NFL in London

National Football League in London

2023 NFL London Games Tottenham

Week 1 Picks

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The 2023 NFL season is finally here, as Ryan and Wade blow out a podcast with their Week 1 Picks.

So many great games going on this week, and the boys take the time to go through ALL of the games, offering some of their best advice this early on in the season.

Week 1 can be a crap shoot in the NFL, as teams try to figure out themselves, while trying best an opponent doing the same.

Which team will be set and balanced the best for the start of week 1?

To listen to the whole dang podcast, make sure that you click the link here to listen to it.

So which games are the guys most interested in, and which ones might be worth taking a look at for you betting value?
Let’s take a look at some of the best ones that Wade and Ryan like for Week 1 Picks.

Choice Picks

Texans at Ravens (-10) + 43.5

Lamar loves to light up week one historically, so the odds are that the Ravens might surpass the 10 points offered to them in the spread against the loveless Houston Texans.
CJ Stroud, Dameon Pearce and the tough Houston D might have an answer for the Ravens as they visit the set of ‘The Wire’, but will they be the right answers?
Ryan loves Lamar and Baltimore to stomp the bigness out of the Texans, and put up a solid and crushing domination of the visitors. He also likes Lamar to have a lovely fantasy day as well, with him spreading the ball around.
Wade is a little suspicious of the spread this early on, and 10 points has known to be a tough call having not seen either of these two teams.
While he does like the Baltimore Ravens to win, he thinks that the Texans might keep it close thanks to their reliance on the running game in the second half.
Ryan-Ravens 31 Texans 17
Wade-Ravens 30 Texans 23

Bengals (-2.5) vs Browns + 47

Cincy has just signed QB Joe Burrow to ‘big daddy bucks’, making him the highest paid quarterback on the planet (for now).
Will this influx of money, and the closeness of defeat last season propel the Bengals to the AFC top spot?
The Browns have no expectations this year, as pundits look beyond Deshaun Watson, perhaps the best running back in the game, and a D that features a still cagey Myles Garrett.
So why the hate when they dummied Cincinnati in a game last year?
Ryan likes the Browns to upset the Bengals, and sees Mixon getting nixon’d by that tough Cleveland D.
He likes the Browns in a field goal game.
Wade agrees with Ryan, which is weird to have their both shared upset so early on, but there you go.
Wade likes the Browns at home, and thinks that the Ohio fervour will take Cleveland to victory.
Ryan-Browns 24 Bengals 21
Wade-Browns 28 Bengals 24

Bucs at Vikings (-6) +45

How you like the Vikings this year? No, really.
Kirk Cousins and co. got rid of Dalvin Cook, but they still have that double J that crushes you as the best wide receiver right now.
Can the Vikings D answer back when they get shot down though?
Baker Mayfield is baking in Tampa, with a slew of star receivers who are under appreciated.
The Bucs defence has also been whittled away since the shine of Tommy left the stadium, and there are questions as to the durability of the whole team.
Ryan is taking the Vikings at home, and thinks that this should be a solid win against a shaky team, giving Minnesota that first push in the NFC North.
Wade is calling an upset here, plugging Baker and the boys to throw a monkey wrench into the Minnesota launch.
Sometimes you look ahead too much, and don’t see an opponent with nothing to lose right out of the gates.
That’s what could happen to Minnesota on Sunday.
Ryan-Vikings 24 Bucs 20
Wade-Bucs 21 Vikings 20
That’s it for our Week 1 Picks podcast, make sure that you listen in to the next one, where we lament how poorly we did.
Thanks for listening, and have a great week 1.

NFC South-West Peek

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It’s only days before the season starts, so the boys crammed the rest of it into this NFC South-West Peek, with a look at how the teams fare in their respective divisions.

Ryan and Wade break down the two divisions, so that you don’t have to!
You’ve got a busy week ahead, when will you have time to break down divisions?

To listen to the whole lovely podcast, make sure that you click the link here to get all the goods.

The guys also wax on about the latest news, Fantasy and more in this one, including:

Fantasy

Have you finally got your fantasy team(s) sorted, or were you one of those weirdos who did their Fantasy Draft in July, making your team a whole big mess for 2023?
We get that you’re excited, just wait until they do squad cut-downs, ok?
Wade and Ryan look at some of their best picks for their teams, as well as rant about the necessity of having a great commissioner when things go wrong.

Hold Outs

The season is merely hours away for some teams, and yet they still haven’t solved some of their biggest player issues.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Chris Jones seem no closer to an agreement, as Jones has doubled down on his desire to sit out until Week 8, taking on a whole smack-load of fines in the process.
With the Chiefs facing the plucky Detroit Lions on opening Thursday, it will be interesting to see how the team dynamic reacts to Jones being out.
Will KC still have that fire that won them a Super Bowl, or will the locker room suffer from his absence?
Same goes for ‘Mr Black and White’ Joey Bosa, whose demonstrative effect on the 49ers D can be seen in his dominant stats.
Without Bosa, the Niners struggle to get those breakthrough moments, as O lines don’t have to worry about double teaming him.
Add Panthers defensive player Brian Burns, and there is a trio if big D masters who can easily be playmakers of destiny for 2023.
Will they get paid?

Kupp’d

Remember when we talked about hosting your NFL Fantasy Draft too early, and grabbing some players that might not be so good when the season starts?
Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp is going to see a specialist this week, as his nagging hamstring has been causing more problems for him, affecting his ability to line up in Week 1.
More bad news for the Los Angeles Rams who seem like a broken box of toys since their Super Bowl win a few years ago.
If the Rams want any chance of getting ahead this season, they may just want to look at stripping the team for parts, and seeing what value they can get.

Bar it Up

Is your bar or pub looking to promote your NFL offerings?
Are you saying ‘no thanks’ to the Rugby World Cup, and ‘yes, please’ to showing ruckus NFL Sundays all season long?
If so, we can help!
With over 17 years of experience of hosting NFL parties across London and the UK, we can help promote your weekly NFL nights to the right audience, and with prices starting from £5/ week!
With a weekly reach of over 30million across all social platforms, let us help let fans know that you are in for showing some of the greatest NFL games during the 2023 season.
We can also help you promote the London games, Thanksgiving, the playoffs, and of course the Super Bowl!
Just reach out, tell us what you’re looking for, and we can see if we can help!

Best Places in London to Watch NFL

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Another season is about to kick off and reward us all with football greatness, but where are the Best Places in London to Watch NFL?
Well, we’ve got you covered with our list for 2023.

As a group who have been promoting and hosting live NFL viewing parties over the past 18 years across the capital, we have quite a bit of knowledge of the sport viewing landscape.

Any punter will tell you that after Covid, the whole bar and entertainment industry took a punch on the chin.
Independent pubs shuttered, quality staff found other work, and the price of pints continued to rise.

As promoters, we look to offer people the best value and service when it comes to hosting NFL nights.
Sure, we might hold things to a North American standard, but why shouldn’t we, when he have always attempted to deliver that threshold across all of our events.

So these are just our independent thoughts on almost 20 years of watching and promoting the NFL across the UK.

1. Home

Home?!?! What a lame answer to start this list off!

Well, not really if you’ve seen the price of a London pint recently, as they near ever closer to the £8 range.
When we first started promoting the NFL in London, pints were still in the £3 range, and pitchers were £10.
Those were the days!

It’s not just the crazy price of booze at London pubs and bars, but there is also the Rugby World Cup and Premier League to throw wrenches into the works of NFL viewing.
With many times and dates over-lapping with the NFL, UK-centric bars are more likely to NOT put on the NFL, with so many Sundays in contention.

The 2023 Rugby World Cup will take place MOST Sundays until Week 7 of the NFL, with games airing between 4-10pm GMT.
If you’ve never experienced a RWC during the NFL season, then you’ll quickly find out that rugby trumps American football in the UK.
They might SAY they are showing NFL, and then bartender changes the channel.
Too bad.

With DAZN taking over from Gamepass, there also hasn’t been a commercial license on offer, which means it could be illegal for many bars and pubs to show the NFL, taking us back to 2013.

Independent pun chains have also been swallowed up over the past few years, gobbling up former sports bars, and then cutting costs, taste, and fun when they rebrand it into a corporate image.
Sadly these chains are very inflexible, and demand that promoters must increase attendance week on week.
Not worth it when half the customers have to pop over to McDonald’s because the food is so dire.

When’s the last time you threw a truly awesome, NFL party?

The best NFL nights are when you have hook a few devices up to Gamepass, and invite over some friends, foes, or just fellow fans you met on social media for a few bevies and a game.

You’ll not only save lots of money, but maybe make some new friends in the process!

2. Famous Three Kings

This Fulham sports bar has a legendary status in the city, as it always seems to be the ‘go to’ place for sports viewership.

Located in West London in the posh bit of town, the Famous Three Kings has been a perennial favourite for sports fans looking to stare at loads of TVs across a cavernous pub.

Although part of a large chain, the food isn’t as abysmal as those burgers with the pre-grilled marks on them that you find in some chains.

Like many London sports bars, it closes at 10pm on Sundays.

Find out more here.

https://www.crafted-social.co.uk/famous-three-kings-west-kensington

3. King Sports Bar-Empire Casino

Leicester Square has also changed in recent years, going from a glitzy West End destination, to a urine soaked playground for the drug addled and destitute.
Great place for a night out.

The King Sports Bar at the Empire Casino benefits from not only having loads of TVs on the go with NFL action, but also being open 24 hours for your viewing, and gambling pleasure.

NFL fans will be happy to have a place to watch the games, and be centrally located enough to be able to snag a night bus home.

The food is rather mediocre, which is why it’s good to have a lot of late-night food options to explore.

https://www.thecasinolsq.com/kings-sports-bar

4. Bodeans-Soho

Bodeans is the original Canadian BBQ joint, that has a long, and storied history in Soho.

Famous for their burnt ends, Bodeans also has two floors of TV action, with NFL and Saturday College Football on tap.
Speaking of on tap, they also have a ridiculously good selection of beer and top North American food.

Of all of the London pubs, Bodean’s has the best NFL food bar none.
However, they do close at 10pm, so you won’t be able to watch the late games.

https://bodeansbbq.com/soho/

5. Sports Bar-Marylebone

One of our OG locations back in 2008, the Sports Bar Marylebone found fame due it being across from the Landmark Hotel, where many of the teams, players and cheerleaders have stayed.
The fact that Jerry Rice could walk in, sit down beside you and order wings made it a crazy place to go.

Time has seen the Sports Bar & G bought by new owners, who dropped down the food quality, but marked up the prices, so authenticity is lacking in the food, and their pints have rocketed to top end London prices.

The bar does benefit from being on the train to Wembley, making it a good place to start and finish after the game.

https://www.sportsbarandgrill.co.uk/marylebone

There are loads of other places that say that they will show NFL, but will also refuse to put it on when people show up, or just turn it off at the whim of a manager.
We can’t recommend any of these places, as we have worked with many before, and they are horrible.

Promote Your Venue

If you’re a venue looking to promote your NFL nights, let us know!

 

Promote Your NFL Nights

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Are you a UK pub, bar or club who is looking to promote your NFL nights?
Then reach out, and we can help you promote your weekly NFL showings to millions of fans across the UK and Europe.

At NFL in London, we know that having a good place to watch the games with your friends is key, as well as some good food, and reasonably priced drinks.
That’s why we’re offering bars and pubs the opportunity to promote your NFL evenings across our social profiles.

Big Reach

With a weekly reach of over 25M across Europe, our NFL in London socials are the perfect place to target NFL fans in the UK, as well to showcase your American football offerings for the fans.

Facebook has 26k+ Likes, and 20k Followers on our main page, with another 2k on our Groups.
X (Twitter) brings in 3.5k followers, with another 1.5k on Instagram.
Add in the 10k per month in website traffic, 30k per month in podcast listeners, and you can hit a huge swath of NFL fans across Great Britain.

Events

To help get the word out, we can also promote your weekly NFL viewing parties through our website, and Facebook pages, so that fans can seamlessly book a table at your location with ease.

By hosting these regular Sunday events, you’re demonstrating fans that you are committed to showing the games all season, and they don’t have to worry about coming for the 6pm matches, and cricket is on.

We’re also looking to work with like-minded bars for the 2023 London NFL games, so make sure you get in touch!

Commitment

We do ask from the bars we work with that there is a commitment to showing these NFL nights, and that you’re not going to advertise it, and then there’s no games.
That pisses off NFL fans, and happens too often.

Some of the questions we will have for venues includes:

  • Are you showing the NFL all season, or is this just a whim to get in fans?
  • How many games are you showing? How many TVs? How late are you open?
  • Are there any special deals for NFL fans across food, drink, seating etc?
  • Do you have DAZN, or are you showing just Sky games?

We want to help you deliver the best fan experience for NFL viewing, so let us help you finesse your NFL nights to make them more authentic.

Packaging

As much as we appreciate the massive pub chains asking for us to ‘help spread the word’, you’re making money off of this, so don’t expect free advertising.

You get what you pay for, and we’re happy to create bespoke packages for any bar or pub to help you pack your place with NFL fans, with prices starting from £5 per week.

Bigger packages can include more marquee level weekly promotions, appearances and ads on our podcasts, as well as dedicated spaces on our website to promote your location.

Subscribing bars will also be added to our weekly calendar, so that fans can directly access your venue and book themselves in.

We also have options to help promote the London NFL games, Thanksgiving, playoffs and the Super Bowl, as well as live podcast recordings with NFL celebrities live from your pub.

NFL in London frequently works with UK betting companies who like to do ‘pub takeovers’, and as such can your location get massive exposure and highly elevated NFL viewing events.

Get in Touch

So what are you waiting for?

If your bar or pub wants to promote your NFL nights, get in touch and we can work out a reasonable package to help get football bums in seats every week.

Are you committed to a great 2023 season?
We are!

Feel free to send us an email, at mapleyankeesports@gmail.com

 

 

AFC East Peek

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August is in the air folks, as we excitedly present to you the AFC East Peek podcast to celebrate!

Wade and Ryan are ready for the season to begin, and have even taken the time to do some research for this episode (kidding!)

So make sure that you find a comfy chair, a beverage, and take a sip at the latest episode right here:

Among some of the things that the guys talk about in this episode includes:

Bunged Bengals

Poor Joe Burrow is injured again, and this time the prognosis is to finally take some much needed time off. But a calf injury is a whole new kind of horse, as these often recur due to how deep they can go.
Joe has been told by coaches and a very vocal Jamar Chase that it’s time to take a breather until he is fully healed.
With the Bengals due to play the Ravens and Browns within the first two weeks of the season, things could get tricky as they will need JB to be back in time so as not to drop two in the division.
All eyes on Cincy this year, as they have the Chiefs directly in their sights.

Trading Places

The often overlooked, and never really producing in terms of fantasy, N’Keal Harry is off from Boston, and on his way to Minnesota.
Despite making much hype when he was drafted, Harry has struggled in New England, and the only threat he displays is to fantasy owners who make the mistake of trying to play him.
Kareem Hunt is rumoured to be making a trip to New Orleans, as the Saints look to fill the three week hole left by Alvin Kamara for his Vegas fight.
Hunt would definitely add a new level of excitement to the Derek Carr offense.

DAZN Drama

Streaming giant DAZN have finally taken over the mantle of Gamepass stewardship this year, and judging by the feedback we have received, it isn’t going well thus far for some.
Several years ago, we were remonstrated by the NFLUK for being too harsh on Gamepass, when it continually crashed every week, costing us thousands.
It’s a whole new company though, as Italian stumps Deltatre no longer hold the rights, with a US sports company running it now. Touchdown!
While most complaints centre on billing and communication, no one really has an issue with streaming quality or resolution. Which is really good, because that’s what we all want!
It’s still early days, but given the track record of DAZN, it seems likely that Gamepass will be fine once the season kicks off.
Given the communication we have experienced with DAZN as well, they seem to be on top of things, and ready to kickoff the season.
If we’re wrong, let us know.

AFC Sneak Peek

Ryan and Wade also include a little preview in this episode, giving their prediction of how they think that they AFC will end up in the standings.
Bills fan Ryan unsurprisingly has Buffalo to top the division, which he has done for the past decade or so. Luckily, the Patriots aren’t as dominant as they once were, and both guys have the Pats to finish in the basement of the division.
But what about the NY Jets? Won’t Aaron Rodgers save us all from football boredom?
Will Tua crack his noggin again and send him on a Humpty Dumpty trip to the offseason?
Just have a listen to the podcast, and you can hear it all!
We will have more divisional preview podcasts coming up in the next episodes.
Watch this space for more!