THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
The National Football League playoffs start this weekend, as we reach the business end of the season. The Kansas City Chiefs are aiming for history as the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowl championships, a Three-peat if you will, but they have plenty of teams lined up to take their crown. The favorite is a team that has never been to the final showdown, let alone win it, the Detroit Lions.
Away from this, we can already look ahead to next season, as the NFL has broken the tradition of recent years by naming the ‘home’ teams for next year’s London games. The slate of matches overseas gets bigger each season, with Germany and Brazil added into the mix, and Spain and Ireland coming down the line. Confirmation of other games to be played outside of the USA next season will be announced soon.
The purpose-built Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will once more host two games, as part of a 10-year agreement. And it simply wouldn’t be NFL London without a return to its spiritual home of Wembley Stadium.
The three teams that are so far scheduled to play are the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns, both of whom will play at Tottenham, and the Jacksonville Jaguars who take up their residency at Wembley.
On January 6, Jags owner Shad Khan let head coach Doug Pederson go. Khan, who also owns London Premiership soccer Team Fulham FC, said, “As much as Doug and I both wish his experience here in Jacksonville would have ended better, I have an obligation first and foremost to serve the best interests of our team and especially our fans, who faithfully support our team and are overdue to be rewarded. In that spirit, the time to summon new leadership is now”. After a 4-13 season fans will hope that under a new coach Jacksonville could be a different prospect next season.
The exact dates for the London games – usually played in October – will be announced in due course, along with the ‘home’ teams’ opponents.
Henry Hodgson, NFL UK & Ireland General Manager said, "We look forward to welcoming the Jets, Browns and Jaguars to London as part of the 2025 NFL International Games. This season will see us surpass 40 regular season games in the capital, a testament to the role the UK has played in growing the game globally. The London games are a continued catalyst for year-round fan engagement and we are focused on serving our 15 million fans, reaching new communities and driving growth in flag football participation, which now sees over 100,000 young people play the game."
Such is the planning ahead for the NFL and its teams, they know the teams they will face in advance each season because it is done on an equal rotation basis. So fans can start guessing which teams will travel to face the already-named teams. The schedule could throw some appetizing matchups. The San Francisco 49ers are on the Browns slate, and the Dallas Cowboys have to visit the Jets. The Jaguars could well face the aforementioned Chiefs in what would be the home team's 14th game in the capital.