Getty Images The NFL has confirmed that it will play four games in London in 2019. Three games were played in London this season, and fan support was strong enough that the league is showing no sign of slowing down in its efforts to grow the sport across the pond. This year all three games were played at Wembley Stadium. Next year two games will be played at Wembley and two games will be played at Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium. The NFL worked with Tottenham Hotspur on stadium construction to ensure the stadium would have a playing surface suitable for American football, as well as locker rooms big enough for the NFL, whose rosters are significantly larger than soccer rosters. The NFL has not announced which teams will play in London next year, although the Jaguars have already confirmed they will continue playing one home game a year in London, even after Jaguars owner Shad Khan was unsuccessful in his attempt to buy Wembley Stadium.<doc-sep>Over the years, the NFL has grown to a product that reaches an audience far beyond the United States’. The league, ever trying to increase its revenue appeal, has reacted accordingly and in 2007 held its first regular season contest abroad. By the end of the 2018 season, a total of 27 games will have been played on international soil – the vast majority of which in the United Kingdom: London has hosted 24 regular season games. The international market clearly is one that the NFL wants to reach, and playing in London has proved to be an easy way of doing that (even though the games played there have not always been up to the level of other regular season matchups). Yesterday’s announcement that the league will play four games in the city – two at Wembley Stadium, two at the newly built Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – next year does therefore not come as a surprise. Only one of the eight teams to play in London next year is already known: the Jacksonville Jaguars will again host a home game overseas. The other seven clubs to participate in this part of the International Series (there will likely also be at least one game in Mexico City again) have not been announced just yet, but it would not be a surprise if the New England Patriots ultimately turned out to be one of them. After all, the team has not visited London since a 2012 game against the then-St. Louis Rams. Only six other teams have not been to the city in this long: Tampa Bay, Denver, Chicago, Carolina, Green Bay, and Houston. Like the Jaguars, though, none of the teams is currently scheduled to be on New England’s 2019 season unless the Broncos or Texans finish their respective divisions in the same place as the Patriots. Another argument why the league might pick New England to go to London next year is the team’s international appeal: its dynasty and the NFL’s international growth happened simultaneously, which has created an enormous Patriots fanbase outside of the United States. The NFL trying to milk this popularity of Tom Brady and company with a London game in 2019 does not appear to be out of the ordinary. But while playing on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean is not exactly attractive from the teams’ perspective, the Patriots have adapted well in the past: New England won twice its London games (2009, 2012) by a combined score of 80-14.<doc-sep>
The NFL says it will play four regular-season games in London next year, two at Wembley and two at the new stadium being built for Tottenham Hotspur. The NFL did not say which teams would be making the trip, or when the games will be played. The league played three games in London this year in three straight weeks. All three games were at Wembley, and drew an average crowd of 85,031. One game had been scheduled for Tottenham but it was moved because the stadium is not ready. Spurs played Manchester City at Wembley on Monday night, one day after the Jacksonville Jaguars had played the Philadelphia Eagles, and there were concerns about the state of the pitch afterwards. However, it would not be an expected problem at the new Tottenham stadium, which will be equipped with two playing surfaces, one for Spurs and one for NFL games. “The games in the past few weeks have once again demonstrated the incredible passion of NFL fans in the UK,” the NFL’s executive vice-president, Mark Waller, said in a statement. “The support of our stadium partners, the Mayor of London and the Minister for Sport gives us a great foundation for further development of the sport and the ability to give our fans even more NFL games in the coming years.” The NFL started playing games in London in 2007. Since then, the league has staged 24 regular-season games in the capital and 29 of the 32 teams have made the trip at least once. Many believe the London games will eventually lead to Britain having its own NFL franchise.