If recent reports are to be believed, soccer team Tottenham Hotspur is making a push to host the 2026 Super Bowl in London. The main reason for this is that it would help them find a naming rights sponsor for their not-so-creatively titled Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. For the NFL, it is a chance to further the league’s global expansion plans.
Playing the Super Bowl in London is an awesome idea. Seriously, if fans across the pond can get excited about seeing the Jacksonville Jaguars play, imagine what the atmosphere would be for a game that actually matters. What’s more, the city is a fantastic place deserving of football’s showcase event.
The biggest obstacle is the response of American fans or at least the fact it is expected to be negative. The two issues cited here are the average fan would be priced out from attending and that kickoff time would need to be changed. Neither argument is particularly compelling.
Let’s start with the first one. The average fan has been priced out of the Super Bowl for decades now. Tickets are thousands of dollars while hotel and flight prices are jacked up to obscene levels. Look at the crowds. They are almost always comprised of nothing but lawyers and salesman types.
A few hundred extra dollars on a plane ticket to foggy London town isn’t going to be a hinderance if you’re already shelling out the $5,000 it costs to currently attend. And the average fan will still be able to watch from home. However, they would be facing a change in kickoff time.
The current kickoff time of 6:30pm EST/3:30pm PST would not be feasible in the United Kingdom as that would be 11:30pm. In reality, the game would need to start by 8:00pm local time or possibly 8:30pm at latest.
Let’s say the Super Bowl is moved up by three hours to accommodate London time. Playing at 3:30pm EST/12:30pm PST is hardly the end of the world. No one who plans on watching the game schedules other important activities on Super Bowl Sunday anyway.
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Let’s play the Super Bowl in London
If anything, there is quite a bit of upside to playing the Super Bowl in London. Firstly, we are no longer subjected to the nine hours of pre-game shows that are both awful to sit through and seemingly the only thing on apart from a random NBA or college basketball game. Secondly, an earlier kickoff means you can go out and get truly wasted earlier. Or, if you prefer to get wasted before and during the game, you can enjoy a little extra recovery time before work the following day.
As far as impact, a Super Bowl in London could have a SummerSlam at Wembley type of legacy. In 1992, WWE hosted their annual summer pay-per-view in London. It is still remembered fondly and talked about to this day. Hell, not even the British Bulldog smoking a ton of crack before his main event match against Bret Hart could derail it.
No disrespect to Houston, Miami or Glendale, but do we really need another Super Bowl in those cities? A Super Bowl in London has the chance to be a remarkable, transcendent event the sport has never seen before. And, in the absolute worst case scenario, it is slightly better than playing the game at Levi’s Stadium.
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