New Spurs stadium could stage NFL

Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium could host American football matches.  Plans for the new stadium show a much larger changing room in the East Stand.  A typical ”locker room’ must accommodate 53 players and 15-20 coaches, far more than for a football team.

Wembley has hosted at least one NFL match a year since 2007.  There will be three more games there in October and November.   Jacksonville Jaguars have an agreement to play a home game at Wembley every year from 2013 to 2016.   The Football Association is thought to collect about £3m per game.

Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium could host American football matches.  Plans for the new stadium show a much larger changing room in the East Stand.  A typical ”locker room’ must accommodate 53 players and 15-20 coaches, far more than for a football team.

Wembley has hosted at least one NFL match a year since 2007.  There will be three more games there in October and November.   Jacksonville Jaguars have an agreement to play a home game at Wembley every year from 2013 to 2016.   The Football Association is thought to collect about £3m per game.

It is thought that the NFL thinks Wembley is not ideal in terms of the experience it offers American football fans.  A smaller stadium, with fewer seats than the 90,000 at Wembley, might be more realistic as the NFL tries to get established in England.  Wembley has to leave the lowest seats empty because of sight line problems, but Spurs would deal with this by ensuring that the artificial pitch was significantly lower than the retractable grass one.

The new Spurs stadium could provide the solution and talks have taken place between the club and the game’s governing body.   London is favourite to become the first city outside the United States to have a NFL franchise.   If White Hart Lane became the franchise base, it would give Spurs a significant source of additional revenue.

A retractable pitch would allow grass and an artificial surface to be alternated.   A sliding grass pitch could avoid the damage to turf that happens after American football matches at Wembley.