NFL in London

National Football League in London

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History of Wembley and the NFL

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Wembley Stadium, often hailed as the “Home of Football,” has a storied history that intertwines with the evolution of sports and entertainment in the UK. From its original incarnation in 1923 to its modern-day architectural marvel, Wembley has been a beacon for global sporting events, including our beloved NFL games.
So ahead of the next Jacksonville game in 2025, let’s take a look at the History of Wembley and the NFL.

The Birth of a Legend: 1923

The original Wembley Stadium, known as the Empire Stadium, opened its doors in 1923. Its inaugural event, the FA Cup Final between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United, was so overcrowded that it’s famously dubbed the “White Horse Final” due to a lone policeman on a white horse restoring order. This iconic venue quickly became synonymous with major football matches, concerts, and events that defined generations.

A Modern Revival: 2007

After serving the public for nearly 80 years, the original structure was demolished to make way for a new, state-of-the-art stadium. The new Wembley Stadium, unveiled in 2007, boasts a seating capacity of 90,000 and features the iconic 133-meter-high arch, visible from various points in London. This architectural wonder isn’t just a feast for the eyes; it’s a testament to modern engineering and design.

American Football Touchdown: The NFL’s Foray into Wembley

While Wembley is traditionally associated with “soccer” (as we NFL aficionados might differentiate), its relationship with American football dates back several decades. The first official American football game at Wembley was in 1952, featuring U.S. Air Force teams. Fast forward to 1983, and Wembley hosted its first NFL game when the Minnesota Vikings faced the St. Louis Cardinals in a preseason matchup. This game was part of the NFL’s efforts to globalise the sport and tap into the UK’s burgeoning interest.

The American Bowl Series: 1986-1993

The NFL’s commitment to international expansion led to the American Bowl series, a collection of preseason games held outside the United States. Wembley Stadium was a prominent venue during this period, hosting several memorable matchups. These games not only showcased NFL talent but also solidified London’s status as a key location for American football.

NFL International Series: A New Era

The real game-changer came in 2007 with the introduction of the NFL International Series, featuring regular-season games held at Wembley. The inaugural game saw the New York Giants edge out the Miami Dolphins 13-10 in a rain-soaked affair. This wasn’t just a win for the Giants but a monumental victory for NFL fans in the UK, proving that there was a substantial appetite for American football across the pond.

The Jacksonville Jaguars: London’s Team

Enter the Jacksonville Jaguars, a franchise that has embraced London as its second home. Starting in 2013, the Jaguars committed to playing one home game per season at Wembley, a relationship that has flourished over the years. Their presence has not only boosted the NFL’s popularity in the UK but has also fostered a loyal fan base in London. The Jaguars’ games at Wembley have become annual spectacles, blending the flair of American football with the rich traditions of British sporting culture.

2024: A Record-Breaking Showdown

The 2024 season marked a significant milestone in this transatlantic partnership. On October 20, 2024, the Jaguars faced off against the New England Patriots at Wembley Stadium. The game attracted a record crowd of 86,651 fans, the largest attendance for an NFL game in the UK to date. The Jaguars delivered an electrifying performance, securing a 32-16 victory. Highlights included Parker Washington’s stunning 96-yard punt return touchdown, the longest in NFL London history.

Looking Ahead: The 2025 Season

The NFL’s commitment to London shows no signs of waning. The 2025 season is set to feature multiple games in the UK, with the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets, and Cleveland Browns designated as the home teams for these international fixtures. The Jaguars will continue their tradition of playing at Wembley Stadium, further cementing their bond with the UK fan base.

Wembley Stadium’s Hidden Gem

While many are familiar with Wembley’s grandeur, few know about its hidden feature—a retractable running track beneath the pitch. Intended for athletic events, this feature has never been used since the stadium’s reopening in 2007. The logistics and costs associated with converting the stadium for track and field events have rendered this feature dormant, a testament to the stadium’s multifaceted design that remains largely untapped.

A Cultural Exchange: NFL Meets British Fandom

The NFL games at Wembley have become more than just sporting events; they’re cultural exchanges. British fans have embraced American traditions, from tailgating to the flamboyant halftime shows. Conversely, American teams and fans have indulged in British customs, enjoying pints at local pubs and exploring London’s historic landmarks. This fusion has created a unique atmosphere that celebrates the best of both worlds.

A Legacy in the Making

Wembley Stadium’s journey from its 1923 origins to its current status as a global sports hub mirrors the NFL’s own evolution and international ambitions. The stadium has not only witnessed historic moments in traditional football but has also become a pivotal venue for American football. As the NFL continues to expand its global footprint, Wembley stands as a symbol of this cross-cultural collaboration, with the Jacksonville Jaguars leading the charge. The future promises even more thrilling matchups and record-breaking crowds, solidifying Wembley Stadium’s place in NFL history.

Jaguars Leave London?

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The Jacksonville Jaguars contract with the NFL quietly ended this week, with many UK NFL fans wondering if this is the end of an era for the Jags in London.
The Jags have been playing regular season games in the capital since 2013, solidifying a new fan base, and fostering a reputation as the first potential UK franchise.
But then 2020 came along.

Will the Jaguars sign a new contract, or is this the end of the Florida/ UK NFL experiment? Let’s take a look at some of the factors involved in this.

Jacksonville

When the NFL first started hosting the Jaguars in London, their team was in a very different state of affairs. The stadium was a mess, the city was reeling from economic hardships, and the fan base was one of the lowest in the league.
Shad Khan injected much needed funds and energy into the franchise, and used international expansion as a way to not only drum up press, but also explore the potential of a European operation.
As the Jaguars continued to play London games, dissension was building at home. The new stadium with its shimmering pools was drawing bigger crowds, and the Jags themselves began to reach the NFL playoffs.
When the team announced that they would be playing two home games in London in 2020, local press and ardent fans rebelled, signalling that they wanted their home team home.
While the London games represented 11% of home ticket revenue, Jacksonville locals lobbied state and city government officials to help out.
They listened too, with plans to revitalise the downtown around the stadium, bringing in over $2 billion in salaries and over 10000 new jobs.
Urban Jacksonville would be a new ‘Shi Tpa Town’, so why would locals want to lose that momentum?

Khan

Shad Khan may be the 4th richest NFL owner, 66th richest person in America, but like many over the past few years, he’s taken a hit to his back pocket. He even recently has had to sell his 300 foot yacht the Kismet , which can be yours for a cool $166 million.
With xenophobia rampaging across America, you can see why he might just want to keep his nose down and focus on his franchise during an election year, and Trump-Mania spreading across Florida.
The impending noose of Brexit  is threatening to choke out international business opportunities, which has left many multinational companies to adopt a ‘wait and see’ policy when it comes to moving to the UK.
Wait til the dust has settled and see what kind of deals a desperate UK government is willing to offer.

Covid

Did you know that there was an a virus epidemic going on? No, it’s true. Although not much in the news, apparently some nasty bug has been disrupting our way of life.
Businesses hate surprises, and Covid 19 is one of the biggest viral-reveals we have had in our lifetime.
Like Brexit, no one wants to make long term plans when infections and rolling shut downs continue to affect and infect our way of life.
Until we have a vaccine or this nasty sucker under control, all UK-US sports matches will be put on hold.
Can you imagine if they had gone ahead with the London games, and had to postpone at the last minute?
It would be a logistical nightmare.

Tottenham

With the NFL and Tottenham stadium agreeing to a 10 year NFL deal, it doesn’t really make sense to negotiate separate matches with Wembley. If the league is all in this together, then maybe spreading out the games and structure doesn’t really fly in the face of the new normal.
The Spurs have spent a lot of time and money on the new stadium, and fan reaction has been wholly behind the new digs in favour of crusty old Wembley.
Tottenham have a massive vested interest in developing and hosting the games there, so the Jags could save a lot of time and money on working with the league as bubbles and lockdowns become part of the new NFL dynamic.

In the end Shad Khan might just want to take some time off and reflect on the London experiment. Covid has provided a timely opportunity to gauge the want of international expansion, with the need for keeping the home fans happy.
We (should) have NFL games in London in 2021, but with the way 2020 has been going, we need to learn to expect the worst.
That’s what Jets fans do.

 

London 2020 Games

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Damn you Covid 19 for taking away the London NFL games for 2020. Imagine, we could be basking in the glow of having these four games played on our soil right now. But alas, that damn virus has other plans.

The NFL will be back. We can’t guarantee this, but with the amount that the NFL has invested in the UK, coupled with the huge appetite for NFL tickets, it seems pretty dang likely.
Tottenham literally changed its stadium to accommodate the game, and tied in sponsors and partners to make the game happen here, so all signs point to the NFL returning to London, and potentially other places in the UK.
Liverpool and Manchester have all signalled moves that they would like to adapt their stadiums to host NFL games in the future.
The only real question is when.

Earlier in 2020, when everything was rosy and had the potential for an amazing year, we took a stab at which teams would be coming to London for the 4 games split at Tottenham and Wembley equally.
We used some maths, insider tips and our own gumption to determine which teams MIGHT be coming to the UK for this year.
We have no idea if they were right or wrong, but we did use some logical inference based on previous years.
Here are the games we THOUGHT would happen.

Broncos vs Falcons
Week 3-Sept 27/ 20
Tottenham Stadium

Arthur Blank had confirmed that the Falcons were going to be hosting a home game in London, although he didn’t know who they would be facing. Given that the Jags usually host the last 2 games of the London series, we assumed that Atlanta would be one of the first games up.
London gets very busy in the autumn, and their are traditional events like Diwali that are big draws in the centre of town.
The NFLUK usually dresses Oxford Circus in NFL garb at the beginning of the season to get the UK crowd hyped for the start of the season.
We looked at other events scheduled, keeping in mind the London games signify the start of bye weeks, to give teams a chance to rest when they get home.
Given all of this information, and prospecting on the Falcons schedule, we chose an AFC/ NFC matchup between the Falcons and Denver Broncos.
Were we right? We’ll never know

Patriots vs Dolphins
Week 4-Oct 4/ 20
Tottenham Stadium

Part of what determines who comes to London is home attendance. If your team is struggling to draw home fans, then the league will move you up to chuck across the pond. The Dolphins have seen attendance dwindle in recent years, so they would be at the top of the queue to come over. Add to this the mercurial hurricane weather in Florida up til November, and Miami made sense.
You also have to look at which teams HAVEN’T been here in a while, and the Patriots are a prime candidate. The Brady-less Pats and a scorned Robert Kraft might not have the gumption to say no to the league, so this AFC East matchup would make sense.
We also had an inside tip from Boston that this was on the cards, so we went with our gut.
Again, we will never know if we were right.

Colts vs Jaguars
Week 7-Oct 25
Wembley Stadium

One of the takeaways from previous NFL in London games, is that the NFLUK generally likes to schedule games around the time change. This makes the difference between the east coast only 4 hours, as the US time changes happen on different weekends. They have also made an effort to finish the UK games before America gets hit with November holidays.
Jacksonville Jaguars were due to play 2 games at Wembley, with a division rival being one of the prime targets. Since Indy hadn’t been to the UK in ages, and Phillip Rivers was at the helm, we assumed that this would be a logical bet.
Too bad, because this would have been a heck of a game.

Lions vs Jaguars
Week 8-November 1/20
Wembley Stadium

Detroit Lions were another team we were secretly told was on the chopping block for a trip to Blighty.
Their home attendance was at Covid levels even before the virus was discovered, and they hadn’t been to London in a few years.
These dates also branch over the time change, so week 7 and week 8 were the Jaguars weeks here we assumed with a great deal of certainty.
Ending the UK games by November 1st also allowed the teams to return to the chaotic November schedule, and the start of the REALLY rainy season in the UK.
Did we get this one right? We’ll never know.

Optimism is rampant for the 2021 games, as the MLB has confirmed that their 2020 games will be moved to 2021 in London. Will the NFLUK follow suit?
Hopefully, but it’s too hard to say at this point.
This damn virus is showing no signs of weakness, and adapts more than the Terminator.

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TNF-Prediction

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Google ‘Florida Fight’ and see what kind of results come back, in many cases it will feature a man in a moustache versus a man in a beard. Or a meth head twerking in the streets before she tries to tackle an Uber Eats driver.
This Thursday Night match-up will not be as entertaining as any of those videos.

Thursday night NFL is always difficult to watch in the UK as the games don’t start until 1:30, and finish at 5am. Unless you are actually on meth, it is difficult to stay up that late unless they’re your team and it’s a must see game. This is not.

Florida is always a tough place to play in during September & October. This is when hurricane season is starting to wind down, so the whole place is wetter than the front row of a Justin Bieber concert. This was evident in week 2 when the Bills struggled to move the chains in the moist.
The Thursday night game has a weather prediction of 83% humidity, something we never really get in the UK.

All eyes are on the facial hair in this one, as it is being hyped as the moustache vs the beard, for lack of a better rivalry.
Minshew has been playing some tough football as of late. Sure, his defence was decimated last year, and most of his top talent has been traded away, still Gardner keeps moving the ball.
Fitzmagic has been playing great football as well in the first two games. Yes he’s old, and yes he will regress as the season goes on, but this is classic football for him.
While both of these teams were in the running for ‘Tanking for Trevor’, it seems that both are focused on winning this season, which is nice.

Neither team really holds a strong advantage here, as they are both pretty weak across the board.
Jacksonville’s D played extremely well against the Titans, so it will be tough for the Dolphins to run in this one, as they were very tough on Henry. Fitz’s only hope is to air it out to whoever is left in hopes that can find soft spots in the secondary.

Miami will need to put pressure on Minshew, which they were able to do last week against the Bills. Fortunately last week the Bills were hit by defensive injuries, allowing them a bit more time to spread the ball. Fitz will also need to light up the field to get a good lead, as the Jags have been staying in the past two games.

I don’t really see this happening, as the Jags are feeling pretty good despite the player liquidation sale they held before the season began. There will be home fans at this one, which should provide the punch that they need.
Miami could be feeling let down after letting the Bills get away last week, so this might not be fully motivated in the battle of the swamp.

I like Minshew and the Jags to win again, covering the 3 point spread. I like the under here, as the Florida weather will make it sticky, and anyone who is out of shape will struggle.
Luckily they are both Florida teams, so they should be use to it.

Prediction: Jaguars 24 Dolphins 20

AFC-Division Preview

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Everybody is an NFL pundit, so why not listen to the blathering on of some NFL experts?
Wade McElwain and Ryan Cull are ready with their divisional picks to make your life either easier, or more complicated.
Those are the kind of choices you get in a Covid world.

When it comes to NFL picks, Wade & Ryan are quite good at picking NFL winners. Wade was able to hit a whopping 64% correct against the spread in 2019, putting him right up there with Vegas Tipsters.
Ryan was able to hit 56%, which is better than grandma or an octopus can pick. So you’re in good hands.

So who do the boys like for this season? Let’s find out. Or you can listen to the latest podcast where they explain it all.

AFC East

Ryan is a Buffalo Bills fan, so expect a bit of a bias in his picks. He believes that the Bills will finally see their year, outperforming the New England Patriots and taking the division title with an 11-5 record. He has the Pats slightly behind at 9-7, with the lowly Jets and Dolphins finishing up at 6-10.
Wade also likes the Bills, but not so much. This is a tough division, which means that they will probably beat the crap out of each other to .500 records. He has the Bills at a respectable 9-7, with Bill Belichick’s coaching nipping on the heels of the Bills at 8-8. As for the other dumpster fires, the Dolphins will either start strong or finish strong, but they will deffo suck in the middle. Adam Gase will do what he does, and turn Jets fans a fiery red.

AFC North

Can the Baltimore Ravens repeat their Lamar-a-rific performance like they did last year? Ryan says yes, Wade says no. Ryan likes the Ravens have what it takes to take the division, pipping the Browns with the Steelers trailing in third. The Bengals of course are his fourth place,  as are most peoples’.
Wade is hot on Pittsburgh this season as the drama is behind them, and Tomlin is focused on a title run. Their D is incredible and their offence is finally healthy enough to challenge. Wade has Baltimore trailing with a respectable 11-5 record. He isn’t as bullish on the Browns however, as the high profile players will once again implode with a 6-10 season. He too thinks that the Bengals will stink worse than 2020, if that’s at all possible.

AFC South

The Titans rose as giants in their division last year, but will the brilliance of Bill O’Brien save the Texans? Not according to the boys. Ryan likes the pep of Phillip Rivers to take the Colts and their wicked O-line to a 10-6 record and the division title. He has both the Titans &  Texans slightly behind, with the Jaguars playing so bad, they should just be called ‘Florida’.
Wade on the other hand sees ties in the future, in fact a 3 way tie. He has the Titans, Colts and Texans all chunking out 9-7 records with the Jaguars getting shot in the jungle with a lowly 1-15 record.
The south will definitely not rise again.

AFC West

Damn this is one tough division. Not only do you have the Super Bowl champions looking to repeat, but a few other plucky teams who are ready to challenge.
Ryan is all aboard the Chiefs wagon, looking at them to win a whopping 14 games, and smoking the opposition. He has the Broncos in 2nd, Raiders in 3rd, and has the Chargers limping in at 4th place.
Wade is not as convinced on the Chiefs, as many teams experience a Super Bowl hangover, especially young teams with not enough focus. He still has them to win the division, but with only 10 wins, and 1 more than the Broncos. He also thinks that the Chargers will be a surprise this year, as the heat is off, Rivers is gone, and a whole new dynamic enters the locker room. If any team tests positive for Covid, Wade thinks it will be the Raiders, as you can catch anything in Vegas.

Who do you like? Who do you have to win it all?

Get in touch, follow us, and make sure you come to one of our events once this season gets kicking.