Bengals OL Whitworth says he'd rather quit than play in London

The Cincinnati Bengals aren't moving to London, but if they did, offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth wouldn't be going with them because he'd quit the team -- at least that's what he says.

"I would hope that I was financially able to quit," Whitworth said of being on a London-based team, via Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer. "That's what I would hope. ... My papers would be the first one in."

Whitworth thinks other players feel that way, too. "I don't see that a lot of guys would want to do that," he said. "I don't see any players that would enjoy that. Sure, you may find a handful of guys that would say, 'Oh hey, that'd be cool,' but the rest of them wouldn't."

If Whitworth doesn't want to end up in England, he'd better keep his fingers crossed that the Bengals don't trade him to Jacksonville. CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora wrote on Wednesday that the Jaguars seem like the best fit for England.

As the Jaguars team website pointed out, Jacksonville could be playing two games a season in London as soon as next year. The two games would include one home game and potentially one away game.

If Whitworth -- the Bengals NFLPA rep -- doesn't want to go to England, he'd better start working the phones now. The Bengals are scheduled to play Jacksonville in 2014. On the other hand, if the Bengals play in London in 2014, maybe Whitworth will really like it and change his tune. But probably not.

The NFL wants a new stadium in Los Angeles

 
 
The NFL is interested in putting on more games in London, and that's terrific. Only it should be interested in putting on more games in Los Angeles first.
I know, the league wants to tap into markets that aren't oversaturated, and Europe qualifies. Plus, Europe is crazy about football. Except their football is what we call soccer, and, sorry, but everything in London becomes an Avis next to soccer.
But that's not the point. This is: L.A. is the second biggest market in the United States, a metropolitan area that once had two teams, and it should have another. Logic says an existing team moves there, with San Diego the most commonly mentioned, but logic has been telling us that for years.
The hangup? L.A. doesn't have a suitable stadium, which is where London comes in. The NFL annually holds games in Wembley Stadium, and that seems to work ... or, at least, work better than the Rose Bowl or L.A. Coliseum. The NFL wants a new stadium in Los Angeles, but there's none on the horizon. So it cultivates London instead?
Please.
We know London can support a team. Heck, it could support two. The question is: Will it? NFL Europe was a nice idea, except it didn't fly ... and it didn't fly because there was lukewarm support for marginal football. So, let's say Jacksonville moves to London. You think people embrace one of the league's bottom feeders just because the game is a novelty?
Football is part of the fabric of this country. It's not part of anything in London, and I have a hard time believing you win over soccer fans to a sport that is unfamiliar and relatively slow next to soccer. Just because football is a huge success here doesn't mean it becomes a huge success in another world.
That's another way of telling Roger Goodell to go west, young man.
It has been nearly two decades since the L.A. area had pro football, and it's unfathomable to think the NFL isn't there now. But it's more unfathomable to think the NFL seems more interested in London now than it is Los Angeles.

The league is looking at adding a third game in London

The NFL has never made a secret of its desire to get its mitts on fans in other countries. (Neither has any sports league, for that matter.) And according to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, the league hopes to take the next step in doing that by adding a third London game and a franchise in England.

Goodell, speaking at a New York University conference on Tuesday, confirmed an October 2012 report from CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora -- as well as his own comments since then -- that expansion into London's market share is a key goal for the league.

Per Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post, the league is looking at adding a third game in London "very soon." Additionally, the NFL believes the game is getting a good reception in London and is interested in putting a franchise overseas.

And who could that franchise be? Well, it sure does sound like it might be the very team La Canfora mentioned back in October: Jacksonville.

However, after Goodell's talk, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told Vito Stellino of the Florida Times-Union that Goodell did not indicate the Jaguars would play two home games in London. Additionally, the Jaguars declined to say anything further about a second game.

"Our focus is on one game per year we are committed to play there the next four years," a Jaguars spokesperson told Stellino. "That's all we're thinking about."

What is happening, though, is the NFL is going through what Aiello called an "internal process" about whether or not to give a single team a second game in London in the future. Aiello said no decision has been made at this time.

This is pretty much the essence of what La Canfora reported in October. And as he noted at the time, it's not like owner Shad Khan is shying away from having the Jaguars become international.

"The NFL is going to be developing an international fan base. Why shouldn't it be the Jaguars?" Khan said in December of 2011. "In all honesty, internationally, they don't know the difference between the Jaguars and the Steelers."

And Khan's comments should have been a precursor to the possibility of multiple games featuring one team as well as the Jags playing multiple games overseas.

"I think it would serve Jacksonville well to play a game or two overseas, to get the name Jacksonville out. If you look at some of the international premier league teams, they have a huge fan following overseas in the Middle East, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, etc."

Now having noted all this, it should be pointed out that Khan has said he wants and plans to keep the team in Jacksonville. So don't bury them just yet.

But be reminded when discussing who might land in London that the NFL really wants to have a franchise overseas and the NFL almost always gets what it wants.