The NFL Goes To Wembley: 2nd and nine

40,000 tickets for the first regular-season NFL game to be played in Europe were snapped up within 90 minutes of going online today. The New York Giants and Miami Dolphins will face off at London's new Wembley Stadium on October 28. But many of those with and without tickets were left unhappy. Following a huge expression of interest in the tickets, prices were higher than initially indicated.

Seats went for £45 - 90 (think double for dollars) and look pricey compared to £35 - 60 for the England vs. Brazil soccer match at the same venue. Scalpers are already aiming to multiply face value by at least five times on eBay.

NFL execs will be pleased by the demand. Figuring out how to manage interest is clearly preferable to the problem of empty seats. Pleasing those overseas will placating those at home is not likely to be easy, though. How will the Dolphins front office sell this to fans as a "home" game? Tailgating on a fleet of 747s chartered out of MIA? Just wait until they see that beer costs $7 at Wembley. Will Dolphins fans join the Brits' burger boycott?

If the game itself proves to be a winner, the NFL may expand the experiment, to have each team play a 17th Game each season outside the U.S.. Converting interest into real leagues may prove challenging in the long term, however, as witnessed by the failure of the World League of American Football (now known as NFL Europa and featuring only one team outside of Germany).

Perhaps it would be best if American football is simply enjoyed as spectacle rather than being widely played overseas. Can you imagine the embarassment of Team USA finishing last at a world championships won by Thailand?

Basketball, meanwhile, is opening a London office. As host to the 2012 Olympics, Great Britain automatically qualifies for the basketball tournament, so the NBA's timing looks smart.

Comments

[Jason]

Supply and demand. They play lots of soccer matches at Wembley. They're going to play ONE NFL game.

And NFL Europa has been such a failure that it's in the middle of its 13th consecutive season.

The Dolphins WON'T sell this to their fans as a home game. How could they? It's a one-off. It's not the end of the world.