The London Llamas or Jacksonville Jaguars

My daughter had some of her friends over today, and one of them scoffed at the Green Bay Packers glasses I gave them. Since I had just seen the news story about Shad Khan's purchase offer for Wembley Stadium (along with the assumption across the pond that he plans on moving the Jaguars there), I told our guests that they might have to cheer for a new team soon. And why not the Packers, right? I know, Mr. Khan has not said he wants to move the team out of town, but he also wants to build a convention center and sports district. I assume that there may be some back room negotiations in the near future.


I didn't want to scare the girls, so I told them that even if the team slipped away one night, we could always get a new team like Cleveland did. Or maybe Khan wants to host an expansion team in England. I don't really know, but I figure Khan doesn't really have any deep ties to Northeast Florida. He'll keep the team here for as long as it makes business sense. I don't know how purchasing Wembley helps the Jaguars, but I'm not a billionaire, so I probably just don't understand something really obvious to all the local people who think there's no danger here.

Anyhow, we were sitting there at the table, not worrying at all about the future of the NFL in Jacksonville, when I asked the kids what a good name for the London team (that totally isn't in the works) would be. They seemed to like the alliteration already in the current Jacksonville Jaguars name, but I was more interested in the royal angle. I figured the London Kings would be good, but I wasn't sure if that would be sacrilege over there. Maybe the Dukes. No, London Lords. That's pretty good. And all the players could be knighted and called Sir. Sir Jalen Ramsey. I bet they'd like that.

I also said the team could be the London Fog or the London Rain. My daughter scoffed at my weather-related team names, but I pointed out that there was some precedence for this kind of name. Like the Tampa Bay Lightning and Miami Hurricanes. The London Drizzle? The kids were not impressed.

The kids liked animals. I reminded them that the Lions would be awesome, but they were already in Detroit, which led to a discussion of why lions would not be suited to Detroit winters. My son wanted the London Leopards. That's a pretty sweet transition from the Jaguars, and they could probably keep uniforms and just change Jaxson de Ville to London de Ville. But when one of my daughter's friends suggested the London Llamas, everyone jumped on that one. I suggested llamas aren't known as fierce animals, but that didn't really stop the momentum. Not Lobsters or Lemurs or Larks.

I guess we'll officially go with the London Llamas, but I don't think we'll have the official say. Khan might prefer the Kismets or Engineers. But it's not happening, so don't worry.