London has moved closer to gaining its own NFL franchise after one of next year’s three regular season games at Wembley was scheduled for a breakfast kick-off in the United States.
The meeting between the Detroit Lions and the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, October 26 will start at 1.30pm in the English capital.
That is the day the clocks in the United Kingdom are put back an hour but they will not have been switched to winter savings on the other side of the Atlantic, meaning the start will be at 9.30am in Detroit and Atlanta.
However, tens of millions of fans in the Pacific Time zone on the West Coast will have to get out of bed at 6.30am to watch the action commence.
It is believed the NFL is testing the water to see how popular breakfast starts are as fans will be able to watch 14 consecutive hours of action by the time the late night game finishes just after midnight in the US.
If all goes well and a team – almost certainly the Jacksonville Jaguars – moves to London, all eight home games at Wembley could be lunchtime kick-offs over here and breakfast starts in the United States.
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They could be sold as an enticing package to TV companies such as Fox, NBC or CBS if figures are more popular than the standard Sunday morning programmes and anywhere near to stellar figures for afternoon and evening games.
Teams who fear the extensive flights to regularly play in London will be too much of a burden on their players will also welcome the earlier starts.
They would also find it easier to fly back to the USAs on the day of the game rather than waiting until Monday morning to make a long haul trip.
London’s two other NFL matches in 2014 are between the Miami Dolphins and Oakland Raiders on Sunday, September 28, and the Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, November 9 will stick to the traditional kick-off time of 6pm in England and 1pm in the USA.
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