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San Francisco 49ers to meet Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley
The Jacksonville Jaguars will meet the San Francisco 49ers in next year's NFL International Series game at Wembley.
The 49ers, one of the most successful teams in the history of the sport, last played in London two years ago when they beat the Denver Broncos.
As part of the NFL's expansion plans, the Jaguars will play one "home" game at Wembley each year from 2013-16.
This season's Wembley game matches up the St Louis Rams and New England Patriots on 28 October.
Next year's game, on 27 October, will be the seventh regular-season game to be played in London.
"By committing to play a regular-season home game in London in each of the next four years, the Jaguars will play a major role in helping grow our sport in the UK and beyond," said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
NFL at Wembley Stadium
- 2011: Chicago Bears 24 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 18
- 2010: San Francisco 49ers 24-16 Denver Broncos
- 2009: New England Patriots 35-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- 2008: New Orleans Saints 37-32 San Diego Chargers
- 2007: New York Giants 13-10 Miami Dolphins
The Rams orginally agreed to host games at Wembley each year between 2012 and 2014, but later decided not to play in London after October.
This paved the way for the Jaguars, whose owner Shad Khan said: "This is a unique and important opportunity for the Jaguars franchise, as well as for our fans and community.
"To share this stage in our first year at Wembley with a rising power like the 49ers will bring additional attention and respect to what we're trying to achieve as a franchise. We can't wait to see our global vision for the Jaguars become reality next season."
The chief executive of the 49ers, Jed York, added: "Our 2010 experience in London was tremendous. The atmosphere at Wembley Stadium on game day was electric. The ability for us to share 49ers football with our faithful fans internationally is a treat for everyone in our organisation."
The NFL said the International Series has helped increase interest in American football in the UK.
It said television audiences for Sunday games and the Super Bowl were up 154% and 74% respectively since 2006.
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Comment number 25.
diesel00112th October 2012 - 12:04
Jaguars are rubbish at the moment. Shame they could not get someone like the Bengals - an upcoming team who will make the playoffs. Even the Lions or Bills would be better.
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Comment number 24.
quijibo8112th October 2012 - 1:32
As for the International Series, replacing the Rams with the Jaguars is somehow a step down. I reckon Jacksonville supporters will be fairly bitter about losing one home game a year for four years, regardless of the financial benefits.
I hope the NFL understand that fans here won't adopt the Jaguars as their team just because they're playing here every year.
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Comment number 23.
quijibo8112th October 2012 - 1:22
No sport is intrinsically 'better' or 'more worthwhile' than any other sport; it's all down to personal preference, so there's no point zooming to the bottom of any given article to label the sport as chavball, egg-chasing, dull rounders or padded-up pansies' rugby. Enjoy following any sport you like, and leave others to enjoy theirs.
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Comment number 22.
NJDevilMatt11th October 2012 - 22:42
Whilst I agree the suggestion of 10 minutes of play is laughable, so is the suggestion that in the NFL, you play for the whole 60 minutes... Huddles can take in excess of 20 seconds each, in a drive you can have, let's say 10 huddles, 5 of which come after the clock is NOT stopped do the maths, that's 100 seconds wasted. I'm not complaining, I personally love NFL and hope to go next year!
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Comment number 21.
Ed8011th October 2012 - 22:28
This should be played at Twickenham. The FA shot themselves in the foot when the pitch was trashed before the Croatia qualifier.
I'm not sure how it works, if this is a friendly, pre-season game then fair enough, if it is a regular season game the US fans have been cheated out of a home fixture. Sport should be about the supporters, not the balance sheet
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Comments 5 of 25