Last Updated: February
2, 2013 1:14am
The NFL has announced sell-outs for its two
regular-season games in London in 2013.
Speaking in his annual eve-of-Super Bowl press
conference in New Orleans, commissioner Roger Goodell said: "We are
announcing today that our two games on London (in 2013) are already sold out.
It is a sign that the game is growing globally."
After six successful games at Wembley Stadium
since 2007, the NFL recently confirmed that two games would be played there in
2013, with the Minnesota Vikings hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers on September
29 and the Jacksonville Jaguars at home to Super Bowl finalists San Francisco
49ers on October 27.
All tickets released for sale in the UK have sold
out over the past month, with allocations set aside for the competing teams to
sell to their local fan-base.
"I think the message is clear," Goodell
continued. "There are passionate fans who love the NFL in the UK. There is
another step we now need to look forward to.
"What is the next step? Do we move to three
games, are there other ways to grow the game in the UK? This is a market where
we need to be more active and to grow our game."
Any tickets remaining unsold by teams will be
returned for sale to UK fans later in the year.
Goodell's announcement comes after further recent
signs of significant development in American football in the UK.
For the first time, two British players are
expected to selected by NFL clubs when the best college players in the US
become available to teams in the annual draft in April.
Manchester's Menelik Watson, an offensive lineman
at Florida State University, is projected by some experts to be a first-round
selection, while Crawley's Tom Wort, a linebacker at Oklahoma University, is
also expected to be picked.
They would join Londoner Jack Crawford, who was
drafted in the fifth round last year by the Oakland Raiders.
Earlier on Friday, the British American Football
Association (BAFA) announced record participation figures in American football
at UK universities, with more than 4,000 members representing more 70
universities.
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