I mentioned earlier that one of the biggest momentum-killers for a potential London franchise would be failure on the field. No amount of enthusiastic cheerleading by the NFL will attract fans if the team that plays on Sundays is not winning games. Even that by itself is no guarantee of success, but it would go a long way to keeping the casual fans interested.
Question 3: How would a London-based team attract players?
Andrew Whitworth's comments about retiring if his only option was to play in London last week, highlight one of the huge obstacles that a London team would have in their logistical operation. How do you convince people to move countries for a job?
I've always said that no matter what the era, there'll always be a small bunch of guys who would embrace a London franchise with open arms. You see them on social media taking pictures in Europe and genuinely enjoying the world, the open-minded, the eccentric, or like Chad Johnson, the people who can't exist without adulation. Those guys are the type who would join a London franchise (although I think that ship has literally and figuratively sailed for Chad...) and enjoy the experience, but the vast majority are probably more inclined to take Whitworth's stance that moving countries is a step too far.
In terms of the draft, we could reasonably expect that most players would accept their destination, but equally it would massively increase the chances of an Eli/Elway-style flat out refusal to play for the London team. There are pros like Andrew Luck who would have embraced the opportunity (although Luck grew up in Britain therefore it would hardly be a trip into the unknown) but equally, we don't yet know how players will react when the reality hits them. Even worse, if that happens it would open the floodgates for other players to follow suit.
One of the more basic problems a UK franchise would face is that anyone earning over £150,000/$235,000 a year is subject to a 45% tax rate. That's at least 5% more for most players and depending on the state tax, potentially a lot more. Let's put that into perspective, an NFL player making the veteran minimum would be almost $40,000 per year worse off, living in Britain rather than Pennsylvania. If they were to move from Florida, that number is closer to $50,000 - an amount that most players on the roster bubble are likely to see as very significant.
One way to compensate may be an increased salary cap - as suggested by Mike Florio of PFT the other day - but that is dangerous territory. Bending the rules for one team is against the ethos of the NFL's parity systems and realistically, I'd imagine the league would do anything possible to avoid any situation where the London franchise has tangible exceptions to rules. I doubt many fans would be happy if, for example, a British team was able to pay over the odds for a marquee free agent at their expense, even if it did have a knock-on effect on the bottom end of their roster.
No, American and British fans alike would rightly feel that it was ridiculous to have a team that had a bigger salary cap just to avoid local tax laws. Where would that end, given the inter-state taxation differences in America? You can be sure that this is not a solution, merely the cause of many more problems and potential issues between the NFLPA and the league.
So as far as players coming to Britain, it doesn't look too rosy at this stage, and the knock-on effect could be that the team is placed at a competitive disadvantage. In turn, a team that fails to win could be a huge White Elephant to the NFL if it haemorrhages fans and money - just as Oakland, Buffalo and indeed Jacksonville have seen over the last decade.
Oh, and speaking of competitive disadvantages, Part 4 will cover the logistical difficulties of travel for both the London Franchise and other NFL teams.
[**Part One - British fan opinions
**](http://old.nflpickwatch.com/5-questions-about-an-nfl-franchise-in-london-part-one/)
[**Part Two - American fan opinions
**](http://old.nflpickwatch.com/5-questions-about-an-nfl-franchise-in-london-part-two/)
[**Part Three - Attracting players to London
**](http://old.nflpickwatch.com/5-questions-about-an-nfl-franchise-in-london-part-three/)
[**Part Four - Travel times
**](http://old.nflpickwatch.com/5-questions-about-an-nfl-franchise-in-london-part-four/)
