Research and Development

Welcome to the London Dragons Research and Development page. From here you’ll be able to see our overview of the team and scheduling for next years season.

Research and Development

Coaching

Bill Cowher will return from his hiatus away from the NFL and return as head coach for the London Dragons. A very talented coach who was with the Pittsburg Steelers for 15 seasons and has a Super Bowl win, his history alone will bring up the level of play from the Dragons. Cowher has spoken on his return to the NFL as a head coach and is ready to make an impact on the Dragons and make a name for the international football program.

Schedule

Most NFL teams have on average about 16 games per season, because we will be adding a team to the league we will also be extending the season by a few games. Because we do not want to have to push back the Super Bowl, some of the bye-game weekends will be exchanged for an additional game. This will create for a better balance throughout the league and each team will still be able to play a good amount of games in the regular season.

Even though the home games for the Dragons will be in the UK they will still have a decent number of home games. This is because we want to be sure to create an established fan base, it is the fans that bring in much of the profit to the Dragons so it is important to make sure we have home games for promotional reasons.

2010 London Dragons Schedule
Preseason
Thursday, Aug 12	Home	vs. Browns
Saturday, Aug 21	Home	vs. Patriots
Saturday, Aug 28	Away	@ Raiders
Thursday, Sept 2	Away	@ Jets
Regular Season
Monday, Sept 12	Home	vs. Lions
Sunday, Sept 19	Away	@ Buccaneers
Sunday, Sept. 26	Away	@ Giants
Sunday, Oct. 3	Home	vs. Bears
Sunday, Oct. 10	Home	vs. Chiefs
Sunday, Oct. 17	Away	@ Saints
Sunday, Oct. 24	Away	@ Falcons
Sunday, Oct. 31	Home	vs. Cowboys
Monday, Nov. 8	Away	@ Jaguars
Sunday, Nov. 14	Home	vs. Chargers
Sunday, Nov. 21	Away	@ Broncos
Thursday, Nov. 25	Away	@ 49ers
Sunday, Dec. 5	Home	vs. Redskins
Thursday, Dec. 9	Away	@ Rams
Sunday, Dec. 19	Away	@ Eagles
Sunday, Dec. 26	Home	vs. Steelers
Sunday, Jan. 2	Away	@ Panthers

Game Times

London is 4 hours ahead of the USA, this must be taken into account when scheduling games.

Games played in the UK (home) will be at either 5pm or 8pm so when they show in the US it will be either a 1pm or 4 pm game respectively.

Games playing in the US (away) will be played at 1pm or 4 pm so when played in the UK it will be at either 5pm or 8pm respectively.

Home Stadium

The home stadium for the London Dragons will be at Wembley Stadium.

Here they also host the home international matches of the England national football team and the main English domestic cup finals. Wembley’s 90,000 capacity makes it the second largest stadium in Europe. Because they will have to share the stadium games will need to be planned to work for both schedules.

Transportation

It is an understanding that travel will be a variable that all teams will consider when having to play in London. Already most teams are equipped with team planes, and with the addition of the international team will bring in extra fans. Due to this increase the travel expenses, it will hopefully be balanced out by the increase in purchase of merchandise, tickets, etc. As for the Dragons they, like other NFL teams will have their own team jet ready for all flights across seas to the US.

Making the Team

The goal for this international team it to make sire they can compete with many if not all of the other NFL teams. Our proposal to making this a very competitive team includes ­­­­­5 parts, which are as follows:

-       Tryouts/Training Camps

-       The first two draft picks will be given to the dragons only for this first year

-       Coaches are allowed to accept trades: using their draft picks, etc.

-       Coaches are allowed to draw in any players from other team (free agents) willing to sign with the                Dragons

-       One second string player from each team will be traded to the Dragons if the above methods do not            bring in enough players to fill both a first and second string line up

NFC or AFC

Our goal is to make the London Dragons a very competitive team, and one that will be able to compete with the well-established American teams. In the past the AFC has proved to be the “better” division with a 370-300-2 record in the AFC-NFC matchups. Also the AFC has won eight of 11 Super Bowl championships, including the past four titles, and six of the past seven. These stats alone show that by making the Dragons a part of the NFC they are being presented with a higher chance to succeed. They will be more likely to place into the Super Bowl and be division champions. By being a part of the NFC division the London Dragons will be challenged by many highly ranked NFL teams, but also have a much higher chance of making it further in their season as compared to their chances if placed in the AFC division. Along with their increased chances of winning comes with an increased profit for the Dragons, with a hopeful winning record will bring fans and attention to the team.