Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Insider
The National Football League has been playing games overseas for long enough, in great enough quantities, that you can be comfortably forgiven if you’ve lost count.
We’re here to help. Since the initial regular-season foray to Europe, when the New York Giants defeated the Miami Dolphins at London’s Wembley Stadium in 2007, there have been an additional 42 games played on foreign soil.
The vast majority have been in Britain’s capital, split between Wembley and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium — with a special American football field that slides out from under the one used for soccer. Add in four in Mexico City and three in Germany, two of which took place over the last couple of weeks, and this is no longer new or uncommon.
The NFL’s American audience is fully accustomed to hearing that another game or several will take place in distant lands, and no one has been excluded, given that we’ve now gone through a full cycle of every single team having played overseas at least once.
What next then on the global front? Most likely, quite a lot.
Spain and Brazil have been identified as frontrunners to be the next stopping points, with Commissioner Roger Goodell having promised a decision on that front by Christmas, if not before.
The cavernous soccer stadiums of Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in the Spanish capital would be viable options, while Brazil’s best bet would most likely be the Maracana, which hosted both the 2014 FIFA World Cup final and the 2016 Olympic track and field competitions, plus the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
It is natural to focus most on what is in front of our noses, but the fact is that, internationally, American football is having quite a moment. The value of having flag football introduced as an Olympic sport from 2028 onwards should not be underestimated.
Meanwhile, the most recent cluster of International Series games had strong attendance, vibrant atmospheres,…
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Publish date : 2023-11-14 18:41:13
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