Criticism / Suggestions » The International Champio

weekend marks an historic first for rugby union's Aviva Premiership as English club sides London Irish and Saracens relocate from England's capital to New Jersey's Red Bull Arena. The game is part of the domestic season despite its exotic location and is an attempt by Premiership Rugby to grow their brand in the US. The scheduling is canny, it's no accident that London Irish are playing in the run up to St. Patrick's Day - a festival that is celebrated with much gusto in that part of the world - in what is the first of three US-based games for the club scheduled over the next three seasons. The stated aim is to half-fill the 25,000-capacity home of the New York Red Bulls at the first attempt, increase by half again next year and fill it for the 2018 fixture.


This is a bold move for English rugby - and not just because London Irish are flirting with relegation from the Premiership - but playing a regular--season game is not without precedent in other sports. The NFL is probably the prime example. Since the 2007 season Wholesale Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys , the NFL has staged games overseas. Up until last year these games were all at Wembley Stadium but from this year they have expanded to include Twickenham, the home of English rugby, and Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, the location for the first-ever NFL regular-season game staged outside the US back in 2005. The International Series Wholesale Jacksonville Jaguars Jerseys , as such games are branded, has grown from single games overseas to four this year and, in the Jacksonville Jaguars, a team that has played a home game in London in each of the last three seasons and another to come on October 2.


Permanent franchise


The BBC has reported that the NFL will have a franchise permanently based in London by the 2022 season Wholesale Indianapolis Colts Jerseys , and many believe that team will be Jacksonville. That would be a culmination of the NFL's 15-year goal and Mark Waller, the organization's executive vice-president of international said they are ""on track"" to achieve that. A full-time foreign-based team is a far cry from what other sports are doing but the success the NFL has enjoyed since breaking for the borders will have fans of the other football taking note.


Arsenal and Manchester United are two Premier League teams that are owned by chairmen who also own an NFL franchise. They are also two clubs who were at the recent meeting between the English Premier League's so-called ""big five"" at London's Dorchester Hotel. The media represented the summit as discussing a breakaway European superleague but the clubs confirmed that they discussed possible changes to the current Champions League format and participation in the International Champions Cup. The latter tournament is the brainchild of Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and began in 2013. Last year it involved 15 top sides from across Europe and the US in three different tournaments based in Melbourne, three cities in China, Europe and the US.


Going global


The International Champions Cup is the supercharged version of preseason friendlies and