MJMANDALAY
02-02-2007, 04:59 PM
MIAMI (Reuters) - The New York Giants will face the Miami Dolphins at London's Wembley Stadium this year in the first regular season NFL game to be played outside North America, commissioner Roger Goodell announced Friday.
The game will be played on October 28 at the new 90,000-seat stadium in northwest London, which has been rebuilt at a cost of over 750 million pounds ($1.48 billion).
"We think we have a great match-up, and it will be a terrific start, a smashing start some might say," Goodell told a news conference.
NFL owners voted in October to play up to two games outside the United States every year for the next five years, with the series opening with a single contest in 2007.
Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga said his team will treat the game, which will start at 1800 local time and 1300 ET in the United States, "as a business trip."
"It's not that much different for us if we were going to fly from here to Seattle," he said. "Maybe it's another hour. It's not that much farther.
"We'll treat it like an away game, going to Seattle or San Francisco. I don't think (the time difference) will be a big issue at all."
The league staged its first regular season game outside the United States in 2005 when 103,467 people watched the Arizona Cardinals play the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City, the largest crowd for a regular season game in NFL history.
HOME GAME
Goodell said the game in London will be considered a home game for the Dolphins, adding that both teams will be given a break from playing the following week.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone said it was "an honor" for his city to host the event, saying he expected 10,000 Americans to make the trip over to attend the game.
"We recognize that we are part of a strategy by the NFL to actually build on what is already a level of support and interest in Britain," he said.
"We're working with the league to go into our schools to get our kids interested and energized to actually start playing American football and start hopefully to build the sort of structures in Britain that will mean there will be one day British teams competing," added Livingstone.
"We will do everything we can to make sure the league never forgets it was a memorable and brave step to come to London but one that will be the start of American league football really becoming a part of the British sporting scene."
Giants chairman Steve Tisch said "the world is getting much smaller but the global appeal of our game is getting much bigger.
"For the New York Giants to team up with the Miami Dolphins, two teams that have such a rich history, that represent in many ways the past of the NFL, and now to look at the future of the NFL, we are very, very, excited," he said.
The old Wembley Stadium, which closed in 2000, hosted its first NFL pre-season game in 1983
The game will be played on October 28 at the new 90,000-seat stadium in northwest London, which has been rebuilt at a cost of over 750 million pounds ($1.48 billion).
"We think we have a great match-up, and it will be a terrific start, a smashing start some might say," Goodell told a news conference.
NFL owners voted in October to play up to two games outside the United States every year for the next five years, with the series opening with a single contest in 2007.
Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga said his team will treat the game, which will start at 1800 local time and 1300 ET in the United States, "as a business trip."
"It's not that much different for us if we were going to fly from here to Seattle," he said. "Maybe it's another hour. It's not that much farther.
"We'll treat it like an away game, going to Seattle or San Francisco. I don't think (the time difference) will be a big issue at all."
The league staged its first regular season game outside the United States in 2005 when 103,467 people watched the Arizona Cardinals play the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City, the largest crowd for a regular season game in NFL history.
HOME GAME
Goodell said the game in London will be considered a home game for the Dolphins, adding that both teams will be given a break from playing the following week.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone said it was "an honor" for his city to host the event, saying he expected 10,000 Americans to make the trip over to attend the game.
"We recognize that we are part of a strategy by the NFL to actually build on what is already a level of support and interest in Britain," he said.
"We're working with the league to go into our schools to get our kids interested and energized to actually start playing American football and start hopefully to build the sort of structures in Britain that will mean there will be one day British teams competing," added Livingstone.
"We will do everything we can to make sure the league never forgets it was a memorable and brave step to come to London but one that will be the start of American league football really becoming a part of the British sporting scene."
Giants chairman Steve Tisch said "the world is getting much smaller but the global appeal of our game is getting much bigger.
"For the New York Giants to team up with the Miami Dolphins, two teams that have such a rich history, that represent in many ways the past of the NFL, and now to look at the future of the NFL, we are very, very, excited," he said.
The old Wembley Stadium, which closed in 2000, hosted its first NFL pre-season game in 1983