It's official, the first regular season game to ever be played outside North America will be held in London on October 28, 2007, as the Miami Dolphins play host to the New York Giants at Wembley Stadium.

Now hold on, before all you over in the US take a big sigh and start slating this as another far-fetched PR stunt by the NFL let me tell you how the news has been received here in the UK.

This story has been arguably the worst kept secret in NFL history, so it came as no surprise when the announcement was made that London had successfully won the bid to host this week eight game. Within the first twenty-four-hours of the news breaking, NFL UK received over 100,000 ticket requests and this figure rose to over 500,000 within three days. In addition to requests for tickets to NFL UK, both the Giants and Dolphins organizations have indicated that large numbers of their own fans will be keen to make the Trans-Atlantic trip to England's capital. Dolphin's fans, in particular, may be keen to hop-on a plane as they are set to lose a regular-season home game as a result of the move. So, for all those who thought that no-one cares about this game think again!

Sure, the decision to hold regular season games outside North America is a blow to the American people, in particular, season-ticket holders of those teams involved, but in the eyes of both the NFL and followers of the game around the world, it's a fantastic achievement. By staging such games, the NFL has the opportunity to promote the sport to a worldwide audience and ultimately generate greater revenue from the game in the future. And that's what it's all about, revenue' that's what the NFL stands to gain from this experiment. For followers of the game in the UK and the rest of Europe, this game represents an opportunity to see the sport they adore, live and in person an opportunity for many that may never have existed without this agreement.

A huge fan-base for football (NFL) exists within the UK and there's no question that the game will be a sell out the only question is, who will be the lucky one's to get tickets? NFL UK has announced that the deadline for ticket requests is February 18, 2007 and a further announcement regarding the allocation of tickets to applicants will be made during either late March or early April.

It's fair to say that general interest in the game and even knowledge that the game is taking place is low amongst the UK public. Even the media here don't seem

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