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The NFL will open a new chapter in its London project this weekend with the first game to be staged at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.<\/p>\nThe NFL will open a new chapter in its London project this weekend with the first game to be staged at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.<\/p>\n
The Chicago Bears and the Oakland Raiders will meet in the glittering facility, centerpiece of the \u00a31billion development project on the site of the old White Hart Lane, on Sunday.<\/p>\n
It is the first of two games in eight days at the venue, with the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers up next week before Wembley hosts two more games this year.<\/p>\n
The moment is a little under a year overdue, with the Raiders having been due to play the Seattle Seahawks at Tottenham\u2019s stadium last October before construction delays forced a change.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best things in life are worth waiting for,\u201d NFL UK managing director Alistair Kirkwood told PA.<\/p>\n
It is easy to see why the league is excited to get acquainted with a venue which has a commitment to host at least two games per year for the next 10 years.<\/p>\n
Spurs were keen to use their new home to muscle in on the NFL\u2019s popular International Series and the facilities needed \u2013 including a retractable pitch and separate, NFL-sized locker rooms \u2013 were central to the design concept from the start.<\/p>\n
Cleveland wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr declared those locker rooms better than anything in the United States during a summer visit, while Oakland quarterback Derek Carr gushed that it was the best stadium he had ever seen.<\/p>\n
But the real test will come at 6pm on Sunday, when 60,000 fans turn up for a sold-out game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to be fascinated to see whether what I believe will take place actually occurs,\u201d Kirkwood said. \u201cI think when it\u2019s in Spurs mode it\u2019s a football experience and when it\u2019s in NFL mode it\u2019s an American football experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fans familiar with the games the NFL has been laying on at Wembley for over a decade, plus those staged at Twickenham more recently, will note several changes.<\/p>\n
There will be no tailgate due to a lack of space outside the stadium, but doors will open a full three hours before kick-off with more happening inside the venue, including a half-time show.<\/p>\n
The game itself should provide plenty of intrigue too. The Bears have bounced back in style from a miserable opening night loss to Green Bay, winning three in a row, but they may need to turn to back-up quarterback Chase Daniel in London after Mitchell Trubisky dislocated his shoulder.<\/p>\n
The Raiders began the season caught in the Antonio Brown soap opera, releasing their star off-season acquisition on the eve of their first game following a series of off-field dramas, but have since gone 2-2.<\/p>\n
They looked strong in beating the Indianapolis Colts 31-24 on the road last week, but cross the Atlantic without starting linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who is suspended for the rest of the season for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Colts linebacker Jack Doyle, subject to an appeal to be heard next week.<\/p>\n
Whether or not they can live up to the drama of Tottenham\u2019s 7-2 home defeat to Bayern Munich at the stadium on Tuesday remains to be seen, but the NFL itself will have its eyes on the stands as much as the field.<\/p>\n
Should a franchise ever move to the capital permanently, it would be up to the owners whether they wanted to make their home at a venue like Wembley, or look to something more like Spurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is giving them first-hand experience of how the game looks, what the team experience is like, how the fans react whether it be in a big bowl with 85,000 fans or a more intimate one with 60,000 \u2013 if 60,000 can be intimate,\u201d Kirkwood said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it ends up with a franchise here, we will have a body of work for an owner to make a decision where they would like to play.\u201d<\/p>\n