Could we be seeing some NFL expansion in the near future? And if so, where?
With the NFL currently playing their second game of the season across the Atlantic (this time with the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants set to kick off at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium tomorrow in London) Goodell has been fielding questions about the possibility of the NFL permanently expanding to Europe.
Based on his answers, it seems like that’s been the plan all along.
While speaking in London earlier today, Goodell claimed that he believed the city of London could support not just one team, but multiple NFL franchises.
Via ProFootballTalk:
“There’s no question that London could support not just one franchise, I think two franchises,” Goodell began. “I really believe that.”
That comment had the United Kingdom’s NFL reporter, Neil Reynolds, joking about the possibility of a European Division, but Goodell clearly didn’t see it as a joke.
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In fact, he almost made it seem as though that was the NFL’s goal:
“That’s part of what we’re doing, right?” Goodell said. “We’re trying to sort of see, could you have multiple locations in Europe where you could have an NFL franchise? Because it would be easier as a division.”
There you have it folks! The NFL could be coming to a European city near you!
At the moment, the NFL currently has 32 teams divided into eight divisions of four teams. And those eight divisions are evenly divided into two conference. Point being, if you do the math, adding one more division will clearly throw off the whole equilibrium of the NFL.
So, if Goodell is in fact serious about adding a European Division, it’ll be interesting to see how he plans to make it worth without causing a whole slew of other logistical problems.
