Heading To Europe?

Pats owner Robert Kraft has called for the NFL to have a team in Great Britain within the next ten years. His team will be playing there again after a previous trip in 2009. The team's game against the St Louis Rams on October 28th illustrates one of the logistical issues. Both teams will have a bye the following week in order to deal with the travel time.

Any team playing in Great Britain would have a nightmare of a schedule, especially if they had to travel to the west coast. How would players and coaches deal with the time changes? I think that is one of the biggest problems to overcome. Would the team be an existing NFL franchise or would they create an expansion club? A league of 33 teams would cause scheduling problems.

It makes a great deal of sense to expand the league to Europe. There is great potential to grow the game economically, but how do you do it without effecting the caliber of the competition? I think it's a great idea, but it might never happen. The league would like to play two games annually there. That might be the best option.