Patriots to play Buccaneers at Wembley Stadium in 2009

December 1, 11:16 PMNew England Patriots ExaminerSean Crowe

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It's a nice stadium, but not for regular season NFL football.

The NFL announced today that the Patriots and Buccaneers will meet next season on October 25th at Wembley Stadium in London, continuing the NFL's yearly attempt to develop a following in Europe.

If you’ve followed me at all on Bleacher Report, you know I’m completely and utterly against regular season games being played in Europe, Mexico, or anywhere else for that matter (with the exception of Bills games in Toronto, which is basically a home game since they’ll eventually end up moving there).

What happened, basically, is that the NFL has decided the Buccaneers will have one less home game than everyone else next season.

Due to their recent success, the Patriots are the more popular team. There are going to be more Patriot fans than Buccaneer fans at the game.

I guarantee it.

In the NFL, home field is a huge advantage. They’ve decided to take that advantage away from Tampa Bay for one game next season.

To put this into perspective, Tampa Bay is currently tied for the lead in the NFC South. They’re 6-0 at home. They’re 3-3 on the road.

See where this could be a problem?

I’m upset that the Patriots have to go over there, but relieved it’s not being considered one of their home games. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty other reasons why having regular season NFL games in Europe is unfair.

1) Buccaneer season ticket holders get screwed out of one game, unless they’re willing to fly to London. In this economy? No thanks.

2) Jetlag can linger for weeks. Instead of using your bye to get over injuries, you’re forced to use to it get over jetlag.

3) The field there is terrible, and NFL football shouldn’t be played on it. It’s hardly worthy of soccer.

4) The other teams in the Patriots and Buccaneers’ divisions don’t have to make the same trip, so they’re given an unfair advantage.

I understand the need to expand the NFL into other markets. But screwing with the regular season schedule and potentially impacting playoff races is completely out of bounds and shouldn’t happen.

If you must play a regular season game in Europe, at least send the Lions and Bengals. That way, there’s absolutely no way you’ll be impacting anyone’s playoff chances…

Sean Crowe is the New England Patriots Examiner. You can email him at scrowe@gmail.com. Check out some of his other work on his blog.