Seattle Seahawks could play game in London next season

Somehow, someway, the Seattle Seahawks are one of just six teams in the National Football League that has avoided being sent to London to play a regular season game in the United Kingdom. That may be coming to an end in 2018, as we’ll find out on Thursday (7:45 AM PT) which matchups will be set for London.

Back in October, NFL UK’s Alistair Kirkwood noted their interest in getting the six teams — Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles, Tennessee Titans, Carolina Panthers, and Houston Texans are the other five who’ve yet to play in London -- to finally come across the pond for next season. In 2017, the NFL staged four games in the city, and it looks as if that will be unchanged for 2018.

This tidbit of info from The News Tribune looks at which teams are normally London material:

The NFL has rules requiring teams playing in temporary home stadiums and ones that have recently been awarded Super Bowls to play international games. That means expect the Los Angeles Chargers to be playing in one of the London games this year. The Chargers are on the Seahawks’ 2018 schedule, a Seattle home game.

The league has also often sent teams that have had trouble selling out home games to London to play there as the designated “home” team: Oakland (twice), Jacksonville (three time) and the Los Angeles Rams (three times). In the past designated home teams have received $1 million for moving a game to London.

Seattle is unlikely to seriously give up a home game, so one of the most realistic options for 2018 is “at” the Oakland Raiders, who’ve already agreed to stage a “home game” in London for next season. Considering five of the Seahawks’ eight road opponents are in the Pacific or Mountain Time Zone, it sure would suck if their London debut was against one of the West Coast teams.

Alternatively, this speculation is for naught, Seattle escapes for another year, while eight other teams have got to head to England for a week. I’m rooting for that, but maybe Seahawks fans who live in the region and want to see the team in-person may have differing views.