“Rugby rugby rugby!”
"Ho ho ho, jaguar! The jaguar is coming!"
"London welcomes you!"
"This is the real home ground of hell!"
"Who dares to challenge Wembley!"
"The Jaguars will win!"
At this moment, Jennifer-Hale, a foreign correspondent from Fox TV, was reporting live from Trafalgar Square in London, surrounded by huge crowds of people, as if they were celebrating New Year's Eve.
Exactly sixty years ago in June, the British people gathered here bravely in the drizzle to welcome the Queen's coronation. After that, Trafalgar Square became a public gathering place for important celebrations, and the same is true today. Countless citizens gathered here to welcome the second London Bowl of the year with great enthusiasm.
The desolation and coldness of late autumn could not stop the carnival of the whole crowd.
"Dear viewers, this year's NFL's second London Bowl matchup is about to land at Wembley Stadium this Sunday. That is to say, in five days, we will usher in this crucial confrontation on the other side of the Atlantic. The opponent will be Jackson. Jaguars and San Francisco 49ers, Jaguars are the home team."
"Now we can see that a special welcome ceremony is being held in Trafalgar Square. The two sides of the London Bowl will officially arrive in London tomorrow, and all the fans are cheering and celebrating. Although this is the Jaguars 's home stadium, but obviously no one could have predicted it when this event was arranged in October last year..."
Jennifer was broadcasting live to the camera lens, and then a burst of screams suddenly erupted next to her. A group of girls rushed over and stood behind Jennifer and jumped wildly, "Bambi! Ahhhh, Bambi, I love you!"
This made Jennifer pause for a moment, and then she laughed, "Although this is the Jaguars' home court, the 49ers playing away still have a lot of fans. This game was officially finalized in mid-October last year. At that time, no one could have predicted that the San Francisco 49ers would be able to continue their winning streak and reach the Super Bowl in a perfect season, which makes the London Bowl now even more meaningful - "
"This is the first defending champion team in history to compete overseas! Since the NFL International Series entered its seventh year, London welcomes the defending champion for the first time!"
"This makes this game extra special. At that time, the Jackson Jaguars, who are playing at home, will team up with the defending champion San Francisco 49ers for a wonderful matchup. As for now? Let us enjoy the carnival atmosphere now. For London, It’s going to be a big party!”
Jennifer Heller's expression is not just a TV term, but a real situation that is unfolding: the London Bowl is indeed setting off a craze sweeping the entire British Isles.
Over the past two decades, the NFL has gradually grown into the largest sports league in North America. It has overtaken and taken the lead in terms of ratings and revenue-absorbing capabilities. It has even gradually become the top sports league in the world. Its influence Still expanding and upgrading continuously.
The NFL under the leadership of Roger Goodell has entered an unprecedented period of prosperity.
In fact, as early as 1976, the NFL had landed in Tokyo, and then went to Berlin, Dublin, Sydney and other cities to hold games, hoping to open up the international market; starting in 2007, the NFL moved the regular season out of the city for the first time. The North American continent was brought to London, England, which also made London the bridgehead for the NFL's overseas market, and Wembley Stadium was chosen as the venue for the game.
Wembley Stadium is the home stadium of the England national team. It has hosted the 1948 Olympic Games and the 1966 World Cup final. It was here that it witnessed the only World Cup championship in England's history. It was also the venue for the Rugby Challenge Cup final. The venue is said to have a long history and profound heritage.
In 2003, the old Wembley Stadium was completely demolished, then began a reconstruction project, and was officially put into use in 2007. That year, Wembley Stadium took the lead in ushering in the first step of Roger Goodell's global plan and hosted the first official London Bowl. In that game, the New York Giants defeated the Miami Dolphins.
When Roger Goodell decided to hold a regular season game in London, this idea was met with numerous doubts. Although rugby is the number one sport in North America, the overseas market is far from comparable. What's more, in the UK, apart from football, In addition, English rugby also has a strong mass base, but the rules and methods of American rugby are quite different. No one is sure whether the London Bowl can be held smoothly.
But the facts proved the wisdom of Goodell's bold strategy.
In just six years since the first London Bowl in 2007, the number of viewers watching the game in the UK has doubled; while the number of viewers watching the Super Bowl in the British Isles has increased by 100%. Seventy-five years ago, it has maintained a momentum of continuous growth and upwards every year, constantly refreshing its own records.
More importantly, the attendance at Wembley Stadium for the London Bowl can definitely be described as "hot".
Wembley Stadium can accommodate 90,000 people. It is a top-level stadium in the world. Attendance is undoubtedly the most important and worrying part of any event.
In the London Bowl on October 28, 2012, the New England Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams. This game attracted 84,004 enthusiastic British fans - even in this international city of London. Metropolis, this is also a breathtaking number.
You can simply compare two sets of figures. On October 13, 2012, one week before the London Bowl, England faced Wales at Wembley Stadium in the European Cup qualifiers. There were less than 70,000 spectators present; In the Rugby World Cup in October 2015, England also faced Australia at Wembley Stadium. Once they lost, England would miss the knockout rounds. This life-and-death battle attracted 81,000 spectators.
Statistics show that since it landed at Wembley Stadium in 2007, the number of spectators at the London Bowl has never been less than 80,000, and the tickets were sold out immediately after they went on sale online.
Is American football even more popular than soccer in England? This sounds like a fantasy, but in real life, the Football Association is really considering using Wembley Stadium as the official home stadium of the NFL in the future, while the England national team chooses another stadium as its home stadium.
In 2017, the NFL reached a ten-year cooperation agreement with the Premier League's Tottenham Hotspur. Starting in 2018, Tottenham's new White Hart Lane stadium will host at least two NFL regular season games each year. "Turnham Bowl" is about to debut; the new stadium is specially designed with an upper and lower two-tier stadium. The upper layer is a green pitch for football. After the replacement, the lower layer will become artificial turf, taking into account the different demands of football and rugby.
Goodell has been sparing no effort to open up overseas markets, and the thirty-two teams in the league have their own considerations:
If you go to play overseas, one team will inevitably lose a home court advantage; at the same time, the ratings in North America will inevitably be affected by the time difference and have to decline, which will have a huge impact on the team's local fan market. .
But looking at it conversely, the London Bowl is an extra night game live broadcast, and it can also open up overseas markets and increase the team's overseas influence; in addition, the league also promises to make up for the losses of the team that becomes the home team-ticket dividends and surrounding dividends.
There are advantages and disadvantages. This is a question of weighing interests.
The league's most popular teams have rejected the league's proposal, and the team owners are all old foxes. Teams like the Dallas Cowboys or the New York Giants can already develop overseas without the London Bowl; naturally, those bottom fish The Chinese team needs such an opportunity even more.
In January 2012, the St. Louis Rams signed a three-year agreement with the league to hold a regular season game with their home team in London for the next three years; but less than seven months later, the St. Louis Rams regretted it. , they will still play the London Bowl in 2012, but will give up in 2013 and 2014.
Subsequently, the Jacksonville Jaguars took over the position of the St. Louis Rams and signed a four-year agreement with the league. They will use Wembley Stadium as their home stadium and host a London Bowl every year. They are also about to become the first team in the league to continuously play in A team that completes its home regular season overseas.
This year, the 2013 season, this is the first time in the history of the league that two regular season games are held overseas.
On September 29, the Minnesota Vikings played at Wembley Stadium against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The course and ending of the game were a little surprising. This game attracted 83,500 spectators. The fierce battle reached the final moment. In the end, the home team Vikings narrowly defeated the Steelers with a score of "34:27", giving their opponents four consecutive losses at the beginning of the season.
By the way, the Pittsburgh Steelers, who were plagued by injuries last year, are even more dizzy this year. They lost all four games in the preseason and started the regular season with four consecutive losses. They seemed to have completely lost their winning rhythm until the fifth week of the regular season. Just defeated the New York Jets and achieved their first victory since the start of the new season.
Then, on October 27, the London Bowl ushered in the second game of the year, the Jackson Jaguars faced the San Francisco 49ers.
Although the Jacksonville Jaguars have gradually become a weak team in recent years, in London, the English media deservedly regarded them as the home team, showing the loyalty and enthusiasm of the football league and supporting them unswervingly. Jaguars.
Here, not only have special fan organizations appeared to cheer for the Jaguars; but the "Daily Mail" also launched an official support event early, hoping to create a home atmosphere for the Jaguars, which also received strong support from the public. The support is so enthusiastic that it is not inferior to that of Jacksonville.
Just look at the hustle and bustle of Trafalgar Square.
