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Lewand On Possibility Of Team In London: 'I Wouldn't Put Anything Past The NFL'

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

CBS DETROIT - On Sunday the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons will play in the second of three NFL games in London in 2014, and Lions team president Tom Lewand expressed optimism about the chances of London eventually having its own NFL team.

"I don't think you foreclose any opportunity to make yourselves better, whether that's as an individual, as a team or as a league, and clearly there are some tremendous sports fans in the U.K.," Lewand said Wednesday. "We've seen the growth in our sport and the popularity amongst those fans over the last few years. How much we can continue to grow that is a real opportunity in front of us.

"Clearly there are challenges whenever you talk about a team stationed over here permanently, but we have some incredibly intelligent people who are looking at some of those logistical challenges, and I wouldn't put anything past the NFL, and I wouldn't put anything past the talented people in the league," Lewand continued. "We're still far behind the well-established sports here, not the least of which is football, the non-American version, but also things like rugby and cricket. There's a lot of competitive landscape here, but the fact that we've been able to establish a foothold on that landscape is pretty significant."

Lewand said he did not know when the NFL wants to have a London team established, but he seemed to suggest it will happen at some point.

"A lot of different pieces have to come together," Lewand said. "Knowing the fact that there's a lot of effort and energy being put into it, it gives me the sense that there will be some sort of finality to it in the coming years."

Lions head coach Jim Caldwell had said Monday that he believes it would be possible to have a team in London and that the NFL will certainly entertain that idea. Caldwell added Wednesday that he would be open if approached about coaching a team in London.

"If a guy gets an opportunity to coach a National Football League team anywhere, you're going to be hard pressed to find somebody to say no. So that's number one," Caldwell said. "Yes, certainly I would be interested, and I think anybody else that [was] in my position as a position coach would certainly be interested as well.

"This is a kind of a cultural hub here," Caldwell continued. "There's a huge airport, and there's probably a little bit of everything to do in London. Forty-three universities, so I know it's a great educational center as well. There are so many fantastic things to see. It'd be a great area also to try to get free agents that were looking for a place to go, and I think this would interest them. So yeah, without question."

Lions safety Glover Quin said Monday he would not want to play for an international team and raised a number of logistical concerns. Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was more noncommittal about whether he would be interested in playing for a team outside the United States.

"No clue," Suh said Wednesday. "It's not an option, and I'm happy where I am."

Regarding the general idea of a team in London, Suh was more forthcoming.

"I think it'd be interesting," Suh said. "I know the travel would be tough for these guys if they're over here majority of the time going to the west coast. I think at some point in time though they'll figure it out and maybe have a satellite office or facility that they could use in New York or somewhere along the east coast when they're making those swings."

Albert Breer of NFL Media wrote in September that the league foresees a team in London by 2022.

"When we started (with the series in 2007), I reckoned it'd take 15 years to do it," said Mark Waller, the NFL's executive vice president of international, per NFL.com. "That was what I expected, and we're still on course. We're at the midpoint now."

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