The Jacksonville Jaguars will continue to play one game in England through 2020 under an extended agreement.
The Jaguars first played at London’s Wembley Stadium in 2013 and had already committed through 2016. The NFL began having regular season games in London since 2007 and will have three games there this year for the second straight season.
When the Jaguars play the Buffalo Bills in London on Sunday, the game will have the 1 millionth NFL fan walk through the turnstiles. Attendance at NFL games has ranged from 76,981 to 84,254.
Jaguars owner Shad Khan said in a news release the team’s four-year London initiative has been “every bit as rewarding as we anticipated, certainly in large part to the league’s commitment to the UK and the world-class experience that Wembley Stadium has provided the Jaguars, our fans and our partners.”
He said the team’s interest in extending the agreement to play one game a year in London is not new.
“This is great news for the Jaguars and the stability of the team in Jacksonville, which has come to embrace London as our home away from home,” Khan said in the release.
Jim Frayling, Wembley’s head of music and events, said the NFL has been a key part of the stadium’s events calendar since 2007.
NFL clubs recently approved a resolution to continue playing international regular-season games through 2025, according to the news release. The resolution expanded the league’s ability to play in areas outside the United Kingdom.
Since the NFL began playing games in London in 2007, Sunday viewership of NFL games there has more than doubled and the Super Bowl audience has increased more than 75 percent, the release said.
The fan base has grown to 13 million people and 40,000 people age 16 and up regularly play football, the release said.