Wembley is getting used to its NFL Sundays. The New England Patriots' 35-7 rout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers tonight marked the third time in as many years that the stadium has hosted a regular season NFL fixture. The sight of thousands of British fans decked out in the colours of their favourite US teams marching down Wembley Way is becoming a familiar one.
That is exactly how the league wants it, of course. If the theme of the past two visits has been introducing the British public to the idea of a live game, then the emphasis this year has been on getting people used to the thought that the NFL is here to stay. Although nothing has been confirmed, the talk is of holding two UK games in 2010. The notion of staging a Super Bowl in London has been publicly mooted by league officials. So too has the possibility of one day basing a team over here.
This new way of thinking was reflected in the pre-game festivities. As with the past two London games, the NFL laid on an American-style tailgate party before kick-off. But where last year's had a Mardi Gras theme and urged fans to support the New Orleans Saints who, like the Buccaneers this year, had given up a home game to play here, this time people were encouraged to make up their own minds. Along with the traditional live music and food, there were stands representing each of the league's 32 teams, giving fans an insight into each one's history and present roster.
Inside the stadium efforts were made to ensure Tampa Bay felt as much at home as a team from south Florida could on a chilly October night in London, with free Buccaneers flags left on every seat and giant banners stretched across the front rows of seats. But the NFL is keen for English supporters to develop more lasting attachments. Research shows people are far more likely to stick with any sport if they have a team to follow and the NFL launched a new website – nfl-360.com – last week with the specific aim of helping UK fans choose which one.
Few would have plumped for the Buccaneers on tonight's evidence. Despite their defence's success in intercepting two Tom Brady passes, there was never any suggestion that a team that had lost all six of its games this year was about to spring an upset. The Patriots were perhaps also below their best but Brady still completed more than two-thirds of his passes, throwing for 308 yards and three touchdowns to atone for the interceptions.
A capacity crowd did not seem too fazed by the game's one-sided nature and there was little evidence of a mass exodus before the end of the fourth quarter. But while there has been much discussion about the way these games are being received over here, far less attention has been paid to the response in the US. For many pundits and fans in America the initial curiosity seems to have faded. Many are now apathetic. Some are angry.
An online poll run by Fox Sports last week found that 58% of its readers felt London should host nothing more than a pre-season game. In the comments section of the accompanying article some readers protested that there had not been an option to vote for the UK to get even less than that. ESPN.com's senior writer Len Pasquarelli is just one of a number of leading commentators who has declared himself "against" the idea of hosting regular season games in the UK.
The reasons for such hostility are manifold and in great part not dissimilar to those cited by opponents of the Premier League's Game 39 proposals. But, if one common complaint does not stand up, it is the suggestion that the league's ability to sell out these games rests solely on, as Pasquarelli put it, "curiosity" among Britons. There is a core of knowledgeable American football fans in Britain that existed before 2007 and who have continued to ensure that – as a one-off at least – this game sells out.
That core may not be as large as it was during the 1980s, when Channel Four's coverage of the NFL sparked huge interest, but it is also far less transient. It also appears to be growing. According to Alistair Kirkwood, the managing director of NFL UK, Sky has seen the ratings for its NFL coverage grow by 55% compared with the same period last year while Channel Five has seen a 75% increase.
Britain's own amateur American football leagues – while still some way short of their 1980s heyday – are also thriving. The British American Football League's spokesman, Ken Walters, described the sport as "arguably the fastest-growing in Great Britain"‚ saying it had experienced a 30% increase in participation.
"The more games that we do here, the more people will see this is built on sporting credibility, rather than just razzmatazz, and we won't be seen just as a circus coming to town," said Kirkwood today. "I'm convinced we've got a bright future."
Just another NFL Sunday at Wembley? That is exactly what the league was hoping for.
