WHEN DWAN AND Cindi London enter a stadium, their first mission is clear. It has nothing to do with finding food, their seats or exploring another venue.
The focus is simple: Find their son.
At home, inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, it has become easy. The ushers know the weekly routine Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Drake London shares with his parents. Away games are trickier: Can they get on the field? Do they have to sweet-talk a stadium employee or two to prove that, yes, they are Drake London’s parents and are trying to see him?
In Carolina, New Orleans and New York, Cindi and Dwan said, a Falcons staffer had to come over to facilitate the meeting.
The ritual — a pregame prayer — is important to the Londons. It’s something they’ve done since Drake first started playing the game, a couple minutes in thought, praying for the safety of Drake and every competitor before he steps on the field.
“I used to do it in private in his bedroom, just me and him, because I allowed him to play tackle football and I didn’t know how dangerous tackle football can be,” Dwan said. “So OK, let’s try to get out of this as healthy as we possibly can and ask the Lord to guide us through this whole process.
“And it hasn’t stopped.”
It isn’t the sole reason Dwan and Cindi do everything they can to make as many games as possible, flying from Los Angeles to Atlanta (or a road destination) each week, but it’s part of it.
This was something Dwan and Cindi committed to before London was drafted. Wherever he was picked, they were going to go to every game possible. Which has meant thousands of dollars spent, time off negotiated and 28 games in 14 cities across two continents in less than 24 months.
“It means everything,” London said.
ONCE EVERYTHING SETTLED down after London was drafted by Atlanta, Cindi went to work. She started researching flight routes, hotels for road games and using multiple Excel spreadsheets to make a plan and budget.
In addition to the spreadsheets, she has notes in her phone and a meticulous calendar with check-in times, hotel locations and restaurants. Dwan jokes the spreadsheets look “like hieroglyphics,” so Cindi created a cheat sheet ledger in case Dwan needs to look something up.
When London played at USC, it was mostly West Coast road games and, for home games, a drive from their Moorpark, California, home. Now, it means traveling nearly every week in the fall. As much as last season was a rookie year for their son, it was also one for Cindi and Dwan.
They learned what worked and what didn’t, which flights could be the most efficient, how to best manage their time and the value of hotel points and airline miles, both on credit cards and with flights and stays, to reduce costs.
Dwan and Cindi have instituted parent bye weeks. The cost, toll of consistent commercial travel and the realities of balancing their jobs — Dwan is a vice president of operations for a tech company; Cindi a data developer for a publishing company — and the Falcons’ football schedule necessitated it.
Still, they spent thousands of dollars last year on travel, something Cindi and Dwan insisted they pay for, even though their son signed a contract worth millions. What they spent last season also helped this year, because they’ve been able to cover multiple trips with points and miles. It has made Year 2 much cheaper.
This season, they’ve booked trips in four-to-five game chunks, in part to make sure things fit within their own schedules.
Last year, Dwan and Cindi missed two games — the Thursday night contest against the Panthers in Charlotte because of work, and the Christmas Eve game in Baltimore because they committed to spending that holiday in Los Angeles, alternating Thanksgiving and Christmas between Atlanta and LA. Christmas was spent in Atlanta this season.
There’s a routine now. For home games, Dwan and Cindi take a Friday overnight flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. They get to London’s house on Saturday morning and see him for a little bit, depending on his schedule.
Then they spend time helping around the house Saturday once London goes to meetings and then the team hotel at night. On Sundays, they see him before and after games. Sometimes, that includes quarterback Desmond Ridder and his family.
By Monday morning, they typically leave London’s home by 4 a.m. to return to Los Angeles — and then head straight to work. Sometimes, a remote work day or two alters schedules or they’ll choose to stay for a week if work will allow it.
For road games, Dwan said they treat it “almost like a mini vacation,” flying in Saturday and out either Sunday night or Monday morning. They’ll plan out restaurants and tourist attractions, seeing places they’d never been to before and, in some cases, never thought to go. Cincinnati and New Orleans were favorites.
Drake London’s family surprised him on draft night 🥺
📺: #NFLDraft at 7pm on NFLN pic.twitter.com/9UXIsI2FkO
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) April 29, 2022
They try to stay close to stadiums so they can both walk to the game on Sundays and also see as much of the cities as they can on foot so they can get “the steps in.” When possible, they also bring their 28-year-old daughter, Makayla.
“It’s a little bit challenging, but at the end of the day it’s fun and we know it’s temporary, right,” Dwan said. “So it’s not going to last forever so let’s try to make the best out of it and really try to enjoy this experience as a family together.”
London offered to pay multiple times. Each time, his parents scoff. They are both still working. They want him to be set up for the long haul before they start burdening him with their costs.
If a second contract comes, then they’ll all re-evaluate.
“He’s been very generous and he always tries, but we’re like, ‘We don’t expect anything from you,'” Cindi said. “We’re fine. We’re good. But we’ve kind of drilled it into him that if this is your only contract that you ever sign in your whole life, this has to last you, with you and your future family, for the rest of your lives.”
London still does provide assistance even if his parents say no. He takes care of their game tickets. For home games, Dwan and Cindi stay at their son’s house. When he got to Atlanta, he bought a six-bedroom house for just him and his dog.
“Nobody has to get hotel rooms. Nobody has to get anything. Whoever needs to come to the game, they can stay at the crib and they can be there,” London said. “So everybody can have their own space but be in the same place if possible at the same time and everybody can just enjoy each other, you know.”
LONDON’S NFL CAREER is finite, Dwan and Cindi know. They never considered not traveling to so many games, no matter the distance.
It’s the approach they took for both London and his sister.
“We just try not to miss any of their events,” Dwan said. “And I just think it bleeds over to our parenting style. We want to make sure that they know that we are there for them and we expect them to be the same way for their children.”
When London was in college at USC and games were played in empty stadiums due to COVID, Dwan and Cindi bought cutouts of themselves and their daughter inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
It was a way to be there when they physically were not allowed to be. Even then, they found ways to communicate, something that has carried to London’s NFL career. If Dwan or Cindy can’t make a game — something they’ll let London know about in advance — they FaceTime in the locker room for their prayer and a few moments of familiarity before London finishes preparing to play.
“That’s one of the main reasons why I wanted to go to ‘SC, was so my parents and anybody else, family friends can all come to the game,” London said. “In a matter of 45 minutes. That was the biggest thing for me.
“That meant a lot and when I finally figured out that I could potentially have a chance to go in the draft, was when I was kind of like, ‘OK, we got to sit down and talk about, like, what are you guys gonna want to do?'”
Other than those missed during COVID restrictions, Cindi and Dwan said they hadn’t missed any of London’s games prior to the pros. They were going to do everything they could to continue it. Dwan and Cindi made it clear this was their plan and Drake was “happy and ecstatic” they still wanted to support him.
London has always been extremely family-oriented, so being able to have the small circle he trusts close by as much as possible is a benefit.
Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Cindi cooks when she shows up and that she and Dwan will help out with errands and other things around the house that might get forgotten during a busy game week. For road games, their time together is often minimal — maybe some time Saturday after the Falcons arrive, the brief pregame prayer and a few moments postgame.
But things feel different for the Londons when they can’t be together on game days.
“It is a little weird, but I’m starting to manage it a little bit better,” London said. “Because I know they’re there with me regardless of anything.”
To Cindi and Dwan, being able to show up for their son is “just so important.”
“Them supporting me and knowing that no matter what I do on the field, I always have somebody who is gonna have my back there, you know,” London said. “That’s a huge thing to me. Especially in this profession.”
Source: www.espn.com