Brexit means Redskins fans remain on their political roll

ANALYSIS/OPINION

Politically, things keep coming up aces if you are a Washington Redskins fan these days.

First, there was the Washington Post poll that showed 9 out of 10 Native Americans — the same number as the Annenberg poll 12 years ago — aren’t offended by the team name.

Now, Britain shocks the world by voting to exit the European Union.

Yes, if you are a Redskins fan these days, you are living right.

Why does the Brexit vote affect you? Well, if you weren’t planning on going to London on Oct. 30 to see the Redskins play the Cincinnati Bengals at Wembley Stadium, you might want to check those airfares again.

Those dollars you have in your wallet just got more valuable with the Brexit vote, which has sent the British pound plummeting and, ironically, made England a very attractive place to visit — just not to live, based on the European Union pull out.

You may have to ignore your 401K — most likely a victim of the Brexit fallout — but if you’re a live-for-today kind of guy, London is calling for Washington Redskins fans.

And, by the way, like the aftermath of the Post poll that took the wind out of the change-the-name movement, I’m thinking the Brexit vote has pretty much buried this political movement by two Labor Party leaders who had written a letter to the NFL charging that the NFL “should consider changing the name of the Washington franchise or, at a minimum, send a different team to our country, one that does not promote a racial slur.”

I’m guessing now this battle has become a low priority for British politicians, who are trying to figure out how to survive in the wake of the Brexit vote.

The NFL is reportedly trying to make sense of the economic landscape moving forward.

“We are monitoring and have been in contact with our UK office,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Pro Football Talk. “We head into the 2016 season in strong shape with three UK games already nearing sellouts again — a testament to the strong and passionate fan base there — and all key media, sponsorship and licensing partnership locked in.”

The league’s three UK games this coming season are the Indianapolis Colts against the Jacksonville Jaguars during week 4 in Wembley Stadium, the Los Angeles Rams against the New York Giants at Twickenham Stadium in week 7, and the Redskins versus Bengals in week 8 back at Wembley.

It would seem that the attention paid to all three games, given the world curiosity as to what is happening in England, would be greater now, and the impact of all three games far more important to British politicians who may be trying to send an international message of political stability in the wake of the chaos that occurred in England this week.

As far as the long-term NFL commitment to England — a permanent London franchise — it would appear those hopes, however real they were, took a hit with the Brexit vote. The league likely believed that when it began doing business with England, it was also doing business with all of Europe, growing the game as well with other European Union members.

That door may be closed now.

“The way the NFL view it is that London is a gateway to Europe,” Maria Patsalos, a British sports immigration lawyer, told The Telegraph newspaper. “My view is that (because) we pull out of Europe then they will reconsider that deal.”

The league has an agreement for a UK series of games until 2020.

One financial analyst, though, believes the Brexit vote makes it easier for the NFL to set up shop permanently in England. Kristi Dosh, a contributor to Forbes, believes the league’s collective bargaining agreement and NFL draft may have butted heads with European Union free movement laws.

“It would seem that any hurdle for the NFL has been significantly reduced,” Dosh wrote on Forbes.com. “Now the NFL only has to come to terms with the U.K. — not the entire EU — on the issue of its restrictions on workers. And certainly the U.K. has more incentive to pave the way for the NFL than the EU as a whole given that any team added would most certainly be based in London.”

Whatever the long-term implications are for the NFL, the short-term take is that Brexit vote may make Redskins fans take another shot at booking that trip to London in October to see their team on British soil.