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League officials say tickets to the NFL’s second regular-season game in London this year are selling just as quickly as tickets to the NFL’s first regular-season game in London sold last year.
We heard from a British PFT reader today who was surprised at the ease with which he was able to get tickets to the October 26 Chargers-Saints game at Wembley Stadium, and we wondered whether that could have been a sign of declining interest.
But via e-mail, NFL Director of Media Relations & International Communications Michael Signora, who is in London now, tells us that 40,000 tickets were released for sale today and all were sold within 90 minutes, which is exactly the pace at which tickets were purchased for the Giants-Dolphins game last year.
And NFLUK.com reports that NFL UK Managing Director Alistair Kirkwood says the pace of ticket sales indicates that the Chargers-Saints game “is one of the most eagerly awaited in the British sports calendar.”
If demand for tickets to games in England remains high, there’s talk that the NFL could have as many as four games a year in England.
May 29th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
its called the National Football League not the International Football League! keep football here in the states do be bringing it to other countries. If people wanna see a game that bad then they should buy a plane ticket and fly over and see one
go stillers
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Rating: 2.6 / 5 with 13 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Are Brits or vacationing Americans buying these tickets? There’s a huge distinction between the two.
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Rating: 3.4 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Agree with IC Light — keep the games here, please. Don’t dilute the product by placing it all over the world. Between this and a potential 17th game, Goodell is making me a little nervous with his direction on certain things.
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Rating: 2.6 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
This Michael Signora fella is talking absolute rubbish. Obviously just trying to drum up interest and generate hype. I went on at 10am when they went on sale, got my 2 tickets. Then when I went back on at 4pm to buy a pair for my brother, there were still plenty left.
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Rating: 4.65 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
@I C light pounder - that’s a pretty crappy outlook to have. I mean seriously, NFL has a duty to reach out to as many potential fans as possible. Every other league does similar publicity stunts, why not the NFL? If tix are selling well, then maybe they’ve done their job. Regardless, I think it makes more sense to explore areas where football already exists and is semi popular, like Canada. I’m glad to see the Bill will be playing a game their this year… it bodes well for their fanbase as well as the rest of the NFL.
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Rating: 3.75 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Amen, I C, amen. 1 game is tolerable, 4 games a travesty. Besides, no number of American football games played over there will ever replace soccer as the game of choice in a Brit’s heart. I think most over there go to the games more out of curiosity than fandom.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
If we’re lucky, you’ll the game on the new telectroscope on the Broolyn bridge!?!? LOL.
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Rating: Not yet rated
May 29th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
IC light,
The time machine to the 1950s is back the other way. Its called the global maketplace and everything is going to diversify internationally including the NFL whether people here like it or not. There is too much money they can make there not to do so.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
There’s nothing stopping Americans who want do be flying over to London to see the game…
There is also talk of maybe games outside of England - in Cardiff (Wales) or Edinburgh (Scotland).
Channing Crowder will be wondering what the Welsh language sounds like…
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I think its GREAT, just hope its my team in a few years going to London…
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
This is a wasted effort.
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Hmm… Are the NFL not making vast amounts of money from this international venture? Do they care anymore about your money than mine?
The response for the tickets this morning proves the point yet again, that while football will always be a “minority” sport in this part of the world, there exists a huge fanbase. One that will continue to make it lucrative for the NFL to bring their product over here.
What needs to be understood, also, is that Wembley is not going to be filled with 90,000 people behaving as if they are in a zoo. Football is not just a novelty for most of the people who will be there. We adore this game and if you check viewer numbers and the increased number of Television deals over the past ten years, you can see clear proof in the growth of a fanbase. Check out the game in October and you’ll see a crowd with all 32 jerseys on show and a stadium of people grateful to be getting a sampling of the real product (unlike the American Bowl’s of the 80’s)
Been watching football for thirteen years myself, have often “bought a plane ticket” and gone to the States for a game. Now I’m looking forward to seeing a game as close to home as London. So, what’s so bad about an “international Football League”?
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
I don’t care where they play. I going to watch them on TV anyway.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Imagine if the game was played in New Orleans, like it was supposed to be. The Saints don’t have any individual game tickets for sale due to season ticket holder support. The NFL could say the game sold out in ZERO seconds.
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Rating: 3.5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Yeah, taxpayers are expected to fund team stadiums while their teams get pimped out by the almighty greed monster.
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
If you’re gonna go overseas, go somewhere better than London.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
As a PSL owner, I bought in for 8 regular season home games a year at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. Don’t take one of mine.
The bad thing is, you still can’t go to a game in L.A.
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Rating: 2.5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
This is like suburbanites going to Manchester/Bayern friendlies played at Soldier Field. They don’t understand the game and they don’t care about the result but they get to hang out and drink some expensive beer. And it is fun. But James Bond lives in England. It is not a place where the phrase “Tampa Bay Buccaneers” needs to be uttered.
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Rating: 3.5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 29th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
I like the fact that so many Brits like our version of football. I think we Americans owe can fairly trace a lot of our culture to the British people, so it’s nice to see them adopt a bit of ours - even if American football is never a major sport across the pond.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
May 30th, 2008 at 4:24 am
I’m an American currently living and working in the Netherlands…. WHERE DO I GO TO BUY TIX?!
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May 30th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I’m an English football fan. I went to the game last year and I already have tickets for this year. I hope they have another one next year as well.
Having said that, four games a year here would be a disaster! While one game a year sold out very quickly to the tens of thousands (note I said tens of thousands, not ‘hundreds of thousands’ or ‘millions’) of fanatical UK football fans, I doubt most of these fans would be willing to pay over $100 a pop four times a year. Personally I would probably go to 1 a year, maybe 2 at the most. If they tried to overkill the NFL in the UK, the innevitable result before long would be half empty stadiums followed by a hasty withdrawal.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)