:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50720183/usa-today-9397405.0.jpg)
The Tottenham Hotspurs are an English Premier League soccer team that is building themselves a brand new, 61,000 seat stadium. Apparently they are building that stadium with "significant input" from the NFL, along with a signed agreement that there will be a minimum of 2 NFL games per season played at the stadium for the next 10 years. There might be even bigger plans in store for the stadium if an NFL team is ever willing to move across the pond.
Tottenham's stadium is being lobbied as a joint soccer and football stadium with a retractable soccer pitch on top of an artificial surface football field. Part of the beauty of the soccer pitch being retractable is the possibility of hosting both an NFL game and a Premier League soccer match on the same day in the new stadium.
That would certainly be quite the spectacle that surely would be an easy sell to potential ticket buyers as a special experience. After all, where else could you get the chance to watch two of the world's most popular sports leagues one after the other in the same stadium? If you can't sell that idea then you shouldn't be in the sales business at all.
With the stadium being built with such heavy NFL influence it certainly is being designed to give the proper NFL experience to the Londoners that the league is so intensely attempting to win over. In order to keep that interest building the NFL needed another stadium besides Wembley Stadium to hold games, thus comes this partnership with Tottenham.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is making no bones about his interest in providing a home one day to a permanent NFL team though. He says that the stadium is being built with the belief that an NFL team could feel perfectly at home there and not feel as though they are simply tenants in the building.
"If it ever got to a stage where the NFL decided it wanted to have a permanent team in London, this stadium could literally be - whatever the team was - their stadium as opposed to an NFL team feeling they're renting Tottenham's stadium."
Levy believes that they are building a stadium that could house an NFL team permanently, but he also knows that it's no sure thing. They are doing everything they can to attract an NFL team which is why they have worked so closely with the league, but there still is no guarantee of it actually happening. Even if a team did move to London they could easily still choose a different stadium as their home, but Levy is hoping that they are doing enough to lure a team anyway.
"Clearly we wouldn't both be putting all this into this stadium if there wasn't the prospect of one day a team eventually coming to London, but there are certainly no guarantees that a) a team comes to London and b) they have to use our stadium," Levy said in an interview with Eurosport.
Daniel Levy sets out Tottenham's NFL franchise dream - Premier League 2016-2017 - Football - Eurosport
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy hopes a London NFL franchise will one day take up a permanent home at the Premier League club's new stadium.
NFL has significant input into new Tottenham stadium - Daniel Levy - ESPN FC
The new 61,000-seater stadium, due to be completed for the start of the 2018-19 season, will host a minimum of two NFL matches per year for 10 years.
London calling - Why Tottenham is building its new soccer stadium with NFL in mind
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is building his Premier League club's new home to be more than just a soccer stadium. He wants White Hart Lane to someday be the permanent address for an NFL team.
Other stories from around the AFC West
Denver Broncos
How well do "afterthought" quarterbacks do starting their team's first game of the season - Mile High Report
How have other afterthought QBs done well called upon to start their teams opening game early in their NFL careers? read on to find out
Panthers-Broncos preview: This game will be all about that defense - Mile High Report
The Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers face off on Thursday Night Football to kick off the 2016 NFL regular season.
San Diego Chargers
Chargers announce 2016 Team Captains - Bolts From The Blue
The Chargers have announced their five captains for the 2015 season, and none are that surprising.
Danny Woodhead reflects on NFL career, pens letter to younger self - San Diego Chargers Blog- ESPN
Chargers RB Danny Woodhead wrote of his long journey from Division II to the Super Bowl in a letter to himself, published in The Players' Tribune.
Kansas City Chiefs
Take the OVER on these Alex Smith stat predictions - Arrowhead Pride
Over / under on a few key Alex stats.
‘It would be a stretch’ for Chiefs’ Jamaal Charles to play Sunday | The Kansas City Star
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid says running back Jamaal Charles probably won’t be ready to play in the season opener on Sunday against the San Diego Chargers.
Other stories from around the NFL
Rugby-style tackling could be the future of a safer NFL, and football at every other level - SBNation.com
Heads Up tackling hasn’t resulted in fewer concussions, so maybe it’s time for the league to consider a different approach.
Ranking all 32 NFL teams' new Twitter hashtags and emojis - SBNation.com
Some of these are great. Others ... not so much.
Loading comments...