Talks could be held about the creation of a UK-based NFL franchise within the next three to four years, according to NFL UK managing director Alistair Kirkwood.

Sunday saw the Chicago Bears beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-18 in the fifth game to be played at Wembley in as many years, and Kirkwood said each successful event brings the idea of a permanent presence in this country closer.

"After five games here, successfully executed, you're starting to see coaches and players volunteering to come back in the future, we're accepted from a sporting perspective," Kirkwood said.

"We've started to build a platform to play more games here. With more games, we need to extend and expand our television coverage and fanbase, but I think within three to four years, we could begin to consider (a UK-based team)."

However, Kirkwood admitted there was still a huge amount of work to do in the short term to make it happen.

"We're moving in the right direction, but we're still a distance away," he said. "You only have to look at how successful the NFL is in the United States. There, 13 of the 15 most-watched television programmes in the autumn schedule are NFL games.

"If you put the Premier League on the BBC or ITV here, you still wouldn't come close to that. You have to be absolutely sure that if you put a franchise in here, it would be completely successful."