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Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan is eyeing a stadium deal on NFL draft day: Buying Wembley.

The English Football Association has received an offer from Khan of about 600 million pounds ($840 million) for the national soccer stadium Andre Holmes Jersey , which would continue to host England games and major cup finals after a sale.

Wembley has staged regular-season NFL games since 2007 and Khan's Florida-based franchise started playing at the 90,000-capacity stadium in 2013, the year Khan bought London soccer club Fulham.

He told The Associated Press he expects to own Wembley within eight to 12 weeks, increasing the prospect of an NFL franchise in London.

"That's possible in the long, long term," Khan said. "Right now, it's about having the certainty we can have three or four games there and then seeing how the market receives it and building on it.

"(Owning Wembley) gives certainty of an NFL presence in London. The first thing you want with certainty is you want a venue. And this gives us a stadium solution for us or anyone else."

The Jaguars have a deal through 2020 to play games in London, but Wembley is facing an increasing threat for NFL games from another stadium in north London. NFL games will also be played this year at the new home of Premier League club Tottenham, which is under construction.

The 60,000-plus capacity stadium was designed with NFL-sized changing rooms and to ensure the grass soccer pitch can be retracted and kept under lights below the stands when the artificial surface is required for NFL.

But Khan envisages after the Tottenham deal expires in a decade that only Wembley could be staging NFL games in London.

Wembley, which first opened in 1923, was rebuilt at a cost of 800 million pounds before reopening in 2007. For most of its existence it has not been owned by the FA.

Selling off Wembley would give the FA up to 500 million pounds to invest in soccer development, which could increase the chances of England winning its first World Cup title since 1966. The governing body would retain the rights to hospitality packages for games, which are valued at 300 million pounds.

"For the FA," Khan said, "it would mean Wembley Stadium returning to private ownership Theo Riddick Jersey , permitting the FA to direct its full attention to its mandate to develop talent and serve the game with the vast resources it would realize from the sale."

An FA delegation, including England coach Gareth Southgate, attended the Super Bowl in Minneapolis in February.

"I've enjoyed a rewarding relationship with The Football Association for years and my more recent exchanges and time spent with (chief executive) Martin Glenn have served to further strengthen a connection with the FA that made it natural and ultimately possible for both parties to consider this transaction," Khan said.

"Should we be fortunate to close on the purchase, it's important to stress that the spirit and essence of Wembley would be unchanged. Wembley is a special place, beloved in London and known throughout the world."

Rob Harris is at RobHarris and facebook/RobHarrisReports

As the NFL seeks remedies for injuries caused by helmets by spending millions of dollars and hour upon hour on research into safer equipment, the same search goes on at other levels of football.

VICIS, which has the top-rated helmets for the pros, according to an NFL survey, is getting into the youth market. Riddell, which has a tie-in with USA Football, the governing body of the sport, is also devoting much time and funding to youngsters playing the game.

Chris Golic, whose husband Mike played eight seasons in the NFL and whose sons played through college, has been working with VICIS to educate parents on the strides being made in player protection. Many mothers and fathers have become familiar with the Heads Up Football program USA Football created to get the head out of the game when tackling, as well as with the organization's requirements to approve coaches.

"The next step was looking at equipment Derick Brassard Penguins Jersey ," says Golic, who serves on the Pop Warner board, and was the NFL's consultant on youth football as well as a member of the Heads Up Football advisory committee. "So much had not changed in so long, it was the next piece to the puzzle.

"I heard how VICIS was highly rated (for the NFL) and how they were manufacturing their helmets and a youth helmet, and I was excited. For so long, parents complained there was just an adult helmet put on a kid, or whatever was around. I can speak for VICIS, who changed their approach and looked at how a helmet is supposed to fit and what is needed to make it safest.

"I talk to moms all the time and the most important thing is making sure equipment fits properly ... helmet, shoulder pads. We want to keep the conversation going so they see we are not standing still."

Equipment manufacturers are doing anything but standing still, as both the VICIS ZERO1 YOUTH, which will become available next year, and the Riddell InSite Training Tool show.

Traditional youth football helmets are adult helmets with lightweight shells. But ZERO1 YOUTH is engineered specifically for young players and the impacts they typically encounter on the field 鈥?impact velocities and locations. The exterior shell is redesigned for younger players' anatomies, while the liner provides a custom fit for a wide range of youth head shapes and sizes.

"At its heart, VICIS is an engineering company born to innovate," says Dave Marver, the company's co-founder and CEO. "Our focus is sports protective equipment Youth James Daniels Jersey , particularly helmets. This is just our second year on the field and we're pleased to have broadened our portfolio to include the ZERO1 YOUTH. One of our founders is a pediatric neurosurgeon and, though we started with NFL players, our passion has always been to protect kids. We will be introducing new products in football and several other categories in the next year."

One issue with the helmets can be cost. Benefiting from increased volumes, this season VICIS reduced the price of its ZERO1 helmet for pros, colleges and high schools, called varsity, to $950. NCAA and high school programs that purchased the ZERO1 in volume qualified for pricing under $800 per helmet. VICIS expects the ZERO1 YOUTH to cost under $500, about half the price of its varsity helmet.

Riddell's InSite Training Tool, which the company's Thad Ide calls "a game changer" in helmet technology, provides such specific data that it is applicable at the youth, high school, college and pro levels. Basically, it tells observers if an out of the ordinary impact happens on the field.

Such feedback is priceless for player safety.

"We invested in this back in 2004 and we've been monitoring its use at different levels of play," says Ide, Riddell's senior vice president of research and product development. "That data is used to inform the InSite technology, and we launched into the marketplace in 2014 as an alerting and monitoring device ... another set of eyes. This year we are launching the training tool with a much broader sweep of capabilities to help coaches understand when players are seeing out of the ordinary impact exposures that could be potentially very injurious http://www.seahawksauthorizedshops.com/authentic-shaquem-griffin-jersey , such as hits with the crown of a helmet.

"This is kind of the step function in the awareness, and a way of bringing data analytics to football in a way it has not been there before. During any conversations with coaches or anyone associated with football programs, and as we explained all the capabilities, it's been a very eye-opening conversation, and we can sense the engagement and excitement. This is the front of something really exciting here."

Chris Golic believes so. She hears the concerns from parents about such a collision-based sport, hears them cite numbers 鈥?some accurate, others way off 鈥?about drops in registration for youth players.

Then she looks at her family's experiences in football.

"Regardless if the numbers are up or down, I want parents to self-evaluate and look at the sport and say, 'Why should my kid be playing? I saw differences the sport can make in work ethic, dedication and perseverance, teamwork, getting along with others.

"Personally I am worried if (parents) want to just dismiss it and say their kids shouldn't play. The solution is not to not play, it is to find ways to make it safe to play.

"Look beyond the headlines a bit and make decisions based on fact and not fear."

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