Sunday's NFL game at Wembley will pitch Malcolm Glazer's Tampa Bay Buccaneers against Robert Kraft's New England Patriots.

Had things turned out a little differently, it might have been the second time in the same day the two men had see their teams do battle on the field.

But while Glazer went through with a highly controversial takeover of Manchester United, Kraft pulled out of a deal in 2005 to buy their opponents on Sunday, Liverpool.

Kraft, who admits he remains a massive fan of the Barclays Premier League and who plans to attend an undisclosed game today, backed away as he did not want to own a team in a league that does not have a salary cap, a mechanism that ensures a level playing field in the NFL.

Kraft's absence is probably Liverpool's loss. He is widely considered to be the model owner in the NFL, having taken over a team largely deprived of success until 1994, and then transforming them into the most successful team of recent years, marked by their three Super Bowl titles in the space of five years during the last decade.

His team look to be in ominous form once again, marked by their 59-0 demolition of the Tennessee Titans last weekend.

That is in stark contrast to the Buccaneers, who arrive in London with an 0-6 record.

The Glazers have had success with Tampa Bay, winning the Super Bowl in 2002, but are currently enduring some more lean times.

Yesterday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was forced to defend their record as team owners, denying claims that the debt incurred in the United takeover had led them to spend less than the salary cap allows on the Bucs.

"Those figures aren't correct and they are actually not under the cap," he said.

"The Glazers have had great success with the Bucs, and they've already proved themselves great owners in the NFL.

"I have no doubts that they will continue to be successful."

But while the absence of such a salary cap means Kraft is unlikely to take on the Glazers in the Premier League any time soon, the billionaire is a self-proclaimed Anglophile eager to expand his operations in this country.

Kraft yesterday threw his support behind the idea of an NFL franchise moving to London permanently, calling it "the right thing to do" within the next decade.

"I think it should happen," Kraft said.

"It would be the right thing to do some time in the next decade to have a franchise here.

"We've had great success both here and in Germany and I look forward to seeing if that happens."