The Rams will host the NFL game in London for the next 3 years!

OMG we get to use the "BEAT LA" chants again

I suppose there is a reasonable chance the 9ers will be in London over those 3 years, less 1 for Pats leaves 2/16 games, 12.5% chance? Pats were over here a couple of years ago v Bucs so a bit of a precedent. Can't see Wembley selling out for Rams v Cards or Seahawks?

They've never had two teams from the same division play against each other overseas before, so hopefully that trend continues and the Niners stay here.

Originally posted by valrod33:

The Rams will move back to LA

I was hoping we could get the Raiders out of here and sent back down there.

New country, Same Ole sorry a*s Rams.

LA RAMS
LA RAIDERS


Sounds good to me.

Against the Pats next year? Finally, we send an elite team for London to see

The Rams are owned by Stan Kroenke, who is also the majority shareholder in the English soccer club Arsenal. The team will give up home games in St. Louis for the three seasons they are in London.

"We've seen first-hand the increased popularity of the NFL not only in London but throughout Europe," Kroenke said in a statement. "To play a role in that growth over the next three years will be incredible and is a testament to the many good things happening not only in the NFL but also in the St. Louis Rams organization."

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7482739/st-louis-rams-play-london-games-next-3-years

Originally posted by YungAce:
Against the Pats next year? Finally, we send an elite team for London to see

Patriots were just there, lol.

Still can't see an NFL team in London the next 10 years. I would bet Rams will probably be heading to LA very soon

I don' think an NFL team in London would work. Its a very different place to the US. I'm from manchester and travelling down to London once a year for a game is enough for me maybe even twice if at most, there is no way I could go to 8 games a season as the petrol/gas costs of travelling are twice as much as the US, the price for parking in London is unbelievably expensive, and hotels aren't much cheaper. Also i don't want to be spending all my weekends over the season down in London and i imagine most people who don't live in London will fell the same.
And the fact i've supported niners for years i'm not just going to change allegiances to an English team and this is has been a big response from most people who've been asked about it. I think we'll have more luck trying to get 3-4 games a season rather than just 1 a season, and at best probably a playoff game.

Originally posted by smithc28:

I don' think an NFL team in London would work. Its a very different place to the US. I'm from manchester and travelling down to London once a year for a game is enough for me maybe even twice if at most, there is no way I could go to 8 games a season as the petrol/gas costs of travelling are twice as much as the US, the price for parking in London is unbelievably expensive, and hotels aren't much cheaper. Also i don't want to be spending all my weekends over the season down in London and i imagine most people who don't live in London will fell the same.
And the fact i've supported niners for years i'm not just going to change allegiances to an English team and this is has been a big response from most people who've been asked about it. I think we'll have more luck trying to get 3-4 games a season rather than just 1 a season, and at best probably a playoff game.

The population of London is 7.8 million. The occasional visitor from Manchester would be very welcome but not fundamental. There are some seriously fanatical followers of the game in Scotland and Germany, and these guys will travel.

That being said, it's the same old Rams. They would have more chance with a new franchise. People would follow London AND their old team for a while, and if the product is good, who knows? But it is the same old Rams.

And if they follow the same business plan as they followed with the Monarchs, ie soak the supporters for all they have, it doesn't bode well.

And it's the same old Rams.

Biggest problem would be attracting Free Agents. Sure american soccer players do it all the time, but I bet 40% of NFL players aren't going to want to have to live in London and the 60% that would will want more money to do it. You would start hearing of players requesting a trade because they cant adjust to a complete different culture in London. Also if you think Eli Manning was totally out of line for telling the Chargers he wouldn't play for him.... Be ready for a yearly "will the first round pick of the London Rams request a trade?" This isnt Canada were you can drive a few hours to get back to the USA.

Originally posted by Jcool:
Biggest problem would be attracting Free Agents. Sure american soccer players do it all the time, but I bet 40% of NFL players aren't going to want to have to live in London and the 60% that would will want more money to do it. You would start hearing of players requesting a trade because they cant adjust to a complete different culture in London. Also if you think Eli Manning was totally out of line for telling the Chargers he wouldn't play for him.... Be ready for a yearly "will the first round pick of the London Rams request a trade?" This isnt Canada were you can drive a few hours to get back to the USA.

I'm not so sure this would be an issue. There may be the odd player that wouldn't fancy it, but ultimately money talks. If the London Rams were offering the best contract then that's where the player will go more often than not. Very few NFL players play for their home town team, so have to base themselves away from home during the season. London's not that different a culture.

Logistically, having a team on a separate continent would be a challenge but not an insurmountable one. The sensible solution would be to move the Rams to the NFC East with the Cowboys moving to the West. There's no logical reason for Dallas to be in the East. There is the traditional rivalry with Washington, but this has never really made any sense to me. Maybe when they were both powerhouses but the Redskins have been mediocre for so long now that the game has become a bit of an irrelevance. The schedule for the London Rams would have to be carefully thought out. If they had away fixtures against west coast teams they would probably have to play them on consecutive weeks and then have their bye week at the end of that stretch. All teams travelling to London would have their bye the following week.

Having said all that I'm just not sure there is the demand for a London franchise yet. It's all very well selling out one game a season but eight is a very different matter. I'd be interested to know what percentage of the crowd at the annual games so far actually come from London. I get the impression that fans are travelling not only from all over Britain, but from all over Europe. This just wouldn't be practical for them eight times a year. I'm not sure that many European NFL fans would want to do it even if it was practical as most already have strong allegiances to teams. I've been a 49ers fan for 30 years and unless the British team was based in my home town of Edinburgh there's no way I'd support them instead. For a London franchise to be successful the bulk of their support would have to come fro the London area. The NFL are probably going about it the right way by sending the Rams over for the next 3 years in the hope that they can start to build an allegiance between London and the team, and I suspect the next step will be to build up the number of games played in London each season and see how successful that is. Ultimately, if London does get a full time franchise it's many years away I think.