NewsBot
New Member
- Messages
- 111,281
- Reaction score
- 2,947
The NFL has been playing games in London, England since 2007. The games always draw a big crowd, most of the time over 80,000 people. This year the NFL is playing two games in London with the Vikings and Steelers game already in the books and the Jaguars and 49ers game coming up this weekend.
Now, the NFL has announced that three NFL games will be played in London in the 2014 season and the Cowboys will be one of the participants. No date has been selected yet but Dallas will load up everyone and travel overseas to take on the Jaguars at some point in 2014. The Jaguars agreed to play four home games in London, one each year through 2016.
Why does the NFL go through all this effort? Let's go to the key lines from the NFL press release: Television ratings have shown substantial growth in the UK since 2006 - with Sunday viewership of NFL games almost doubling and the Super Bowl audience having increased 75 percent. The league also has developed new and stronger business partnerships.
Participation in amateur football in the UK has risen since the start of the International Series, growing by approximately 15 percent per year since 2007.
Expanding the fan base to Europe is a key plank for the NFL's growth, and who better to help that out than the most popular NFL franchise there is - the Dallas Cowboys.
More from Blogging The Boys:
- Dallas Cowboys News & Notes: London Calling?
- Sean Lee: NFC Defensive Player Of The Week
- Cowboys @ Lions: Taking A Look At The Detroit Lions
- Jay Ratliff Is Gone From Cowboys, But The Story Is Not Over
- Cowboys Injury Report: DeMarco Murray Practices, DeMarcus Ware Doesn't
Continue reading...