tl;dr – At the heart of this? League Expansion.
For almost a full two decades now, the NFL has played some of its regular-season football games in Europe – initially in London, and now in various other European cities. Touted as growth of the game and an expansion of the product to new viewers, many wondered if the League’s ultimate goal was to expand its footprint across the Atlantic by having a team (or teams) in Europe. The WSJ’s latest piece about the NFL’s ‘Secret Obsession with Supersonic Flight’ only adds to those expansion beliefs.
When it comes to Supersonic flight, the mind immediately goes to the Concorde. The Concorde, if you’re unfamiliar, was a supersonic passenger aircraft co-developed by Britain and France.
It was known for its high speed, flying at over twice the speed of sound and crossing the Atlantic in under four hours. Although it was a marvel of engineering, the Concorde was retired in 2003 due to factors including high operating costs, environmental concerns, and a tragic crash in 2000.
A Concorde flight from London to New York typically took just under 3.5 hours, while the fastest crossing was a record-breaking 2 hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds in 1996. This supersonic speed was achieved by cruising at over twice the speed of sound, around 1,350 mph.
Famously, in 1985, the Concorde successfully transported Mr. Sussudio himself – Phil Collins – from London to the US, allowing him to perform at Live Aid concerts at both Wembley Stadium (London) and JFK Stadium (Philadelphia) on the same day.
The Concorde still occupies a sweetspot in the minds of many aviation enthusiasts. It’s the namesake of British Airways ‘nicest’ lounge at London Heathrow – The Concorde Room.
As technological advances in aviation have come some way in the last ~2 ½ decades, and there’s seemingly no shortage of money going around to put behind any promising (or unpromising) ideas nowadays. The NFL in particular remains one of the deepest-pocketed entertainment institutions in the world, and if there’s even the slightest chance that supersonic flight could solve the operational issues associated with transporting teams across the Atlantic quickly and efficiently, you can bet the brass is going to heavily consider it.
