Raiders could play their home games inLondon for 2019 (Jaguars, Dallas Cowboys, team)
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Some more info (well, speculation is probably a more accurate term at this point!) here
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There would be, of course, major logistical challenges, particularly as the Raiders are in the AFC West and thus would be forcing some of their opponents to make exceptionally long road trips. Travel would be a huge issue for the team itself, as well. One scenario for the Raiders, according to Glazer, would be to have them play two cycles of four London home games in a row and four straight in the U.S.
and
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Glazer also mentioned the possibilities of the Raiders playing at the 49ers' stadium in nearby Santa Clara, Calif., or in San Diego, which lost the Chargers last year to Los Angeles. Other potential options include San Francisco’s AT&T Park (home of the Giants), Seattle, Phoenix, St. Louis or even a return to Oakland, if things can be smoothed out.
At least logistically, it seems like Mexico City would be a better option, although they aren't nearly as far down the road in terms of a history of hosting games and being a potential future expansion team site although I think that would be a likely possibility if the NFL does expand internationally
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
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I don’t support a franchise being placed in an international city. That aside, I could see this as a decent experiment since the Raiders are a lame duck team.
I do think having the Raiders play in San Francisco in 2019 makes the most sense and what will eventually be decided, even though I expect the Niners to put up a huge fight against it.
The attendance figures suck for Oakland because that stadium is horrible, the team is horrible, and they are a lame duck in the city. Would you go spend $150+ to watch a team that is terrible you know is going to be leaving?? I’m not sure about you, but I sure as hell wouldn’t!
London won’t work for them (I’ll get to the reason in a second) but why not play @ Cal-Berkeley, Fresno State, Stanford Stadium for the next 2 years until the Vegas stadium is final?? London is out of the question because a West Coast team having “home” games in London would be a travel nightmare. Also remember where they’d play in London (Wembley Stadium) you have England matches, Tottenham home games to contend with, other events, other NFL games, so it would be almost impossible to stagger games together to make sense (ie start 2 on road, play 3 straight at home, follow with 3 straight on road, 2 straight at home, 3 straight on road, and ending with 3 straight at home).
Mexico City could potentially be an outside-the-Box location for their “home” games in 19 though.
Of course it's not a bad idea! The Raiders can make this a trail run to see if it's successful (it won't be), but once the NFL offices figure out how much of a hassle this is going to be they'll put the kabosh on that idea and put them elsewhere. Think of how much travel the Seahawks do annually being in that Northwest Corner with no one within 600 miles of them, now double and triple that number for the Raiders, and that's what the 2019 London Raiders travel schedule will look like.
The ONLY teams that could play "home" games in London are teams on the East Coast with major airline hubs; Patriots, Jets, Giants, Washington, Ravens, Philadelphia, Miami. Travel from those cities to London wouldn't be much further than travel out to San Francisco or Seattle (In Boston's case I think a flight to London is actually shorter than a flight to San Francisco) so the logistics of having to go back and forth about 8-12 times a year wouldn't be that difficult, so the travel with having to coordinate around the other Wembley events could be worthwhile. For anyone else in the country, it would be a logistical & travel nightmare.
I said this about 2 or 3 years ago, but Goodell can talk until he's blue in the face about putting a permanent franchise in London. Just having 1 team over there isn't going to be enough to make it sustainable in the long run. They'd have to create a whole other division with 3 or 4 other teams scattered around Europe (as I said in that original you could have London, Frankfurt & Munich, Germany & Dublin Ireland). That way teams would have a second opponent to play and they wouldn't be shuttling back and forth every year for 1 game.
My 2 cents on the matter: You are MUCH more likely to see a permanent team in Canada AND a permanent team in Mexico before you see a team call London home.
They could play all of their games away. The Raiders are about aftermarket sales not attendance
I'm not sure that the Raiders and the stigma surrounding (a small minority) of their fans would be the best ambassadors for the first team to be based overseas, far better to have a team like the Packers to make that first sojourn. They've already set a precedence for relocating games to Milwaukee so not much difference anyways. They could use that year to spiff up their stadium a bit and come back fresh and re-vitalized.
There's no chance the Raiders are going to play in London. This was a smokescreen plain and simple designed to get the various California cities to come to the table and negotiate a fair short term deal for the Raiders.
might not be a bad idea for the raiders to play in london for a season.
It's a terrible idea. It would be in fact like Manchester United playing matches over here during their season. Completely ridiculous. Why not place the Raiders in a deserving domestic city that does not have an NFL team like say San Antonio ?
And before anyone quotes the tired old refrain of Dallas and Houston will not allow another team in Texas, take a look at the demographics of the San Antonio-Austin Region. This area has mushroomed over the last 20 years into a burgeoning, bustling metro area with over 4.2 million residents and would be the 12th largest TV market in the league behind the Twin Cities. For Davis to play anywhere else during the 2019 season would be stupid and self-defeating. But then Davis balked on bringing the Raiders to SA in 2014 too but instead chose LV. Again, stupid.
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