The NFL’s international schedule kicked off last Sunday in London with the Jaguars defeating the Falcons 23-7 in Wembley Stadium.
While the Falcons flew home Sunday night, the Jaguars are staying in town and will play a second consecutive game in London this weekend. However, when the Jaguars face off against the Bills this Sunday, the game will be played in sold-out Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The game will mark the first time an NFL team has played back-to-back games outside the United States.
The league office scheduled five games in Europe this season: three in London and two next month in Frankfurt.
Where is all this international play taking the league?
“Looking ahead,” says NFL Executive Vice President Peter O’Reilly “we’re seeing great momentum globally. This year we had more than a million fans sign up in advance for the chance to purchase tickets to our five international games which sold out right away. We also want to take these games to new markets, and we want to serve an ever-growing global fanbase. For example, we spent time in Brazil and Spain in recent weeks. There is no timeline nor decision yet on where or when but there certainly is important interest from countries and cities in hosting future NFL games.”
The days when many of us played international preseason games in Canada and Mexico and had just short plane rides to get to Toronto or Montreal are behind today’s players.
Below is the schedule of the four remaining European games this season:
- October 8 Jaguars vs Bills in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (London)
- October 15 Ravens vs Titans in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (London)
- November 5 Dolphins vs Chiefs in Frankfurt Stadium (Germany)
- November 12 Colts vs Patriots in Frankfurt Stadium (Germany)
We at NFL Alumni are supporters of international play and taking the games to entire new audiences. However, the league is taking a careful approach to scheduling additional games so that the faithful season-ticket holders in the States do not feel cheated out of a game-day experience. We agree with that philosophy.
