NFL in London

National Football League in London

Where to watch NFL in London

Football Movies

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The NFL season is creeping closer to us, but still not close enough! Like many of you, we have been watching Football Movies throughout the summer to get us in the mood.

Here are a few movies to consider watching prior to the start of the season to get you in the mood.

Football Movies

Brian’s Song

Let’s kick it off with the only movie on the list that will have you in tears by the end of it (hopefully).

This 1971 ABC ‘Movie of the Week’ starring James Caan and Billy Dee Williams hits with all the feels, as we follow Chicago Bears player Brian Piccolo on his journey through cancer with his buddy and teammate Gale Sayers.

Taken from Sayers biography ‘I am Third’ the movie hit men so hard in the 70s, it became known as the top ‘guy-cry’ movies in male cinema history.

The TV movie was so popular back then,  ABC actually rented out some theatres to show the film in wider release. Critics have called ‘Brian’s Song’-‘the greatest TV movie ever made’, which is pretty high esteem given the TV movies of the 70s’.

Don’t take our word for it, make sure that you check out Brian’s Song for yourself. Even better, drag in a non-NFL fan and make them watch it with you. You’ll be converting like metric!

Any Given Sunday

Let’s get to the Oliver Stone of these Football Movies picks, with the 1999 classic ‘Any Given Sunday’.

Bolstered by a stellar cast including Pacino, Quaid, Diaz, Foxx, Woods, Modine, as well as some NFL greats like Jim Brown, Lawrence Taylor, Dick Butkus and even Johnny Unitas, this film was our Y2K moment of football films.

The Miami Sharks led by Tony D’Amato have loads of problems in their 2001 season, until third stringer Willie Beamen steps up to try to save the team and the season.

You really can’t go wrong with Oliver Stone in the 90s’, especially with Cameron Diaz sending us that ‘smokin’ resting bitch face.

A true NFL classic.

Remember the Titans

Another football film about race hit the big screens a year later, as the 2000 Jerry Bruckheimer production of ‘Remember the Titans’ hit us hard, and in the feels.

Based on the true story of Virginia coach Herman Boone to integrate race and football into 1970s’ America, the film is layered with an incredible cast, solid writing, and some good tunes.

Oh and did we mention Denzel? Yeah, it stars Denzel Washington and features major talent like Ryan Gosling, Will Patton, Hayden Panettiere, Kate Bosworth, and Donald Faison.

Put this on for a feel good afternoon of missing football.

North Dallas Forty

If you’re going to make a football movie about the 70s’, then you might as well head back to the 70s’ to catch the best ones.

‘North Dallas Forty’ is a ruckus of a flick based on the best-selling 1973 novel by Peter Gent.  Starring the rogue Nick Nolte and featuring country singer Mac Davis, the film feels more like a football orgy, than a slick game play.

It feels more like a natural locker room setting, with booze, drugs and girls occupying most of the men’s minds.

Also featuring some great 70’s actors of the day, including: Charles During & Dabney Coleman.

Here’s the trailer for it.

Draft Day

Ok, it’s a bit outlandish, but this 2014 film from director Ivan Reitman gives a lampoonish insight into the Draft Day antics of GM Sonny Weaver of the Cleveland Browns.

Considered a box office flop, not only did it lose money, but it was also the last film for Ivan Reitman and Jim Brown before they died. Fortunately it didn’t happen on set.

Surprised that Jennifer Garner didn’t die on set when she was romantically paired with Kevin Costner in this one, but oh well, that’s Hollywood!

It’s worth watching at least for the inconsistencies.

Some other films you might want to look at also include:

Friday Night Lights

Billy Bob in a football classic

Varsity Blues

Girls watch it for Paul Walker, guys watch it for that Ali Larter whip cream bikini scene.

What are your favourite NFL movies? Let us know!

 

Barrel Scraping

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July is the last month of ‘NO NFL’ until March 2024! All this and more silly news in our latest Barrel Scraping podcast from Wade and Ryan.

Slow News

It’s July, so we’re all hoping for any little nugget of NFL news, from trades, moves to arrests, and even more off-season arrests. More on that later.

We’re always trying to put together a little feast of a podcast for you every episode, and since this is episode 250 of our NFL in London podcast, we tried not to disappoint here.

Here’s a link to the podcast so that you can listen in yourselves.

Among some of the other news that the guys talk about in this podcast includes:

USFL Finale

Did anyone watch the thrilling finale of the USFL this year? Us neither.
But it did turn into a big thrill for the Birmingham Stallions, who notched up back-to-back championships in their trophy hoist.
Given the amount of teams in the USFL (8), it’s not that hard to repeat as you would think.
Congrats to QB Alex McGough, who will once again find himself in the gauntlet of NFL tryouts before returning to the USFL next season.

The Match

‘The Match’ is a US tv series in which pro athletes  & celebs battle each other in a novelty golf-off.
Usually it features some big veterans or top talkers, but this year we got Kelce, Mahomes, and a couple of NBA jerks.
Not as thrilling in this 12 hole round, but at least it featured some modicum of NFL, so always worth watching if not just for Patrick’s Kermit like peeping throughout.

Swimming with Chiefs

Brittney Mahomes was also in hot water this week, after she posted pictures of herself on Insta swimming with dolphins in the tropics.
Animal lovers know that captive dolphins are a touchy issue, especially for someone who needs to display a bit of social foresight.
Worst of all were the rumours that Jackson Mahomes sexually assaulted the dolphin later.

Super Soaker

The Super Bowl still has some lingering blame as to the field conditions, and the NFL is finally ready to pass judgment.
It was the Eagles fault, they should have changed shoes.
While we can all remember how wet and wild the conditions were, with the Philly D struggling to gain traction on the soggy turf. But should they have changed shoes?
It’s all he said, they said at this point.
You lost.

ESPN on Fire

Sorry, they have been firing. Loads of top talent at the House of Mouse are gone, which won’t mean much for UK NFL fans who rarely see these pundits. For US viewers it’s signs of the times that they are moving on from pricey veterans, and throwing cash at new talent, as well as Pat McAfee.
Maybe he can finally afford to buy a shirt.

Jonesy

Jerry Jones is also dipping his story into the media, after reportedly seeking upwards of $50 million for the rights to his video life story.
Word on the media streets is that Netflix has snapped it up, and will look to rebound from all the horrible woke shows they invested in, and get back to the most watched program on the planet.
Even if it is Jerry Jones.
Think how much the Tom Brady story would get.

Kap’r

Colin Kaepernick wants to let us all know that he is still ready to get that NFL call, at the ripe young age of 35. Despite not playing in a decade, and living more off the meme’s of life, Colin is ready to give it another shot.
How about we team him up with Antonio Brown and make a new reality series? ‘AB & KP on the Road’. We’d all watch it.
Good news for Colin ahead is that he will be the ‘face’ of a new 7 on 7  NFL game coming to most devices this fall. He can finally play again, if only in a Meta way.

London Games

We will have more news on our London game party tickets as well soon.
Watch this space.
We will also be looking for people to join a Fantasy League this year with us! Get in touch if you want to play.

London Ballin’

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Normally we would be gushing about all things NFL in London, but after taking a trip to the MLB games at WestHam stadium this past weekend, we thought we would touch on baseball with a little London Ballin’ news.

Baseball was back in London after taking a Covid break following their first games in 2019.
Back then, we were treated to the Yankees and BoSox blasting so many homers, they actually scored more runs than the first NFL game here.

The 2023 series featured two teams at the bottom of their division, as the St Louis Cardinals hosted the Chicago Cubs in an NL Central dumpster fire across the pond.
Sure the teams might be struggling to make the post season, but that should be nothing new to NFLUK fans who have witnessed some truly dire games.

Despite the premonition that this might be a ‘sucky series’, the games delivered, and all of the fans seemed to thoroughly enjoying the novelty of having baseball in London, with the weather helping to make the whole weekend magical.

That being said, we did have a few thoughts on how the games went down.

The Good

MLB Europe

Wow, they really can put on a show! From the games themselves, to the craziness of Trafalgar Square takeover, London really went big baseball for the weekend.

Having the benefit of the NFL hosting games for a few decades is obviously going to help, but the MLB seemed to go above and beyond in putting it all together.

Unlike early NFL games which seemed a bit chaotic when Wembley was still growing,  the MLB seemed to have a finger on all of the action, making everything feel quite seamless.
As a fan, it’s nice to have consistency from North America, and for European fans to get the real deal experience.

The Games

It was quite the dinger fest on Saturday, as the Cubs took advantage of the short wall, to pop a few over the fence.

St. Louis rebounded in true form on the Sunday, given midwest fans a chance to salivate in the fact that they were able to snag a win abroad.

While there might have been more pomp and circumstance poured into the trip than the games itself, they certainly didn’t disappoint.

Celebrities

The NFL usually brings over their usual slug of ex-players and hangers on, but with baseball, everything is a little different.

The Cubs have a legacy of some great celeb fans, so when Bill Murray and Nick Offerman showed up to offer support to battle the heavyweight status of John Goodman and his Cards, it all started to feel quite Hollywoody.

Add to this was Bill Murray’s hilarious and rambling appearance on BT Sport during the game. Not only was Bill too quick-witted for the hosts, when he finally had enough, he just walked away.
Classic Bill.

The Bad

It’s never fun to crap on someone who goes out of their way to host you, but sometimes you need to address the mighty elephants in the room.

Atmosphere

While it certainly looked like a baseball game, in no way did it feel like one inside the stadium.
A lack of home field announcer, walk on music, or any vibe was quite shocking, as it just felt silent and awkward.

Maybe other people could hear, but where we seated up by the Cardinals Wags, it was shockingly quiet.

To that, it did seem that there was a caste system of enjoyment for MLB fans on the night.
Those seated near the first base line were treated to t-shirts, appearances and engagement, while the rest of the stadium looked on in a ‘what’s going on here’?

There was also a ‘house band’ which not only no one could see, but barely hear. The might have been there to pump up the crowd, but no one could hear or care.

Food

For all the talk of bringing the baseball to Britain, maybe they should have left the food at home.

A much touted ‘2 foot hot dog’ with all the toppings seemed a bit much, and they were, as people littered them all over the stadium. You didn’t need to walk far to spot lost weiners all over the place, and needed to address you walk to avoid stepping on them.

All of the food sampled by our group was cringe enough to add plans of ‘stopping at McDonald’s’ on the way home.

Don’t even get us started on the Dorito Nachos…they were everywhere too!

Dirty Dirty

Unlike other stadiums, it seems like the staff at WestHam stadium don’t clean up during the games.

In fact one toilet near our gate was NEVER cleaned the entire game. By the 7th inning they might as well have locked the doors, as the bins were over-filling, plastic cups and food littered the floor, and just so much piss everywhere.

It could be that there were staffing issues, as we encountered some of the rudest stadium employees ever.
Turns out you can’t ask questions of staff manning the doors to the numerous private rooms on the upper decks.
Asking something like ‘are there bars on this floor’ were responded with such venom, one would think we asked if Ted Lasso was here.

All in all, it was a great series of games, and an enjoyable weekend of baseball in the capital.

But like anything, there is still a learning curve here to climb.

 

 

May Daze

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Wow this spring seems to drag on forever! When is the NFL back? Is it training camp yet? All of these questions might be answered in this May Daze podcast.

As the weeks trudge on, it’s still almost 4 months to go before the NFL season kicks off again.
Just as a comparison, you can still build half a human in that time, although some religious folks might dispute the timeline.

To help you get through the doldrums, we have a podcast to help get you through the week, as Wade and Ryan wax on about all the nonsense that it is filling their heads as of late.
Make sure you get a listen to it here.

Among some of the things that the guys discuss in this podcast includes:

London Games

Hooray! We finally know all of the teams that are coming to Europe this year, spoiler alert-we get Jag’d off twice!

First up on October 1, 2023 will be an AFC/ NFC battle as the Jacksonville Jaguars host the Atlanta Falcons at Wembley stadium.
Both teams have been here in the past few years, so it will be a nice surprise for Falcons fans who get to see their mediocre team twice in as much time.
The game should serve to build up the momentum for Jacksonville, and it will be nice to see what Calvin Ridley will treat UK fans to.

October 8th is a date to remember to bring your folding table from Costco, as the Bills Mafia descend on London for a match up between the Jaguars.
The last time the Bills came to London, they also played the Jaguars in 2015, but lost that game 34-31.
This should be an exciting game, with loads going on that week.

October 15th is the final of the London games for this year, as the Tennessee Titans host the Baltimore Ravens at Tottenham stadium.
Lamar Jackson and OBJ will be the big names to see, as this AFC battle should be an entertaining one for the London faithful.

Bye Cummies

The Washington Commanders sale is now going through, as the league says ‘see ya’ to Dan Snyder and his minions.
Having bought his childhood favourite team for $750 million in 1999, we went on to honour the legacy of the ‘Skins by not investing in the stadium, sexual allegations from cheerleaders, and changing the name to something horrible.
Your 12 year old self would vomit in your own mouth Dan if he/you saw what you/he did.
At least Magic Johnson doesn’t have any skeletons in his closet.

Super Bowling

The NFL went ahead and announced another Super Bowl last week, as if the 2023 schedule release wasn’t enough for hungry fans!

It looks like the trophy is heading back to SoCal for 2026, as the league heralded the 49ers as the hosts of the big game.
Given the rise in homelessness and sky-rocketing business vacancy rates in the city, tickets shouldn’t be that hard to finagle.

The other two Super Bowls are of course 2024 in Las Vegas, and 2025 in New Orleans.

With the legalisation of cannabis in many of these states, it will be interesting to see the state of many of the fans, as Vegas is going quite green these days for a desert.

Stream it Ain’t So

So YouTube will be showing the NFL this year, but given how the NBA Playoffs have been going, it might be a bit nervous for many NFL fans.

With reports of drop-outs, no streams and constant crashes, many NBA fans have taken to social media to rant about the state of the Google player.

Many UK fans remember that horrible debacle that occurred when the dolts at Deltatre took over the Gamepass, and we had nothing but outages for weeks.
They also got really butt-hurt when we complained on Twitter, and told the NFL UK not to work with us as a result.

Thankfully Deltratre is gone, and Dazn is in, so the streaming options for UK fans should be ok, after the NFL cracked the whip on them.

The big scary factor for US fans is that one of the Wild Card games will ONLY be available on Peacock, leaving tens of millions of fans unable to watch.

Good luck with that Peacock, what could go wrong?

Watch this space, as we will be announcing some big activity around the London games this year! Until then, enjoy the sunshine of your May Daze!

 

2023 London Games

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The 2023 London Games have been announced by the NFL, and the world seems right again.
The Jags will be playing in London two weeks in a row, and the Bills and Titans get two home games.
2023 has the NFL rocking Europe. Bring it on!

Our Predictions

Every year we here at NFL in London make our picks for who will be playing in the capital and when, and this season was as hit as miss as any.

We did correctly guess that the Bills would play on Oct 8th and the Titans on the 15th, as well as picking that the Ravens would be one of the teams to visit.
Other than that, we got it all wrong.

The Jags will be coming early October, (not late like we thought), and they are playing back-to-back in London, which fits given their current home stadium situation.

We had also heard that the Bears would be coming to Germany, but it seems like we weren’t the only ones, after Donna Kelce give us some insider tips.

Oh well, you can’t get them all right.

Oct 1- Falcons vs Jaguars (Week 4)

Atlanta is back in London after only a year away, as the Falcons look to take their ‘rebuild’ team to Europe to take on the AFC’s new/ old darling.

With Jacksonville struggling to get their home stadium affairs in order, they begin the nomadic hosting of games as Wembley, in a battle of the south.

Trevor Lawrence & Bijon will be some of the big names to to attend, and it will be fun to see Calvin Ridley play his old team in a country where betting is completely legal.

Should be a great game to kick off the season!

Oct 8- Jaguars vs Bills (Week 5)

Bills Mafia will be in full force, as they host the Jags in an awesome AFC battle that should be a decider in both of their divisions.

Josh Allen and the boys will be riding the blue high into Tottenham stadium for this 2:30pm kickoff, and expect a massive home crowd of Bills UK and Buffalo supporters making the trek.

With Jacksonville playing two games in row, they should be comfortable on London turf, and it will be a nice surprise for them to actually be the visitors in London for the first time ever.

Unlike many previous London games, this one could be a shoot-out.

Oct 15- Ravens vs Titans (Week 6)

Lamar is coming guys! Lamar is coming.

The Ravens have tidied up all of their drama, secured some new receivers, and are ready to ‘ahem’ their way into the AFC again this season.

Sure Joey B and them cats are getting all the love, but the Ravens know that every AFC win this year is key to moving into the top 4 discussion.

Tennessee has Billy Jeans, sorry Will Levis, so they will be ready to bring the Music City if fun to London for the final of the London games.

A great way to end the last of the London games, and this one sure should be full of excitement in North London.

Germany

The Germans proved to be exceptional hosts when the NFL came to Europe, and has set a bar to English fans that we need to sing, and smile more if we want to up out game.

With two great games set to touchdown across Germany in November, fans there are in for a fall treat of some pretty amazing games.

Nov 5- Dolphins vs Chiefs (Week 9)

It’s Tua vs Patrick, as the Fins head to Frankfurt for the first of two games in northern Germany.

This will not only be an incredible game, but full of atmosphere as well as two hot teams will be cheered on by fans from across Europe.

Expect big crowds, and an even bigger score.

Nov 12- Colts vs Patriots (Week 10)

The AFC is all over Europe this year, with a shut out of NFC teams coming across the pond. Sucks on them for doing the league late.

Indy will be recharged and super soaked in Jim Irsay’s passion and maybe some alcohol too, as the Colts are ready to rock a crappy division.

Bill Belichick wasn’t happy to travel to London a decade ago, so let’s see if the old guy softens on his return trip.

While not a marquee game like the rest, expect the Pats to draw a large Europe contingent, and the Colts to perhaps tap into the bustling equestrian scene. Who doesn’t love horsies?

Frankfurt will look to put the ‘F’ in the NFL this year, football and fun.

London Fun

We will be throwing a few parties around the London games this year, with tickets on sale shortly.
Watch this space.

Make sure you check out our Facebook page as well for more details.

https://www.facebook.com/nflinlondon