NFL game in China not likely to happen; Germany, Canada still in play

The NFL's international foothold will likely soon be expanding beyond England and Mexico

It looks like the NFL's plan to play a regular season game in China is probably going to be put on hold.

The NFL executive vice president of international, Mark Waller, told MMQB.com this week that the game, which was tentatively planned for 2018, probably isn't going to happen that soon.

"I would say there's a low likelihood of it happening," Waller said.

However, Waller did add that the NFL is still doing everything it can behind the scenes to make the game happen.

"We're working hard to see if we can make it work," Waller said.

There are several issues with holding a game in China, and one of them is the huge time difference. The NFL's tentative plan was to have the 49ers and Rams play in China, but that wouldn't be easy because both teams are located in a time zone that has a 15-hour time difference with China.

"When do the teams get back? How do you schedule them? Does it affect the teams coming back?" Waller said of the logistical issues. "If we want to do this in China, it has to be a good time for Chinese fans, but also so that U.S. fans can watch. And we want to make sure we can keep growing it."

The 15-hour time difference means that a game that kicks off at 11 a.m. on a Saturday in China would kickoff at 8 p.m. on Friday night in California. The NFL's looking at several ideas, and one of them involves having the game kickoff at noon on Saturday in China.

One of the other issues involves the travel time to China. The flight from Los Angeles or San Francisco to China is about 12 and a half hours, meaning that if the teams left at 3 p.m. on a Wednesday they wouldn't get there until 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.

If the NFL can't figure out how to play a game in China, the league might look at another country.

"We definitely have demand to play in Canada and Germany," Waller said. "The question is if it's logistically feasible, and if we have the inventory, and the stadium to play it in."

For now, it looks like the NFL is going to stick to England and Mexico for regular season games in the immediate future. The league has three games scheduled in London this year and one scheduled in Mexico.

The international series kicks off this Sunday when the Jaguars and Colts play at Wembley Stadium in London in a game that will be televised by CBS.