Speaking at the NFL's FanFest rally on Saturday in Trafalgar Square, Patriots owner Robert Kraft said the time has come that London should have an NFL franchise.
"You're already hosting the premier league, and we believe we're the premier sport in the world," Kraft told the large crowd. "I think London has shown, with the way they've handled the Olympics and every other major sporting event, that it's time for you to have your own NFL franchise, based in London."
Kraft was joined on stage by his head coach Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Zoltan Mesko, Brandon Lloyd and Wes Welker.
Kraft reminded reporters later that the Jacksonville Jaguars will play a single "home" game in London in the next four seasons, beginning in 2013.
"As these things develop and there's a permanent home team now, I'm sure they'll develop a great following," the Patriots owner said. "Whatever we can do to cultivate playing football throughout the world [is the goal]. We've been discussing that the NFL, I don't know if we've done as good a job as we could educating the rest of the world what a great game it is."
For more in advance of Sunday's game in London, visit the Patriots team page at weei.com/patriots [1].
Links:
[1] http://www.weei.com/patriots
[2] http://www.weei.com/category/boston/patriots