NFL announces 2014 London matchups

By Kevin Kelley -

Earlier this month, the NFL announced that there would be three games in London in 2014 and the hosts would be Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Oakland. Today NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the match-ups for each team.

The Atlanta Falcons will take on the Detroit Lions, the Jacksonville Jaguars will face the Dallas Cowboys, and the Oakland Raiders will play the Miami Dolphins.

Each game of the International Series will be played at Wembley Stadium. Dates of the games will be announced at a later date.

Due to an increase in popularity of the International Series, the NFL is adding a third game next season. Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, and Oakland will be playing overseas for the first time.

Earlier this season in London, Minnesota beat Pittsburgh 34-27 before a crowd of over 83,000. The second International Series game of 2013 is slated for this Sunday when Jacksonville hosts San Francisco.

The International Series began back in 2005 when San Francisco met Arizona at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico. In 2007, the game was moved to London’s Wembley Stadium and the NFL has agreed to play there through 2016.

Update (11/28/2013)

The dates for the International series have been set:

  • Sept. 28, 2014 – Oakland vs. Miami
  • Oct. 26, 2014 – Atlanta vs. Detroit
  • Nov. 9, 2014 – Dallas vs. Jacksonville

Football Schedules

Comments (11)

I’m starting to feel like at this point, they’ve been beating a dead horse with these London games. When will we have games in other countries? They should have a game in Germany, where American football has become very popular ever since Björn Werner got drafted.

I think the NFL has done a good job of growing its brand in a very specific market. I’m curious what the next eventual move will be as far as adding additional teams, or having an expansion team in London. We know that Los Angeles desperately needs a team, but 32 teams works out so well in terms of equal teams in each division. It seems to be that if there is going to be expansion that you would need to have 36 teams.

I’d like to see a European division with teams in London, Paris, Barcelona, and Dublin. The exact cities don’t matter that much to me, but have 4 teams in Europe. From there move to 4 9-team divisions. Two divisions in each conference, with division winners getting byes and 4 more wild cards from each conference. Put the European teams in the AFC, and move two teams from the current AFC south into the NFC (Jaguars and Texans).

NFC East: Philadelphia, NY Giants, Washington, Dallas, Jacksonville, Houston, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, and Carolina.

NFC West: San Francisco, Seattle, Arizona, St Louis, Chicago, Minnesota, Green Bay, New Orleans, and Detroit.

AFC East: London, Paris, Barcelona, Dublin, New England, NY Jets, Miami, Buffalo, and Indianapolis.

AFC West: Baltimore, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Kansas City, Oakland, San Diego, and Denver

Better yet, ditch the whole NFC/AFC and just have the eastern most teams in one conference and the western most in another conference. Like this:

East: London, Paris, Barcelona, Dublin, New England, NY Jets, Buffalo, Philadelphia, and NY Giants.

North: Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago, Green Bay, Minnesota, and Indianapolis.

South: Washington, Tennessee, Carolina, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, Miami, New Orleans, and Dallas

West: Houston, St Louis, Kansas City, Arizona, San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, and Denver

I live in Los Angeles, and I was not aware that we “desperately need a team”. Keep in mind that there is no suitable NFL stadium here, and neither of the two college venues are suited for the NFL.

Well, yeah. The NFL is a business. With any business, of course they are looking to add revenue! Why not try to expand? I like the idea of ditching the AFC/NFC and just simply put teams from different regions. There is a lot more the NFL could do. The sky is the limit for the NFL!

I must admit that getting rid of the NFC/AFC is an anathema to me but then again I’m older than most NFL fans. I still remember Broadway Joe saying the Jets would win the NFL championship (pre-Super Bowl nameing) in ’69 & actually doing it! So sence no one remembers all that, except us old guys, maybe it’s time to get rid of those designations and just have divisions or North/South Conferances.