The Giants beat the Rams 17-10 today at London's Twickenham Stadium, the first time a UK game has not been at Wembley Stadium, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he expects "we'll see more games here (at Twickenham) and, who knows, maybe a franchise someday" (TWITTER.com, 10/23). The rugby stadium was "filled to capacity in a special 75,000-seat layout." Pregame festivities "got off to a stylish start with fireworks, flames and live music from English R&B star Craig David." Ticket scalpers outside the stadium "could be heard appealing to buy tickets from passers-by, complaining that the original allotment had sold out online within 20 minutes" (AP, 10/23).
The league is trying to "create options for future scheduling" by playing at the "somewhat smaller Twickenham." Today's game showed the ball is "inching forward" on the NFL's "international initiatives" (L.A. TIMES, 10/23). In playing at Twickenham, the NFL finally had its "true English experience." Wembley would "look right at home" in an NFL city, but Twickenham is a "classic European stadium, both in context and history" (WSJ.com, 10/21).
