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Many years ago, my father gave me a souvenir from his time in the U.S. Navy during World War II. It was a collection of the pocket change he accumulated when he was stationed in England, a full assortment of wartime British coinage - pence, farthings, shillings and so on, all stamped with the image of King George VI.

Those coins had been stashed away in a drawer for decades until this past week, when the Patriots' trip to London prompted me to embark upon a nostalgic search for them.

Obviously, I didn't get the chance to make this trip. But even if I had, and I had thought to stick those old coins my suitcase as a means of helping to meet my expenses, I'd have received a lot of quizzical looks in return from shopkeepers who haven't seen those denominations in 40 years.

Besides, it's not as if the hotel room would have been paid for out of the old pocket change. Even though those coins are as sharp and bright as the day they were minted, they're just not worth much. My two-shilling coin, in fact, is worth about one-tenth of a pound, or about six cents in U.S. currency.

But money is money, and that's why your New England Patriots are in London today. It's all about the Elizabeths. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has preached the gospel of global expansion since the day he succeeded Paul Tagliabue in the job. So it should come as no surprise that on his watch, the NFL has gone from playing preseason games overseas to playing real games that count in the standings.

There has been one game a year in London for the past three. Next year, NFL owners have approved shifting two games across the Atlantic. It's all part of a grand plan on Goodell's part to "expand the brand" to a new audience willing to add pounds or euros to the league's treasure chest.

Goodell has been understandably vague about establishing a timetable for international expansion. But his public statements in London certainly left no doubt in which direction he wants the NFL to go.

"We're thinking about it in a sense that as long as what we continue to do continues to get a positive reaction, and if we play multiple games here and we saw that reaction continue to grow with the games, then you would probably put yourself in position that you would be comfortable that it could support a franchise on a full-time basis," he said. "That's what we're trying to see. How far will this go down the path? No one knows the answer to that question. But if they continue to react in a positive way, then it may be a possibility."

Goodell may be straddling the international fence somewhat, but one of his most influential owners is positively bubbling over with enthusiasm for an NFL franchise in London.

"I really believe it would be the right thing to do sometime in the next decade that there should be a franchise here," said Robert Kraft, owner of the Patriots. "We've had great support here and in Germany. We look forward to seeing what happens."

I'm very interested to see what happens, too - not because I'm an advocate of a foreign-based franchises (I'm not), but because I'm really interested to hear how Goodell will justify expanding the NFL overseas when domestic franchises are in trouble and other U.S-based issues have yet to be resolved.

Strong as the NFL appears to be, there are troubles afoot for a few franchises. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills are on shaky footing, the St. Louis Rams' ownership is in flux, stadium issues are dogging a few other franchises, and the saga of Los Angeles, the second-largest TV market in the country, continues without resolution.

With 32 franchises divided equally in eight four-team divisions, scheduling over a 16-gtame regular season works pretty well. And there would appear to be means of resolving some of the issues with existing franchises; the Rams or Jaguars could find themselves L.A.-bound, and the Bills are already playing some games in Toronto. The NFL is already subsidizing the CFL to some extent, so a franchise in Canada's largest and richest city probably is a foregone conclusion.

London and Mexico City are the most-often-heard suggestions for international expansion outside of Canada, but there are drawbacks. It's not clear whether the Mexican economy could support the cost of operating a franchise, and the disadvantage of trans-oceanic travel on a weekly basis would surely raise the hackles of the players' union. Today's game in London required both teams to spend more time in the air than for their longest possible transcontinental flights. Being East Coast teams, the Patriots and Bucs still caught a break. Imagine asking the Seahawks, 49ers, Raiders and Chargers to make regular trips of 12 hours or more!

But in Roger Goodell's world, the players are merely commodities. He doesn't seem overly concerned that "expanding the brand" would tax players and organizations to their utmost, or require extraordinary changes in scheduling to mitigate those problems.

It seems overly simplistic to suggest that these one-time events, in which 86,000 paying customers will pack Wembley Stadium today to see something unique, have fooled Goodell into thinking that the same enthusiasm for an alien sport would be seen each week from September through December. But what else can we assume?

NFL Europe is a thing of the past because there was limited interest in the game beyond the spectacle of the International Series, and the U.K. was out of that picture for a few years before the entire league folded. Germany was the last bastion of lasting interest in NFL-style football, and even that couldn't make the European league worth what the NFL was spending to sustain it.

Let's look at another example, in more familiar terms. Professional soccer has been trying to gain a foothold in the United States for almost 40 years, and it's still little more than a curiosity to the average American. Soccer has been "the sport of the future" for as long as I can remember, and that future will likely never arrive.

The same fate is likely to befall American football off this continent. It's probably good in small doses, but not familiar enough to the potential audience to warrant a constant commitment. Does the NFL really need to have a franchise on the financial fringe overseas when there are teams here with trouble in their future?

Roger Goodell and Robert Kraft seem to think so. Only time will tell whether it's a stroke of genius or a dangerous folly.

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella.