2022 International Series Games

[HisRoyalSweetness]

The NFL has announced the 'home' teams for this year's International Series Games:

London - Tottenham Stadium

• Green Bay Packers

• New Orleans Saints

London - Wembley Stadium

• Jacksonville Jaguars

Munich - FC Bayern Munich Stadium

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Mexico City - Estadio Azteca

• Arizona Cardinals

More details: https://www.nfl.com/news/buccaneers-car ... games-in-2

Given the NFL recently announced their new International HMA programs that had the Bears, Jaguars, Dolphins, Vikings, Jets and 49ers designated for the UK I'm a little surprised the Jaguars are the only one of the three from that list. The Buccaneers were one of the four teams allocated to Germany and the Cardinals one of the 9 allocated to Mexico. Still it's possible some of the other 5 UK IHMA teams may come over as opponents. Sadly for UK fans it's highly unlikely the Bears will be one of them since they won't be playing either the Saints or the Jaguars and it's highly unlikely the Packers/Bears game will take place outside of Green Bay. At least we get to cheer on whoever the Packers play!

At the London games Packers fans are like rats - you're never more than 6 feet away from one. It will be even worse when they're actually playing, especially as it's their first IS game. Bears fans will probably get a load of grief from them, especially after Rodgers 'I own you' rant last season.


I so hope Rodger's quits Green Bay this offseason...

[dplank]

Surprised that they would have a team with only 8 home games lose one of them to playing out of the country. So GB only gets 7 games at Lambeau, dumb. They should pick teams that have 9 homes games to spend one away like that - they lose home field advantage for that game, which in the NFL is a real thing that actually matters.

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

Think I might be going to the packers game so I’ll be supporting the Saints.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Surprised that they would have a team with only 8 home games lose one of them to playing out of the country. So GB only gets 7 games at Lambeau, dumb. They should pick teams that have 9 homes games to spend one away like that - they lose home field advantage for that game, which in the NFL is a real thing that actually matters.

The NFC teams have the 9th home game this year, so it's the Jaguars who only get 7. From the article I linked to:

Last year, as part of the League's expansion of the regular season to 17 games, it was determined that, beginning with the 2022 season, up to four of the teams from the conference whose teams were eligible for a ninth regular-season home game would instead be designated to play a neutral-site international game each year.

As there are five IS games, one team with only 8 home games had to give one up. The Jaguars have been doing that for years now, so I guess it makes sense for it to be them.

Think I might be going to the packers game so I’ll be supporting the Saints.

I think you misread my post. The Packers will be the designated home team for one of the games at Tottenham and the Saints will be the designated home team for the other game at Tottenham; they are not playing each other.

Assuming the Packers aren't giving up a division game (although other inter-division games have been played in the UK) that leaves the Cowboys, Giants, Rams, Patriots, Jets and Titans as possible opponents. As Super Bowl Champions, the Rams would make for a marquee matchup but they've been over a couple of times in recent years. The Cowboys would be good. They've not been over since 2014, their US fans travelled well and they would give the Packers a good game.

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

Surprised that they would have a team with only 8 home games lose one of them to playing out of the country. So GB only gets 7 games at Lambeau, dumb. They should pick teams that have 9 homes games to spend one away like that - they lose home field advantage for that game, which in the NFL is a real thing that actually matters.

The NFC teams have the 9th home game this year, so it's the Jaguars who only get 7. From the article I linked to:

Last year, as part of the League's expansion of the regular season to 17 games, it was determined that, beginning with the 2022 season, up to four of the teams from the conference whose teams were eligible for a ninth regular-season home game would instead be designated to play a neutral-site international game each year.

As there are five IS games, one team with only 8 home games had to give one up. The Jaguars have been doing that for years now, so I guess it makes sense for it to be them.

Think I might be going to the packers game so I’ll be supporting the Saints.

I think you misread my post. The Packers will be the designated home team for one of the games at Tottenham and the Saints will be the designated home team for the other game at Tottenham; they are not playing each other.

Great I’ll go and watch the Saints then. Fack the Puck

What about the Jags? Are they a designated home team too?

[dplank]

Thx HRS, I didn't know they did it that way. Much smarter.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

What about the Jags? Are they a designated home team too?

Yep, but they're playing at Wembley rather than Tottenham.

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

What about the Jags? Are they a designated home team too?

Yep, but they're playing at Wembley rather than Tottenham.

Ah yes, that’ll be better actually. I fancy Wembley although I’ve never been to Spurs new stadium

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Tottenham stadium is very nice and the NFL teams certainly seem to like it better than Wembley. No doubt the fact that it was designed with the NFL in mind, including rolling out a separate playing surface over the Tottenham Hotspur grass, plays a big part in that. However it holds just over 60,000 compared with 83,000+ at Wembley (for NFL games) and is significantly more expensive, at least for the lower tier seats. The Tottenham acoustics are better so atmosphere-wise it's probably better than Wembley despite the much lower crowd capacity. There's not a whole going on before the game though, although that said the Wembley pre-match 'tailgate' is a pale shadow of what it used to be too.

I suspect it will be a little easier to secure a ticket for Wembley over Tottenham both because of the capacity and because the Jaguars are playing. It's not that the Jaguars are unpopular, far from it these days, but because they come over every year and if people are only going to go to one game they're more likely to want to see different teams. When the Jags first played in London you could count the number of their fans you saw on the fingers of one hand. Now there are loads of them. A lot of people just getting into the sport made the sensible decision to choose Jacksonville to support because they knew they'd see them every year. The Packers game will likely be the hardest tickets to get because they're not only well-represented at these IS games generally but because it will be their first visit overseas. They're the one team UK NFL fans haven't seen before.

Ditka’s dictaphone have you been to any IS games before?

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

Ditka’s dictaphone have you been to any IS games before?

No I haven’t but thanks for all your information, very helpful

Being a northerner I don’t venture to London that often. I do follow (association) football but tend to go to home matches in the main.

Always fancied going to the IS games and have a couple of mates (a Packer and a Patriot ) who want to go too. Should be a good trip for the lads

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Although the pre-game activities aren't what they used to be the IS games are still very enjoyable. I mean it's live football! Oh and there are cheerleaders.

Good luck getting tickets. They sell out very, very quickly and Ticketmaster usually crashes. When NFL UK used to run forums there were always loads of complaints and many disappointed fans who failed to secure tickets. I imagine that's still the case. Bear in mind that a significant proportion of tickets are already allocated to season-ticket holders and that the NFL has been treating Tottenham and Wembley separately, giving season-ticket holders from one stadium early access to buy tickets for the other.

You'll basically need to be trying to log in the moment tickets go on sale, so get yourself queueing well in advance. A lot of people co-ordinate with their mates to see who can get logged in first and grab tickets. Check out the stadium seating plan and decide which pricing tier of tickets you want beforehand. Ticketmaster then allocates 'best available' (supposedly) for that price. I wouldn't keep trying to refresh to get better ones because chances are you'll just be offered less desirable ones each time because other people will be snapping tickets up. If it all sounds a bit stressful then I'm afraid that's because it is. It's worth it though. If you can't get tickets on the day of sale then you may be able to pick some up from resale nearer the game date, but it might be difficult to get 3 seats together.

The first thing to do, if you haven't already, is go to the NFL website and register your interest in the games. The NFL will then keep you up-to-date via email with details including when tickets go on sale and, if you do manage to get tickets, information for game day. There's a clear bag policy you need to be aware of for example. Security won't let you in with a backpack etc.

Anyway, that's the benefit of my experience. If anyone else has anything to add then chime in and let's do what we can to help Ditka’s dictaphone get to his first IS game!

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

Although the pre-game activities aren't what they used to be the IS games are still very enjoyable. I mean it's live football! Oh and there are cheerleaders.

Good luck getting tickets. They sell out very, very quickly and Ticketmaster usually crashes. When NFL UK used to run forums there were always loads of complaints and many disappointed fans who failed to secure tickets. I imagine that's still the case. Bear in mind that a significant proportion of tickets are already allocated to season-ticket holders and that the NFL has been treating Tottenham and Wembley separately, giving season-ticket holders from one stadium early access to buy tickets for the other.

You'll basically need to be trying to log in the moment tickets go on sale, so get yourself queueing well in advance. A lot of people co-ordinate with their mates to see who can get logged in first and grab tickets. Check out the stadium seating plan and decide which pricing tier of tickets you want beforehand. Ticketmaster then allocates 'best available' (supposedly) for that price. I wouldn't keep trying to refresh to get better ones because chances are you'll just be offered less desirable ones each time because other people will be snapping tickets up. If it all sounds a bit stressful then I'm afraid that's because it is. It's worth it though. If you can't get tickets on the day of sale then you may be able to pick some up from resale nearer the game date, but it might be difficult to get 3 seats together.

The first thing to do, if you haven't already, is go to the NFL website and register your interest in the games. The NFL will then keep you up-to-date via email with details including when tickets go on sale and, if you do manage to get tickets, information for game day. There's a clear bag policy you need to be aware of for example. Security won't let you in with a backpack etc.

Anyway, that's the benefit of my experience. If anyone else has anything to add then chime in and let's do what we can to help Ditka’s dictaphone get to his first IS game!

Thanks mate, that’s tremendously helpful. Fingers crossed I’ll get some tickets. I registered with the NFL website a while ago and I do get the emails so that’s good.
I’ll check out the seating etc.
If I do fail I might make a few calls too as I know a few people who’s companies sometimes manage to get corporate tickets for Wembley.

Will get on a few Spurs websites and seek out some ST holders

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Tickets for the Jags/Broncos game at Wembley went on sale today for those of us who had Wembley season tickets previously.

The NFL used to sell the tickets via Ticketmaster; this year it's the Jags via Ticketmaster. Quite why I don't know.

They've massively hiked the prices though and there is a 12% per ticket booking fee and a £2 delivery fee for a fricking emailed ticket! It's added nearly 50% to what we were paying pre-pandemic.

I've been going to every London game since the Bears came over in 2011 and we've had the same Wembley seats for years. I'm now seriously debating whether to renew this year. I could try to secure cheaper seats next week, but if I attempt that I could wind up missing out altogether not least because I definitely won't be the only one looking at switching. Also picking specific seats isn't usually available, just pricing tiers, so we could end up with seats anywhere.

Does the NFL rip fans off with massive price hikes like this in the US?

[Xee]

Ticketmaster is known for "convenience fees" and whatever other fees they can dream up.

I haven't tried to buy Bears tickets for a while but it wouldn't surprise me if they were out of the price for a lot people, even if they were able to snag some in the 5 minute window you have between when they're available for sale and when they're sold out.

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

Which match are you going to HRS?

I’m obviously taking my chances when they go on general sale

[HisRoyalSweetness]

I have season tickets for both Wembley and Tottenham so am planning to go to all 3 games. The opportunity to root against the Vikings and the Packers at Tottenham is a bonus!

The question is what I do about renewing existing seats if the price has been jacked right up. I haven't seen the ticket prices for Tottenham yet, but as I mentioned the Wembley ones are now really expensive. Trying to move seats may be a risk though because they don't let you do that until after you've given up your existing ones.

Good luck on getting a ticket Ditka's dictaphone. Which game or games are you going to try for?

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

I’m just going to try and get tickets for them all and if I hit on one or more then I’ll go.
I think it’ll be tough to get tickets though.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Have you registered as Union Jax member? It will give you earlier access to try and get a Wembley ticket before they go on general sale (21 June rather than 30 June).

Details are here: https://www.jaguars.co.uk/wembley2022