Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan wants to play the Super Bowl in London. I have a brief response – no. Let me expand on that – hell no.
America’s game remains in the U.S. They’ll have to pry the football from my cold, dead hands before moving it to London just to make Khan happy. And, by the way, notice he just put in an offer to purchase Wembley Stadium in London, where the game would be played? No self-serving interest there.
The NFL has long talked of moving or creating a team for London as part of global expansion. I get it. The NFL, if nothing else, is about making every dollar possible. They have that right under capitalism, but not at the expense of creating hardships on teams, especially West Coast ones that require 12-hour flights.
Certainly, playing a few games in London annually has been a big success and European fans can now see all the games instead of just one weekly. Giving them the Super Bowl wouldn't necessarily increase exposure and would come at a major loss in U.S. markets. You think people were upset over players' kneeling during the national anthem? Try moving the Super Bowl abroad and see what happens.
First off, the game is around 6 p.m. on the East Coast, ending around 10:30 p.m. For that to continue, the game would start around 11 p.m. in London. Otherwise, it’s a matinee on the East coast and morning start out west. That would be insane.
Second, what has London done to deserve the game over, say, Washington? You know, the nation's capital that can’t get a whiff of a chance. Neither can most NFL cities, but London, that hosts a few games annually, deserves it?
If Khan loves London so much, he should relocate the Jags from Jacksonville. How a team ended up there is beyond me. It's the league's worst market and needed a great season to open part of the upper deck last year. If the Jags remain competitive in the future, they might even host playoff games if moving to London. That’s fine. Part of doing business.
But the Super Bowl away from the U.S. of A? That's un-American.