The New England Patriots are set to take on the St. Louis Rams on Sunday in London, and things are going great for the city. London is already set to host two more NFL games next year and are just coming off holding the 2012 Olympics a few months ago. For Patriots owner Robert Kraft, he believes that the globally-recognized city is ready to host an NFL franchise. “You’re already hosting the premier league, and we believe we’re the premier sport in the world,” he said at the NFL’s FanFest rally in Trafalgar Square on Saturday. “I think London has shown, with the way they’ve handled the Olympics and every other major sporting event, that it’s time for you to have your own NFL franchise, based in London.” The Patriots and Rams are set to take on each other at Wembley Stadium Sunday at 1 PM ET. Kraft was also on stage with other Patriots players like Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Brandon Lloyd and Wes Welker at the FanFest. Kraft also brought on an idea on how the Jacksonville Jaguars could move there maybe as they will already be playing “home games” there for the next four years through 2016. “As these things develop and there’s a permanent home team now, I’m sure they’ll develop a great following,” Kraft said. ”Whatever we can do to cultivate playing football throughout the world … We’ve been discussing that the NFL, I don’t know if we’ve done as good a job as we could educating the rest of the world what a great game it is.” Do you think London is ready to have an NFL team? Honestly, in my opinion, it would be tough and hectic. Imagine the players playing for London being overseas now and would have to go on long, hectic flights to play in the United States. And then the American teams traveling all the way to London as well. It’s like a 12-hour flight to go there from US, depending on where you are. It would be really tough. The only way I see it happening is if they can have a good schedule with working that out, along with having another franchise in place to make things equal for 34 teams. That 34th team? It would most likely be when the Los Angeles finally owns a franchise. The post Patriots Owner Thinks London Is Ready for an NFL Team appeared first on FootBasket.
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October 27, 2012
