UK Pat's First Game Thoughts

[Nonentity]

I thought I'd chime in, I paid £95 ($155) for sideline seats that were on the 15 yard line, luckily on the Patriots side. Had a great view of Ingram and Hanson practicing together constantly throughout the game. The other thing I noticed was Tampa's cheerleaders....smokin hot!

To echo some of the other fans, I wouldn't switch and support a London franchise over the Patriots. Welcome to sport: you choose your team and that's your team for life. I'm an Arsenal fan for football, Wasps fan for rugby, Essex fan for cricket and Patriots fan for 'American' football. None of those will ever change.


Honestly I can't ever imagine seeing a London franchise in the next 20 years. It's a niche sport and those that watch it love it, but there's just not enough of us to maintain a franchise. People come from all over the UK to see the yearly games, which is never going to happen with a London-based franchise. Realistically you need a fan base of 500k active fans, minimum, if you want to sell out a large stadium every week - and I don't see that ever happening. I'm happy with the International Series of games, I'd love to see two a year but probably couldn't afford to see more. And don't ever put a Super Bowl here either. It's an American sport played by Americans, the flagship event belongs in America.


There's been two real waves of NFL fans in the UK: the first wave was in the 1980s as Mike and Paul described. Coverage then dropped through the 90s. The second wave came with SkySports showing games on Sunday evening (6pm/9pm/midnight kickoffs, perfect for an evening in front of the TV) and Madden games. Don't underestimate the power of Madden - it's a great game and you pick up the rules and plays very quickly.

The internet's a wonderful thing because it lets you follow your team every single week. NFL.com is a great website and there's always a way to watch your team over the internet. I live in London yet read the Boston Globe's Patriots section every single day. We don't need to be patronised by *******s like Dan Shaughnessy making jokes about British fans not understanding the sport. Why the **** would we stump up for tickets to a sport we didn't understand? When it went on sale, the game sold out in SIX MINUTES.


Sorry about that...rant over. All of the American fans I met were fantastic, really really friendly and happy to chat away about absolutely everything. Come to London and see the game next year. You'll love it, and so did we.


Some photos:

 

[Ciara's Dad]

It's 10pm on Mon night and I've just returned home from the game.
Like PaulthePat, it was my first ever NFL game as well.
I can agree on most of the points made in this post. Our seats were probably too far down, so we struggled to make out what was happening. It may have been different in other seats, but I couldn't make out anything the announcer said. It was strange having all those breaks in between plays for the commercials etc, but it gave us plenty time to go for more beer and to go to toilet! I thought the game would drag on a bit but was surprised how fast the whole 60mins went by.
I'm not sure how many Pats fans were in the stadium, but around us at least 1 in 4 maybe 5 had Pats jerseys on. I don't think 20,000 would be far off the mark. Travelling through London, in the pubs and on the tube, there were Pats colours everwhere. On our flight down in the morning of the game, for ever other team's shirt there would be Pats shirt. Simply an amazing support.

I also agree with the statement about supporting a British team if that ever happened. I wouldn't support a team just because it is British.
I also read this morning about there being 2 games at Wembley and maybe going up to 4. I think this is a mistake. I don't think fans will travel from all over the UK twice in one season. And as for a British team, again there is not the support in the London area for a team. The fans at the game yesterday came from all over the UK, Europe and the US. It wasn't just a game for Londoner fans.
If anything, the people I travelled down with, want to go to the US now to see a live game there.
I'm not sure why the NFL owners want to tamper with the set up they have at the moment which works fine as it is.

Anyway, we had a fantastic time yesterday and met some great people.
Before the game, I was drinking with 2 Jets fans in a pub, and it was great discussing the game with our rival fans. After the game, we ended up drinking with 2 Bucs fans in a pub next to the tube at Wembley. They were 2 women in their 50's from Tampa who had travelled over for the game, and were going onto Paris the next day, then Brussels. They hadn't been out of the US before, so they decided to make a girls trip out of it. Their love of the sport was incredible. They could shift a pint of lager as well! I was really delighted for them when they told us of the great time they were having.

I wouldn't worry too much about the reporting of the game in the UK papers.
The fan base is there, and for anyone who wants to find out about what is happening in the NFL, the internet is a wonderful thing! One of the reporters in one of the Sunday broadsheets, was writing about the game that day and was explaining some of the aspects of it, when he said that some the designed plays, when they work, were a 'thing of beauty'. I think that is why American Football beats soccer all the time. Soccer is mostly random during general play, and only at free kicks and corners do you see some pre-arranged design.

Anyway, I felt really proud to be part of the Patriot family yesterday.

 

[furry]

Whilst it was great to see the Pats this year I'm getting pretty mixed emotions to the whole game over here thing now.

And all talk of a franchise or even more surprising a super bowl should be put to bed pretty quickly- a team here simply won't work unless the schedule was managed to give them chunks of home and away games, 3 there, 3 here or something like that. The travel would be too stupid and because of it you're essentially giving one team an advantage before it even starts

As for the game itself, was an odd experience watching a game here as the crowd just didn't seem to get into it at all, which i didn't expect. When the biggest noise seems to come from the wave something is wrong.

Expected pretty much everybody else to be against the Pats, the uk loves an underdog and there's also the hater point of view, but there was no 3rd down noise, there was pretty much no noise at all. So much more could have been done by the Bucs to get the fans into the game on their side but they failed.

80,000 tickets sold in 6 minutes. There is real interest but it's exhibition game interest at best imo, it's not sustainable. As for the media reports, yeah fair play it might be difficult to get Lions Panthers game sold out here but that's true in their own towns and I wouldn't pay to watch it there, why would I shell out the 300 notes this weekend has cost me for rubbish viewing. It was reported and seen as a bit of a side show but that's just our press, if they're not interested in it they won't report it and they certainly won't do it in a balanced way. Reading some of it I'd think I have to get my head read for wanting to go and watch it. Ignore them like we all do

 

[Nonentity]

80,000 tickets sold in 6 minutes. There is real interest but it's exhibition game interest at best imo, it's not sustainable. As for the media reports, yeah fair play it might be difficult to get Lions Panthers game sold out here but that's true in their own towns and I wouldn't pay to watch it there, why would I shell out the 300 notes this weekend has cost me for rubbish viewing. It was reported and seen as a bit of a side show but that's just our press, if they're not interested in it they won't report it and they certainly won't do it in a balanced way. Reading some of it I'd think I have to get my head read for wanting to go and watch it. Ignore them like we all do

You're certainly right about the British press. One of the problems is that most of the sports writers here know nothing about the NFL, so when Americans look at the British papers they assume there's no interest.

I'd go and see Lions-Panthers.

Put it this way: when tickets were released this spring, a Bengals-Broncos match would have looked horrible. And now the Bengals are 5-2 and the Broncos are 6-0.

 

[SunnyDenmark]

Back in Copenhagen from the London game. My 2 pence below. Note: my point of reference is I am a ‘yank’ and have luckily seen about 10 NFL games live in the 90’s before moving to Denmark. Seen live Broncos, Redskins, Falcons home games although mostly from very high up in nosebleed sections. Lifelong Pats fan but never been to a Pats game.

Firstly great pictures UK Pat , glad to hear you got to see your first game. Something you will take to your grave. Thanks to all Brits /Europeans posting. It is refreshing to get non-Americans take on the team, the game and the experience that as Americans we grow up with from birth and therefore take for granted. Especially hard to follow outside of the US before the internet age.

My wife and I went to London for a long weekend and had a great time. Sunday for me was one of my all time best days: bed fun in the morning, London Imperial war museum midday (touched a Sherman tank!), tailgate party afternoon (saw the Lombardi trophy from 5 feet away – it is quite small actually) and Pats win in the early evening. What more could a man want! Ok maybe a manage a trois with Pats cheerleader but the Mrs would not approve.
In the days before the game – saw many Pats gear being worn on the London streets. A few other teams contriband seen but almost no Bucs paraphenillia. The usual Rothlesburger, Manning, etc and if it was Pats jersey then 80% of time it was Brady. Maybe 90%. Mostly were Brits but did talk to a few German fans as well.

Tailgate party was fun- as stated earlier in this thread was an event held in a pavillion area with food stands and not a usual tailgate. Merchandise stalls had the longest lines. Stadium had the atmosphere of a playoff game as all knew this was something ‘special’ as in currently once a year. NFL had decorated the outside of the stadium with huge Patriots / Bucs posters. Very festive.

We had lower end zone seats (where Merriweather ran it in for TD). Atmosphere was fun and the big balloons were great. All Brits sang along with their national anthem so that was great to hear 80k plus singing ‘God save the queen’. Free Bucs flags under every seat so it was fun to see thousands of those waving but I could not bring myself to wave one. But I did see many other fans with Pats jerseys waving the flag in the spirit of things. Also was fun to see the opening video montage of the Bucs pirates ship sinking the Pats ship – especially not being worried about the outcome. I would say there were 40-50 % Pats fans, 10% (being generous) Tampa fans and 40-50 % NFL fans. That was different to any other game I have been to as that meant that if Pats did well – there were cheers. When the few times the Bucs had a good play – then the other half would cheer.

The only time I really felt that things were ‘really strange’ was when Pat had a important 3rd down and instead of Bucs & non-Pats fans screaming very loud – these fans would either cheer only moderately loud while others would ‘Booooo’ instead. But it was not very loud overall. I think it was only once that I saw Pats offense use a silent count. So due to that (no need for silent count most of game) plus many cheering for Pats good plays – it was basically almost like a home game for Pats.

One of the best parts was the wave. It took awhile to get going and many waves at first ‘petered out’. But once it got going it was awesome. Lasted a good 10 minutes and even Brady made mention of it in postgame remarks. I have been in many stadiums but to see 84 thousand do the wave all the way up to the top rafters was fantastic. Hope they caught that on TV. It was probably the loudest the crowd was all evening. Plus in my end zone just before the wave ‘crested’ to us, the fans would stomp their feet and make low throaty moan noise until the wave got to us then loud yell. Also another fun thing was about 6 fans near me – whenever a punt was fair caught –they would yell out: “****y!”.

Everyone was happy afterwards – even the NFL fans. Not too many Bucs fans around and the few I saw did not seem too upset.
Next day one newspaper had a half a paragraph and no other NFL scores. Even the Monday USA Today at Heathrow had only 1 paragraph about the game and also no other NFL scores. I guess that is the internet age upon us.

I think London could support max 2 games a year. UK has not only soccer but rugby, cricket, other sports. I actually think the Germans would take better to NFL as they are not into rugby or cricket. One game a year at Berlin and one at London would sell out. Forget about a permanent London team.

Well enough raving by me. Greetings from sunnydenmark. Land of Lego, Hans Christian Andersen and Carlsberg.

 

[PaulThePat]

One of the best parts was the wave

Maybe I'm an old misery but I HATE the wave. I almost missed two Brady snaps because of the damn thing

 

[Rhodey]

Paul,

Thanks a lot for the post.

Cheers!

 

[neuronet]

Great pics, great stories, thanks everyone for sharing them each one is great. Thanks for starting the thread Paul.

 

[Tunescribe]

I think you stumbled on the one inconvenient truth about a live NFL experience when you wrote: "Have to say it's difficult at times to be sure who has made a tackle or put pressure on the QB. However, the stadium announcer did a good job of keeping you up to date."

The truth is that, unless you have 50 yard line, close in tickets, game-wise, you are going to get more out of the game at home in front of a big screen TV and a laptop computer. It is very hard to actually see interior line play if you don't have premium seats. I would say that Soccer (footie or futbol, whatever) is a better "live" viewing experience, while NFL football is (to me) an unmatched TV/computer experience......and best done with a roomful of friends!

I'll have to dispute your point here, Shmess. Unless it's a pile-up at the line of scrimmage I can usually identify who's made the tackle rather easily, even without binoculars, and my seats at Gillette are in a 200 section. Watching WITH binoculars it's never a problem. The live experience of any football game is infinitely better than television because you can see the whole field at once (including pass routes/coverages) plus what's happening on both teams' sidelines. Then you have the energy/atmosphere as part of the overall scene and can yell your lungs out without disturbing neighbors.

Part of the "art" of watching a game live is knowing what to watch for and in what sequence. Pre-snap I look at the formations on both sides, then follow pre-snap adjustments. Once the ball is snapped I look at the offensive guards, which tell you what's happening (pass or run). If they drop back in pass protection I then watch the receivers and coverages and look back at the QB/defensive rush. If it's a run, of course you just follow the ball carrier. Anything past the line of scrimmage is pretty easy to tell who makes the tackle.

 

[PaulThePat]

The live experience of any football game is infinitely better than television because you can see the whole field at once (including pass routes/coverages) plus what's happening on both teams' sidelines.

This was the one huge advantage of being at the game. I had endzone seats, 2 levels up and could see plays developing accross the field. You aren't restricted to what the camera's choose to show.

 

[tomek79]

Hi

I have just got back from London today.
It was my first NFL LIVE experience in my life.
This was also probably the first and last time i saw Pats live.

To be honest i wasn't sure what to expect from it.
I had lot of questions before the game.
Will i be able to see correctly all the action from the seats i had on 2nd level?
How will it be during game breaks (commercial ones) - is there anything interesting to do?
And many others...

I was positively surprised with everything.
I had good visibility on all the action even on the other endzone.
Live action is better then the one on TV because i was able to see the whole field and not only what camera was showing. I really appreciated that - to be able to see how the play develops down the field.
Finally the breaks weren't boring at all.
I had a binoculars so i was looking at the sidelines to see what BB was doing and other stuff.

Probably this was my last LIVE NFL action but i absolutely enjoyed it from start to the end.

Here are some photos i have taken:

In front of the stadium

View of the stadium from my seat

Pregame show

Brady warming up with Koppen

Seconds before the Kickoff

View from my seat on one of the plays