Super Bowl outside of the US? London Mayor aims to host first international championship in the UK
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, recently expressed his desire for the city to host a Super Bowl in the future.
Khan spoke of the upcoming events that his city will host this summer, which includes the annual Wimbledon tennis tournament, the MLB series between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies and the Diamond League.
Khan then went on to say that he wants London to host even more events to get the city on the world stage.
“But I want more international events.” said Khan.
Khan went on to list the Super Bowl and Wrestlemania as two events he would like to have taken place across the pond. He believes that the interest in the London NFL games would make a big game hosted at Wembley Stadium a great success.
“I want international WrestleMania taking place in London. The Super Bowl is really important for us. We have a number of American football games and I want it to come here because we want American sports fans in Europe to come to London to watch them, not just go to America.”
Sadiq Khan believes hosting in London would give European fans an opportunity to attend the big game without having to travel to the United States. The Super Bowl has never been held outside of the continental United States since it began in 1967.
Roger Goodell once said that Super Bowl in London is a 'possibility'
In October 2023, Roger Goodell spoke about the impact of the NFL hosting games abroad. The NFL Commissioner believes it's the best way to grow the game and get even more fans involved. However, when it comes to the idea of a Super Bowl being hosted outside of the United States, specifically in London, he wasn't completely on board at the time.
He spoke about the economic impact the big game has on the American cities that host it. Goodell also said that as the NFL continues to grow its fan base across the globe, perhaps down the road, hosting the game outside of the United States could be a possibility.
"I think being able to play it in one of our cities—it's a huge economic boost to those cities. Our fans live in those cities also. I think that is important. Not that we do not have great fans here [in London]; we do. So, as the international series develops, maybe that is a possibility as we play more games here," said Goodell at a fan forum.
One of the major factors in the decision-making process behind London being named a host city is time.
The game typically starts around 6:30 PM EST, a time that accommodates all of the US time zones. That means the game would start at 11:30 PM local time and the conclusion of the game wouldn't be over until around 3:30 PM London time.