London Calling. NFL to play regular season game across the pond

[Dunleavy]

NFL mulls opening MNF on ESPN with doubleheader (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2329687)

the company line...

The league also is still open to a game overseas for 2006, perhaps in London's Wembley Stadium, Aiello said...As for the London game, Aiello said it remained under consideration. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said at the Super Bowl it was unlikely the NFL would play a regular-season game outside the United States this season. The first one took place last season with San Francisco playing Arizona in Mexico City.

the rumor mill...

LONDON GAME A "DONE DEAL"
An industry source with knowledge of the contents of a confidential NFL communication tells us that the league already has decided to play a 2006 regular season game in London's Wembley Stadium. "It's a done deal," said the source.

The league apparently will hold off on making any announcements regarding the game until more information is obtained regarding ongoing construction at the venue. The official Wembley Stadium web site promises that the new digs will be ready by the May 13 FA Cup final, but recent published reports peg the chances of the work being completed at only 70 percent.

Though the teams remain undetermined, the England game most likely will involve a matchup far more compelling than the 49ers and the Cardinals, who met in Mexico City in 2005. We're also hearing that the game is likely to occur the week before both teams' byes, so that they will have ample time to recover from the trip to Europe before playing their next games.
Because London is five hours ahead of New York, the game undoubtedly won't be a prime-time affair in the USA. Instead, look for either a 1:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. Eastern start on a Sunday afternoon.

[Young Drachma]

Is there that much of an NFL base in England? I mean, really. I know there are military folks there, but...at least in Mexico there is a legacy of playing football or whatever. But..England? Other than NFL Europe, what gives?

[Greyroofoo]

I would just hate to be the team that gives up a "home" game

[clintl]

I would just hate to be the team that gives up a "home" game

It would probably result in a gain in attendance for the Raiders.

[ISiddiqui]

Just send Zona again... not like anyone comes to their home games anyway ;).

[Dunleavy]

Is there that much of an NFL base in England? I mean, really. I know there are military folks there, but...at least in Mexico there is a legacy of playing football or whatever. But..England? Other than NFL Europe, what gives?

there is only a small base of NFL fans in England, but the point of the game would be to increase the interest


good point about not wanting to be the home team, it would be most fair to make the Gaints the home team (b/c of the extra game last year vs Saints), plus they're somewhat of a marque team, not sure if schedule and opponent would work out though.

[Dutch]

there is only a small base of NFL fans in England, but the point of the game would be to increase the interest


good point about not wanting to be the home team, it would be most fair to make the Gaints the home team (b/c of the extra game last year vs Saints), plus they're somewhat of a marque team, not sure if schedule and opponent would work out though.

Your putting too much weight in "fair" and too little in "cash cow" by your logic.

[dubb93]

If its a colts home game I'm going to be pissed b/c I have already paid for that game. Will be an interesting situation. I'm sure most other teams have already sold their season tickets for this upcoming year too.

[Super Ugly]

If there is to be a game, I'm sure it would sell out within hours. Football is a fringe sport over here, but it is growing in popularity thanks to support at the grass roots level. We have a national league as well, made up of about 40 teams.

I can see why US-based fans wouldn't want to export a home game, but it's only going to be once every 32 years. It'll help the development of the game, and it'll be cool to send some more players over who aren't kickers.

[panerd]

What would be cool is if the Rams take away a ticket from me for this game and Man U comes and plays a home game in the dome.

[flere-imsaho]

A lot of this assumes they'll actually finish re-building Wembley by then.... :D

[Cringer]

They should have the Saints play there, they are used to playing home games everywhere but home already.

[Eaglesfan27]

They can't screw the Saints out of another home game 2 years in a row.

[AlexB]

If they put a franchise over here, ignoring the obvious logistical nightmare, I think it would struggle to maintain crowds. However, for a single game this would sell out in a flash. The Bears came over in 86 pre-season, and although we treated Fridge as the star instead of Walter Payton :redface: the crowd was capacity and the players that speak about it say it was one of their most memorable atmospheres.

As a one off it would be fantastic (largely because I could see my 3rd NFL game by spending £100 instead of £1000) and raise the profile of the game massively. You may not know that Sky Sports have shown live Sunday games for 10 years now, the last two or three years have been double-headers every weekend, whereas before 2 games was a luxury. A decade of live coverage for a minority sport, taking up 6.5 hours of a schedule every week shows there is a good level of interest - if there weren't they would set aside such a chunk of their programming.

The late Sunday game and MNF are also shown live on terrestial TV, but obviously get very small audiences due to the time differences. Hell, we even get the Pro Bowl live!

The game would work, although whether I agree with it is another thing: I would strongly disagree with any teams playing a competitive EPL match in another country.

[AlexB]

They should have the Saints play there, they are used to playing home games everywhere but home already.

A lot of the talk is that it would be at least one of Miami, Giants, NE, TB as these are among the highest supported teams over here. SF have a (comparatively) massive following, but it would be difficuly for a west-coast team logistically.

[Dutch]

A lot of the talk is that it would be at least one of Miami, Giants, NE, TB as these are among the highest supported teams over here. SF have a (comparatively) massive following, but it would be difficuly for a west-coast team logistically.

There's a lot of TB fans in England? Damn, you can hardly say that about Florida. :)