At Wembley on Sunday "two of the smallest and most inconsequential NFL teams of the past decade, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Buffalo Bills, played out a minor classic in front of 84,000 people," according to Sean Ingle of the London GUARDIAN. Next weekend, another sell-out crowd will "revel in the whole fist-bumping, XXL jersey-over-hoodie wearing, Lite beer-slurping experience all over again when the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions come to town." Two NFL games in London in eight days involving four "buck-average teams, and that’s being kind." But despite tickets costing between £37.50 ($57.60) and £105 ($161) "a pop, the games have been sellouts." How "many sports -- football aside -- could sell out Wembley twice within a week?" And "how many could do it with teams of the equivalent standard of the Jaguars, Bills, Chiefs and Lions, who between them have won a grand total of eight out of 28 matches this season?" In the past the NFL has "usually ensured that category A stars or fan-favourite teams were on the bill." After all, funneling Tom Brady or the San Francisco 49ers to London is a "cast-iron way to guarantee a sell out." It appears that American Football in the U.K. is "hardier than many of us imagined." If there were to be a London franchise, the Jaguars -- which is owned by Fulham's owner Shahid Khan -- "are probably the most likely candidate." The NFL also claims that more than half a million people turned up on Regent’s Street in central London on Saturday to enjoy what its website called a day “packed with interactive drills, giant inflatable tackling dummies, food and drink galore and full-throttle cheerleaders.” As things stand, the relationship between American Football and the British public is "rather like a well-meaning but slightly mismatched couple, whose friends aren’t convinced it will work out." Yet, nearly a decade on, "the two sides are still inching together." With more time "they could yet decide each other is a keeper" (GUARDIAN, 10/25).
YAHOO DELIVERS: Yahoo! Inc. and the NFL announced that the first free, global live stream of a regular season NFL game reached over 33.6 million total viewers across all devices on Yahoo and Tumblr. On Sunday the Bills faced the Jaguars, live from London's Wembley Stadium. It was the first time users could access the NFL's premium content globally, without cable, authentication or TV and over 15.2 million unique viewers tuned in. Football fans streamed over 480 million total minutes of the game, with 33% of streams coming in internationally, across 185 countries worldwide (NFL).
