With talks of possibly bringing the NFL world outside of the United States in form of a team on top of having a team in Los Angeles, the question becomes which city could be the best bet?

The most common two cities mention are Toronto up in Canada and London in the United Kingdom.

You can make points for both but you can also make arguments for both as well.

Toronto:  Why should they have a team?   They have a Major League Baseball team in the Blue Jays.  Most major cities in the Continental United States has at least two major sports teams, and if you want to grow internationally as a league, this could be the small step towards international success.

Why shouldn’t they have a team?  Canada already has the Canadian Football League, the CFL, in which Toronto has a team in the league.  So the answer to this question is that with another question of what’s the hurry, what’s the need to field a team in a city that already has another Semi-pro/Pro-football team there?  Also too, with the successes of the Raptors and Blue Jays, why hurry being the last hand in when you can go big by leaving the North American Continent?

London:  Why should they have a team?  They are the ideal sporting city.  Big population, fans that are die hard by their sports teams, and team’s that are playing in London can be influenced by such backing.  If you what to have notice and put a true test on a franchise and trying to go international with a league and/or business in that matter; London is that true place to get a international look at it.  Also too, London sports fans don’t shy away from voicing their opinions as they do with their soccer team, Manchester United.  Going to Europe, in which some minor success has been reached there via having games there and the former NFL Europe. putting a international team there could build more international interest.

Why Shouldn’t they have a team?  They are overseas, meaning higher travel cost; meaning the time difference with 12+ hours from London to New York to San Francisco which puts a strain on fans watching it from the US to London and London to the US.  The unsuccessful attempt of fielding the NFL’s minor league system, NFL Europe, that had a team in the UK, Germany and Spain.  It failed because not everyone overseas understand the idea of American Football and those who did, didn’t want to watch no name 5th-.6th-, 7th-round picks play.  They want to see the Tom Brady’s and the Patrick Willis’ play.

Moving forward, if the NFL decide to move a team outside the US; it should probably be Toronto, grow a steady international interest through that while increase the regular (not preseason because that’s essentially going back to the NFL Europe model) games played in London and elsewhere, each season until interest in high enough to field a team overseas.

Just don’t expect to see a NFL team lacing up their cleats at a long term basis overseas for at least another 10 years.