time frame.   Hispanics are the largest/fastest growing minority in the U.S.  Which sport are their children going to want to play, hmmmm?

[dino1828]

Yes, that's what I'm thinking, too, btings.  They must be planning a long game.  A 12-year window within which the NFL plans to build (or acquire and convert) stadiums, a viable youth training system, a farm structure that will work in Europe (which doesn't use university sports as the stepping stone farm system to the pros), time to win enough hearts and minds over to supporting NFL football.   I don't see how they can ever make that happen, whether it's 12 years from now, or 20.  What is far more likely to happen, though, is English football gaining an ever-increasing following in the U.S. (and Canada) during that same time frame.   Hispanics are the largest/fastest growing minority in the U.S.  Which sport are their children going to want to play, hmmmm?

Bingo that is what I am saying, soccer is growing here so fast, this is what Shad is after to get in a league that is about to break into the American market and cross promote his two teams. Tomorrow top Fulham officials will have a press conference with Shad at Everbank Field in Jacksonville announcing something probably games with Fulham here in Jacksonville. I told you this guy thinks out side the box.