NFL International Game 2009: Patriots @ Buccaneers

Today the NFL announced the two teams that will be coming to London in 2009. The New England Patriots will visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and most likely play the game in Wembley Stadium. It’s good to see that two strong teams have committed to this game. The Buccaneers are sharing the leading position in the NFC South, the Patriots are struggling a bit but will have Tom Brady back next season. And the two teams won the Superbowl from 2001 to 2004, three for the Patriots and one for the Bucs.

Tickets will go on sale in January, more details on those tickets will be revealed on December 15.

My thoughts on the international NFL games

Today the NFL announced two international games for the 2008 season. First, the Buffalo Bills will start playing one game a year in Toronto for the next five years. This totally makes sense, Toronto is close to Buffalo and attracts 15,000 fans from the Toronto area every home-game. I understand the fears in Buffalo that the Bills will move to Toronto in the near future. That might happen, but then again, the Toronto market is bigger than the Buffalo market. So a move makes sense anyway.

Then, the Saints and the Chargers will play in London in October. Once again great news and a better matchup than the Dolphins and Giants last year. But I don’t understand the choice for Wembley this year. The UK market is big, but across the North Sea there is possibly a bigger market: Germany. I feel that the NFL owners are overlooking the massive attention and reception they will get there. I know that Wembley is bigger than the German stadiums, but in Frankfurt they can handle 60,000 fans. So my feeling is that the NFL is looking at easy, big money (Wembley will sell out again) instead of really transforming the league and getting more international presence.

Now, if only I could get some tickets for the London game