With the owners meetings currently going on this week, the NFL voted to allow the Jacksonville Jaguars to play games in London through 2024 on Monday. The Jaguars have played a game across the pond since 2013 with every game but one (in 2021) taking place in Wembley Stadium.
Last season the Jags played their game across the pond at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as it was built with the ability to occupy the NFL in addition to soccer. However, Jags owner Shad Khan, who also owns Fulham Football Club of London, has a connection with Wembley Stadium and once put in a bid to purchase it, but eventually withdrew.
Khan expressed his excitement to expand the deal to have more games in London on Monday.
“It’s a great pleasure to be able to announce that the Jacksonville Jaguars will be playing one home game per season at Wembley for three further seasons,” Khan said in a release. “It’s hard to believe it will have been three years since our last game at Wembley. But that changes this autumn, and we look forward to coming back to our London home. We have built a great fanbase already in the UK and I look forward to that increasing as we reaffirm our commitment to the playing one home game per season in the UK for the long term, as always the ambition when we first played in 2013.”
The Jaguars matchup in 2018 versus the Philadelphia Eagles at Wembley set the record for the highest attendance at a London International Series Game at 85,870. However, it’s worth noting that these games draw in international fans of the NFL in general and not just fans of the teams playing.
Jacksonville currently holds a 4-4 record in games held in London after defeating the Miami Dolphins last season 23-20. It’s unknown who the Jags will play in London this time around, but the Denver Broncos, one of the Jags’ 2022 opponents, have expressed their desire to play an international game.
