The NFL debuts at Wembley Stadium
Readers of this space remember Chris Boyes from Wakefield, England, who just a few weeks ago visited Buffalo and saw his first Bills game in person.
Chris was in the building yesterday when the first NFL regular season game ever played outside of North America in history was staged in London’s spectacular new Wembley Stadium. Chris files this report and also sent along a few photos. We’d like to share his experience with our readers…
We left Wakefield at 9am yesterday and headed straight down the M1 Motorway towards London. Traffic was good and we parked a few miles north of London, on a housing estate, free of charge and right next to Stanmore tube station. This station is only 4 stops from Wembley so for anyone travelling down from the north to Wembley this makes for a good option.
The tube ride is only 10 minutes and the station at Wembley is only a couple of hundred yards away from the stadium. We arrived outside about 1PM.
To be honest the weather spoiled the day somewhat, especially outside the stadium before the game as most people were just trying to shelter under the stadium over hang and keep dry. The atmosphere was friendly though and everyone seemed upbeat and excited about a real NFL game coming to England. We spotted fans of every NFL team bar two, the guilty parties were Arizona and Jacksonville (well we didn’t see any).
Unlike America there was no tailgating going on although there was a large indoor tailgate party going on across the way in Wembley Arena for all those not able to get tickets for the actual game.
Once inside the stadium didn’t dissapoint, although i did think it looked a bit grey and dreary and could benefit from the sort of decor that i saw inside HSBC.
All the facilities (rest rooms, beer and food stalls were plentiful) and the prices whilst high weren’t as bad as i had been led to believe. The quailty of the food though was typical English football ground rubbish, warm but tasteless.
One thing i thought good was the time line photo boards which encircle the concourse high above the crowd, they show moments from classic games at Wembley in years gone by. I even saw Wolves on one of them from the 1974 league cup final victory against Manchester City (2-1).
Inside the seating bowl the scale of the stadium hits home, it’s far bigger and grander than the old Wembley and fans are a lot closer to the pitch now as well.
One thing i thought they should have done was close the roof, late in the game when the rain came down quite heavy it was somehow getting under neath the stand roof and showering the front section of seats where we were sitting. I have been to the millenium stadium in Cardiff and they can close that thing up in about 15 minutes, i’m not sure if Wembley is the same or not.
Overall though i was very impressed and hopefully so were the NFL, enough to want to come back, WITH THE BILLS I HOPE! (not a home game though, i’ll leave those for the real Buffalo fans and where they should be played, IN BUFFALO!).
Wembley’s main entrance from a distance with the signature arch atop the sparkling facility.
We love historical stuff at venues, and for English sports history not much can top winning the World Cup in ‘66 at Wembley. Here is a statue of ‘66 team captain Bobby Moore at a monument dedicated to that victory.
Lastly, a view of Wembley’s interior from the seat where Chris was in for yesterday’s game.
