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If the NFL Wants a Team Permanently Based Outside of the United States, it Could Simply Move the Browns, or Jets
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As the NFL continues to expand its international footprint, commissioner Roger Goodell says it is inevitable that the league will eventually have a team permanently based outside the United States.
Goodell offered his insights on the NFL’s international growth during a recent interview with German media outlet RTL/ntv.
“At some point, there will be NFL teams outside the USA,” Goodell told former NFL player Markus Kuhn during the interview. “I have no doubt that this will happen one day.”
Why? Who wants this? Surely not American NFL fans. Surely not American NFL players. Maybe some bazillionaires, who see international expansion as an opportunity to make even more money.
But if they did this, they’d have to change it from the National Football League to the International Football League, yes?
Not sure about you, but I haven’t spoken to a single football fan that has ever said, “we should have a foreign team.” Maybe you kick around the idea of the Jags relocating permanently to London, because of the Shahid Khan connection and the frequency with which they play overseas, but is that truly exciting for anybody? Is Jacksonville excited about it? No. Is London excited about it? Probably not. They don’t need another disappointing football team over there because they already have Tottenham Hotspur.
Heyo!
Anyway, it’s curious, this international foray, because the NFL seems to be all about it while the big Euro soccer leagues won’t go any further than the summer cashgrab friendlies played between teams like Liverpool and Wrexham, to use a recent example. They come over here in the preseason, make some easy money, and then go back home to play their domestic and continental seasons.
There was a regular season La Liga game (Spanish soccer) that was set to be played in Miami last year between Barcelona and Villarreal, but so much shit was flipped that they ended up scrapping it. And while the Copa America has been played a couple of times now in the United States, that’s a one-off tournament and not a domestic competition, similar to what MLS and Liga MX now do with the Leagues Cup.
So this international cross-pollination seems to have limits, but does it rule out a future trade?
If the NFL wants a team permanently located outside of the USA, it could simply move an existing franchise Nobody will miss the Browns, or the Jets. Send them to the north of England.
“The Carlisle Browns”
“The Hartlepool Jets”
Yes! We could then accept Newcastle United as the newest Major League Soccer team.
Who says no?
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com