Page 17 - Aruba Today

SPORTS A17
Friday 25 September 2015

NFL will only Tour Championship
place team
in London The chase begins for $10 million
if it will be
competitive Justin Rose watches his shot from the second tee during first
round play in the Tour Championship golf tournament at East
STEPHEN WILSON Lake Club Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015, in Atlanta.
AP Sports Wilson
LONDON (AP) — The NFL Associated Press
would only put a full-time Page 18
franchise in London if all op-
erational issues are worked
out and the league is sure
the team would be com-
petitive, a league execu-
tive said Thursday.
Mark Waller, executive
vice president of the NFL’s
international division, said
there is no time frame for
possibly placing a team
in London, adding that a
decision will come “when
we’re ready.”
The NFL has played 11
regular-season games in
London since 2007. Wemb-
ley Stadium will host three
more games this season,
starting with the Miami Dol-
phins against the New York
Jets on Oct. 4.
The NFL recently an-
nounced a 10-year deal
to play at least two games
each season at Premier
League club Tottenham’s
new stadium, which is
scheduled to open in 2018.
The Jacksonville Jaguars
have a four-season deal,
which expires in 2016, to
play at least one home
game per season at Wem-
bley. NFL officials have said
for years that they envis-
age having a franchise in
London one day, though
many issues still need to be
resolved and the league
wants to be sure an over-
seas team would be profit-
able.
“The key for us is that we’ve
got to build real certainty
that any team that was
to make that undertaking
could truly be competi-
tive,” Waller said in a con-
ference call.

Continued on Page 19