By Kerry Fothergill

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The NFL roller coaster in London is over for another year with all three games captivating spectators with plenty of drama with each play.

As we settle back down to stay up late, and watch the games from afar again, we can look forward to next year’s brief visit.

New Orleans Saints are set to return after nine years to play the Miami Dolphins, with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Rams set to be the home sides for the other games but where will they play? And what if London had a franchise?

Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium is not due to be completed until the start of the 2018/19 season, so the likely choice is Wembley Stadium or, after a reasonably successful first game, at Twickenham.

Spurs have designed a retractable pitch to be able to host NFL in the future but with a packed schedule is that really realistic?

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An NFL side has eight home games with the possibility of two further home games if the team makes the playoffs and there are four preseason games, running from August until January.

If London does get a franchise, having a regular home stadium is unrealistic as there isn’t one in London to cater an NFL team’s needs. More importantly all the extra aspects that go alongside the games require more room and detail than a football team.

Spurs are likely to have the same problems Twickenham had and the social media responses from the fans who attended the Giants v Rams on the 23rd October.

One of the biggest questions over Spurs hosting is whether the local transport system can cope with around 58,000 people needing to travel back to different parts of the country.

Also, when the attendance at Wembley and Twickenham has been in the 80,000s and 70,000s respectively, would a NFL team want to go to a smaller stadium when the popularity of the NFL is so high?

Another question is whether the area around the Spurs Stadium is able to host the tailgate parties that the NFL put on, Twickenham just managed it but not on the scale the fans had become accustomed – hence the social media response.

This is all immaterial. The main problem is not the location of the games when they are here, but if a team would ever want to be based in London.

The away games are not just a quick car trip but in fact a long haul plane journey across the Atlantic Ocean.

Of course, it is ultimately down to the owner of the team to decide whether a franchise comes to London or not.

With Fulham owner Shahid Khan already the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars and with interest growing for NFL here in the UK, it may not be long until we have a London franchise!