London’s third and final NFL game of the season marks the 39th time the city has hosted a matchup since 2007. This Sunday’s contest at Wembley Stadium between the struggling New England Patriots and Jacksonville Jaguars is another in a long line of games featuring underperforming teams. Despite the lackluster records of both 1-5 teams, local interest in the NFL continues to thrive, and better days are on the horizon for Britain’s growing football fan base.
According to top sports media expert Dennis Deninger, London’s future with the NFL is much more than just a handful of games each season. Deninger, an award-winning former ESPN producer and professor emeritus at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, predicts that the city will soon have its own NFL team and even host a Super Bowl.
“Before the end of this decade, there will be an NFL team established in London playing at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium,” Deninger told DailyMail.com. “And within five years after that, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will host the Super Bowl.”
Deninger’s bold prediction comes with an understanding of the NFL’s financial impact on London. The league claims to generate more than $389 million annually for the city’s economy, and Deninger believes a full-time London-based NFL team could significantly increase that figure. With that kind of financial incentive, the league, local politicians, and business leaders are starting to envision what a permanent London franchise could mean.
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The NFL has been considering expansion into London for years. While there has been speculation about relocating struggling franchises like the Jacksonville Jaguars, the idea of a brand-new expansion team seems more feasible given the potential billions in franchise fees that would come with such a move. Deninger and others agree that creating an expansion team would offer a fresh start and avoid the logistical challenges of relocating an existing team.
In 2015, the NFL set a benchmark of needing 6 million “avid fans” in the UK before considering placing a franchise in London. At that time, surveys revealed around 4 million avid fans, with projections to reach 6 million by 2020. Now, with the fan base continuing to grow, it seems the NFL is getting closer to realizing its London dreams.
“The fan base is big enough and passionate enough that it can support a franchise,” said NFL spokesman Mark Waller back in 2016. “I felt in 2007 it was always a 15-year journey. I think we’re on track to deliver that. I fundamentally believe we will deliver that.”
The annual London Games have played a major role in growing the sport’s popularity. With three games held in the city every year since 2013, ticket sales have remained strong, drawing 22 percent of attendees from London and 60 percent from other parts of the UK. International broadcast deals with DAZN and Amazon Prime have also brought the games to a wider audience across Europe.
The possibility of a Super Bowl in London is particularly enticing. Hosting the world’s biggest annual sporting event would undoubtedly boost London’s global profile. While NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has expressed openness to the idea, he remains cautious about hosting the Super Bowl in a non-NFL city. Traditionally, the game has been used as a reward for cities that have invested in new stadiums and support the league throughout the season.
“We’ve always traditionally tried to play a Super Bowl in an NFL city—that was always sort of a reward for the cities that have NFL franchises,” Goodell said recently when asked about the possibility of moving the game overseas.
This is where Tottenham Hotspur Stadium comes into play. The stadium, completed in 2019, was specifically designed to accommodate both EPL matches and NFL games. The venue even has a unique grow lighting system to repair any damage to the turf caused by transitioning between sports. With its state-of-the-art facilities and NFL-ready infrastructure, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium seems an ideal candidate to host the Super Bowl.
“Follow the pattern,” Deninger said. “You build a big, new stadium, you’ve got a great new audience, you get awarded a Super Bowl.”
Recent Super Bowls have indeed followed this pattern, with the game being hosted at newer, high-end stadiums like Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium and Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium. Out of the nine newest NFL stadiums, only Minneapolis’ US Bank Stadium has yet to host a Super Bowl, likely due to the region’s cold climate. London, by contrast, boasts a moderate (if rainy) climate, making it a more suitable host.
However, there are still hurdles to overcome before a London-based NFL team becomes a reality, particularly in terms of travel and time zone logistics. Currently, a flight from New York to London takes around eight hours, while trips from Los Angeles can take closer to 12 hours. This is considerably longer than the league’s current longest travel distance, the six-hour journey from Seattle to Miami.
However, technological advancements in air travel could help alleviate some of these concerns. Companies like Boom Technologies are working on supersonic aircraft that could cut the New York-London flight time in half by the end of this decade.
“Technology always leads when people with creative minds step in and they use technology to its fullest,” Deninger said, optimistic about future travel solutions.
The time zone difference between the UK and the US is another challenge, with London five hours ahead of New York and eight hours ahead of Los Angeles. While this might present some difficulties for fans, Deninger pointed out that a prime-time game in London at 9 p.m. would align with early afternoon viewing times on the West Coast, making it manageable for many.
The real logistical challenges may arise for the players, who would need to contend with jet lag and long flights. NFL teams traveling to London may need to arrive earlier in the week to adjust, and a London-based team would likely need to establish practice facilities in the US for extended road trips.
As for the idea of holding a Super Bowl in London, the NFL would need to convince team owners, many of whom have yet to host the event in their cities. Deninger suggested one solution: funneling a larger portion of the expansion franchise’s entry fee to owners who have missed out on hosting a Super Bowl, ensuring broader support for the London plan.
The demand for a London franchise would likely be high, and Deninger doesn’t anticipate any shortage of potential buyers. With the Washington Commanders selling for over $6 billion in 2023, the market for NFL teams is hotter than ever. Ideally, Deninger believes a British billionaire would purchase the team to give it a uniquely British identity and establish a strong local fan base.
“You want a British owner, a long-time person with history of sport in the United Kingdom, to own that team because then they will be able to establish the kind of tribal identities,” Deninger explained.
Just a decade ago, the prospect of a London NFL team seemed like a pipe dream. Today, it feels increasingly likely. Despite the logistical challenges, the NFL’s ever-growing popularity and revenue generation suggest that the league is well-equipped to make it happen.
“Demand is king,” Deninger said. “The NFL is run by a lot of very smart people. I know a number of them, and they can see the future.”
With NFL stars like Travis Kelce achieving international celebrity status through high-profile relationships, the league is poised to transform itself from a US-centric powerhouse to a global sensation, with London playing a pivotal role in that expansion.
“The NFL would love for a number of their players to become international celebrities who attract audiences no matter where they play,” Deninger added. And with that, the NFL’s global vision inches closer to reality.
