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Last weekend, Jaguars’ owner Shad Khan spoke about the viability of the Jacksonville Jaguars in London, suggesting the team’s plan to extend their London partnership further when the deal expires after the 2020 NFL season. In the discussion, there was room left open potentially to play more than one game overseas, home or away.
On Monday, a report surfaced of the potential for a team to re-locate to London, specifically the Los Angeles Chargers, who have reportedly been discussed due to their shaky standing in LA with the Rams leading the charge for their new stadium.
With news regarding a team’s potential to move across the pond, the Jaguars have been a topic of discussion and when speaking to Rich Eisen, host of NFL The Grind on EPIX, Khan stated the team had “no plans” to move to London. Khan has stated before his plans have always been to keep the Jaguars in Jacksonville, and only has been using London as a way of furthering such agenda.
With the subject of an @NFL team moving to London being a very hot topic, I sat down with @Jaguars owner Shad Khan in the UK and asked just how viable that is. And if that relocated team could possibly be his.
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) November 6, 2019
Check out #NFLTheGrind 9pmET tonight on @EPIXHD @NFLFilms pic.twitter.com/Eypza0SvFY
“The idea I had was, why don't we sell the games we can in Jacksonville and then play a game and make a long-term commitment to London,” Khan told Eisen. “Which frankly, a lot of people thought was very crazy. But, I think it’s turned out to be great, and we need London to really have a stable franchise in Jacksonville.”
The suggestion of a new team in London has always been far-fetched, if not only due to the actual logistics of such a move. One game in London is one thing, but playing multiple home games across the pond is a logistical nightmare that might take years to figure out.
“Personally, in my humble opinion, I don’t think it’s anywhere near close to that,”Khan said when asked how he felt about the suggestion of a team moving full-time over to London. “We don’t want to have more games than there’s really organic demand for.”
As of right now, the Jaguars plan to play only one home game a year in London until the deal expires in 2020. At that point — or before — the Jaguars will likely wish to extend such deal. Until then, the Jaguars owner still remains firm on his already stated plan to keep the team in Jacksonville.
“Well, I think no, there are no plans for us to move the team to London.”