Why Roger Goodell should be in no rush to put an NFL franchise in London

LONDON – Sian and Katrina Shaw hail from Sheffield, England, about a four-hour drive into the rolling countryside from here.

About a decade ago, when the NFL began its International Series and a heavy push to market American football in Europe, Sian, always intrigued by the sport, got hooked.

He became a Cowboys fan because his mother used to watch the television show "Dallas." He now owns a closet full of paraphernalia and consumes enough media coverage that he can discuss the team like he's from Plano, Texas – albeit with a British accent.

Last year, Sian and Katrina came to London to watch the Cowboys play at Wembley Stadium. It was their first NFL game. Sunday, the NFL will be back in town, with the Jacksonville Jaguars taking on the Buffalo Bills. But instead of heading back to Wembley, Sian and Katrina on Thursday boarded a flight to New York City. They'll spend the weekend at a Times Square hotel while on (in the local parlance) holiday. Everything, though, centers around attending Sunday's Dallas at New York Giants game. (Seeing the Boys in Jersey is a far shorter flight option than going all the way to Texas.)

Since they've never tailgated – it's a foreign concept here where pregame is done in pubs – they are attending a party at the stadium run by Barstool Sports.

"We decided we must come to the U.S. for the 'real' experience," Sian said.

"There's going to be a lot of shopping too," Katrina joked.

These two are, without question, Roger Goodell's dream come true, especially here on a day when the NFL announced a renewal to play two regular-season games at Wembley through at least 2020. This is in addition to two regular season games being played at the new stadium being constructed in London by the Tottenham Hotspur franchise of the Barclays Premier League, hopefully by 2018.

What started as an annual experiment in 2007 – New York Giants vs. Miami Dolphins – is now already slated for at least four games a year across the pond.

So how long until there is a London-based franchise that will play eight regular-season games? That's complicated, and not even a question that needs to be immediately answered, because while everyone is focused on the end game here, the journey is proving pretty sweet for the NFL.

After all, in eight short years, total International Series attendance will break one million at Sunday's sold-out Buffalo-Jacksonville game.

"These agreements reiterate the NFL's commitment to the UK, with two stadium deals running concurrently," Mark Waller, the NFL's executive vice president of International, said. "This new agreement extends a very successful, long-term relationship."

While the league isn't closing the possibility to any idea of any kind, it may be better off just staging four football weekends a year here, or even eight, with two neutral teams rather than giving London its own franchise.

There is almost no question that London – with a metro population of 13.8 million, which is slightly larger than Los Angeles – has the fan and corporate base to properly support a team. That doesn't even count a franchise's ability to become not just all of England's team, but much of Europe's. Paris, Belgium and the Netherlands are all within a few hours train ride.

The question has to do with competitive balance and logistics. How does a team in London deal with endless travel, and vice versa for visiting teams? Teams can – and do – prepare a year out just to get here and play, comforted by the understanding that their opponent faces the same challenges.

What about when the team reaches the playoffs and things have to be unexpectedly turned around on short notice? What if it involves a West Coast team?

And how would a London team deal with its roster? Would it be a detriment to signing free agents, who would almost overwhelmingly be American and presumably prefer to play stateside? Or would the chance for a star player to market himself to a huge international population even that out?

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What about the weekly grind though? NFL teams bring in a few players each week, at least for workouts, as injuries and performance whittle roster spots open. How many of those free agents don't have passports or couldn't get here on a moment's notice?

The NFL solved the creating interest in the game problem quickly – Wembley will be sold out as always despite lacking a big-name franchise and competing Sunday with multiple Premier League contests and the World Rugby Championship in town.

It's the football that is a tougher puzzle to fix.

With the NFL approaching the final stages of finally putting a franchise back in Los Angeles, it might be most beneficial to keep London open for a while. The ability of teams to threaten to move to Southern California helped them win billions in stadium construction deals with local governments. London could continue that trend, the new – and cloudier – L.A.

More importantly, the league may not need to rush. Until the fans here show they are tired of these one-off games, why change? Jacksonville comes every year to build some familiarity, but most in attendance are just general football fans. The New England Patriots are the country's most popular team and there will undoubtedly be far more Tom Brady jerseys at Wembley than those of Blake Bortles and EJ Manuel combined.

With four games annually, each NFL franchise will have to come here about every four years and give up a home date about every eight.

In less than a decade the game has gone from curiosity to passion: from one game annually from 2007-12, to two in 2013, to three in 2014 and 2015 and soon four a year.

That's partially a result of those marketing tentacles reaching far into the English countryside to produce fans so hooked that they'll eschew a game in London to jet to the United States and spend NFL-inspired recreational dollars in America.

"We are both totally hooked," said Sian, who hopes London gets a team, but is just mostly enamored with the sport.

Proof positive that there is no need for Roger Goodell to rush into anything over here.

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