Britain to get more NFL games to 2016

The NFL has agreed to play more regular-season games in Britain to 2016.
The owners also agreed on Tuesday to let teams volunteer to play at least one regular-season home game per year in Britain for up to five years.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will host the Chicago Bears on Oct. 23 in London, the fifth straight year the NFL has held an October game there.

No specifics on venues, dates or teams for future games have been set.

"When the initial resolution was approved in 2006, the thinking at the time was that we would have two new teams every year," NFL vice president of international Chris Parsons said. "As the series evolved, we felt as though having a team return to the UK on a regular basis would certainly increase the fan base for that particular team, which in turn would drive fan growth for the entire league. We think there is a tremendous benefit for a team to return to the UK on an annual basis."

The Buccaneers will be making their second London appearance in three years; they lost to the New England Patriots 35-7 in 2009.

Several teams that struggle to sell out home games, such as the Jacksonville Jaguars, Oakland Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals and San Diego Chargers, could be in line for more frequent trips overseas.

Meanwhile, the Phoenix area was awarded the 2015 Super Bowl by the owners, beating the only other candidate _ Tampa, Florida.

This will be the third time the Phoenix area has hosted the game, which will be played in Glendale.

The Super Bowl also was held at University of Phoenix Stadium in 2008, when the New York Giants beat the Patriots 17-14. Tempe, Arizona, was the 1996 host, with Dallas defeating Pittsburgh 27-17. Tampa hosted the game in 1984, 1991, 2001 and 2009.

Next year's game is in Indianapolis, followed by New Orleans in 2013 and the New York/New Jersey area in 2014. The 2015 game is the 49th Super Bowl. There is speculation that the 50th anniversary of the championship game will wind up in Los Angeles, where the first Super Bowl was played in 1967, if a suitable stadium is available.

[Hangat-News]