Well, it's that time of the NFL season. The time of season in which the league takes the next three weeks to send teams to London in their ongoing love affair with the Britons. This year, it begins with the Seattle Seahawks taking on the Oakland (soon to be Las Vegas) Raiders at what was supposed to be the new stadium in north London, but it (which was supposed to be open by now) isn't quite ready , so they're going to play said game at Wembley Stadium.
Now you're probably thinking to yourself, "why those two teams and not two that are closer to London?" Well, that is a good question. There are two other games in London (Tennessee vs. Chargers on 10/21 followed by Philadelphia vs. Jacksonville on 10/28, more on those later) but for some reason, the NFL selected these two teams, which are two of the three teams furthest from the UK (San Francisco being the other), to play. Yeah, it's part of the league's ongoing effort (since 2007) to expand their global brand, but what if you live in the Pacific Northwest or San Francisco Bay area?
Take a look at the above map, courtesy of 506 sports (which you can also find here). The SEA-OAK game is colored in blue, which means unless you have Sunday Ticket, you'd have to be up at practically breakfast time to watch this game (10 PDT), and if you live in Alaska, even earlier (9 PDT). The good news is that it's 6pm British Daylight Time, so it could have been even earlier.
Which brings me to the second and third games at London. Both of these games will be played at 9:30am Eastern (2:30 London time). That's fine if you're Jacksonville or Philly. If you're in Tennessee it's a bit early, but Los Angeles? We're talking about 6:30; the butt crack of dawn. But, if you have seen a Chargers home game the last two years, it isn't like they have many fans (Every home game is practically an away game by proxy). However, if you live in Hawaii (home of Titans QB Marcus Mariota), you'd have to go to bed early Saturday night for the 4:30am kickoff.
Which brings me to the Jaguars, and their infatuation with London. As those of you who follow football may already know, Shad Khan, Jaguars owner, is also the owner of Fulham Football Club in London. Khan is already finalizing a deal to buy Wembley Stadium. But, don't expect the Jags to move to London anytime soon, if ever. With the exception of last year, the Jags played one home game at Wembley every year since 2013, and their agreement runs through 2020 (if I'm not mistaken). Considering their home game with the Eagles got sent overseas this year, that's too bad for Jacksonville.
Oh, one other thing, the currently undefeated Kansas City Chiefs face the currently undefeated Los Angeles Rams face each other later this year. The venue for this potential Super Bowl matchup?Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. Vamanos, mis amigos!
CT
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