THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
Saturday September 19 will go down as a landmark date for American Football fans as a regular-season game was played in England at the iconic Wembley Stadium.
No, you haven’t gone back in time to hear about the National Football League starting the campaign to make the game a yearly outing across the pond. This was College football. This wasn’t quite a complete game of firsts though, as a College game has been on the calendar on this side of the Atlantic for a while now, with Dublin, Ireland, hosting an annual game in their own Aer Lingus Classic, but it was the inaugural game in the UK.
This was the Union Jack Classic, with the Arizona State University Sun Devils clashing with the University of Kansas Jayhawks. Again, not the first time that two college teams have played in London. You have to go way back to when the game first boomed in the United Kingdom, and such was the popularity of the sport in those heady days the British League saw teams all across the country backed by heavy sponsorship and really imprinted itself on the sporting landscape. Crystal Palace National Sports Centre was then the home of athletics, as well as the Brit Bowl finals, so it was the obvious choice to host a game.
Around 5,000 saw what was dubbed the Imperial Bowl in 1988, coming off the back of the NFL’s American Bowl that formally started in 1986 with the then Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears beating the Dallas Cowboys. The preseason games proved popular, but low attendance at the University of Richmond Spiders’ 20-17 win over the Boston University Terriers was a sign that, although it is football, it’s not quite what fans wanted.
Roll on three decades, and with the NFL conquering the world 2026 was the perfect time to bring back the blend of football with its unique brand of vivid color, marching bands in the stands, and a feel-good vibe that was evident as you walked up the famous Wembley Way. This was partly a throwback to how and why we all fell in love with the game in the mid ’80s, and partly due to all the knowledge we have for it now.
The NFL is always a slick production; it no longer needs the hyperbole to drive fans to attend games; the product does that. College football is a different breed of the game; the fans are every sense of that word – fanatical – and that transferred into the stands, from the early morning tailgate. It's rare you get a complete split of support in the London NFL games, but the blue of Kansas against the maroon of Arizona gave Wembley Stadium an almost soccer-type atmosphere. ASU outnumbered their rivals in the stands, but the noise created by both sets was more than the mixed support that the NFL games bring. This was a welcome change, and maybe something that can be learned by the professional league. Colleges have huge stadiums, and they sell them out; this is largely because it is a family thing, you have the college in your heritage, passed down through generations. It is not a manufactured choice.
The game started under a slate-gray sky with rain imminent, but that didn’t dampen the mood of the loud crowd. With a 5pm kick-off time, to keep in tune with other games being played stateside, it again served as a reminder of the introduction of the early NFL forays under the lights, which just added to the charm and vibrancy. Both teams struggled to get any flow into their game, especially with the constant drizzle. Just a field goal separated the sides after the first quarter of play, in favor of the Sun Devils. The game was brought to life with the opening touchdown of the game, a dynamic punt return of 72 yards by Jayhawk WR Tate Nagy. In the closing moments of the half, a bad punt gave Arizona State the ball on the Kansas 25-yard line, and that was all the incentive they needed as Cutter Boley found Reed Harris wide open for the go-ahead score.
The second half got underway with something that even the NFL hasn’t come up with yet on these shores: a kickoff return for a touchdown, the Sun Devils immediately extending their lead with a Jaren Hamilton 100-yard sprint that had at least half of the 46,523 in attendance off their seats. Hyrum Vaeono rumbled a fumble return down to the two, and a couple of plays later Boley pushed in for another ASU score. When Isaiah Marshall had a pass intercepted inside the Sun Devils’ 5-yard line with just over 9 minutes left, it was time for many of the Kansas faithful to leave. Their offense had not played well, which was a shame as the atmosphere warranted a close game. There was still time, though, for Kansas to give those that stayed on something to cheer as Marshall passed to Nagy for a 38-yard strike, followed by a long field goal to cut the deficit to 7 points, to end the scoring at 24-17. The Sun Devils celebrated and held aloft the specially crafted trophy that represented Tower Bridge with a Union Jack football.
There was a teaser throughout the game of a big announcement for the 2027 game, and we know that a deal has been signed to bring College football back to Wembley. The organizers will have to take some feedback into that game, the biggest being that ticket sales did not match expectations. The high price point put many off at a time when the sporting choice is so varied, and the decisions to bring those who had purchased lower-end tickets in the upper bowl and place them in the lower sections, entirely closing off the upper section of the stadium, and then practically give tickets away in the final days will be top of their list.
The empty seats in the upper section did not however take away from the atmosphere; in fact, if you took that part away, the attendance would be a sellout for both of the teams. For sheer exuberance, this was an event that those who did attend will not forget. Whether that be the 15,000 that flew over to cheer on their teams, or those casual fans that wanted the game but were not in the NFL market, it truly didn’t disappoint.
