NEW YORK (May 16, 2007) -- The game is still five months away, but fans in the United Kingdom can't wait.
The first 40,000 tickets made available for the NFL's first overseas regular-season game on Oct.28 at Wembley Stadium in London between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants sold in 90 minutes. The tickets were available to fans who were randomly selected from an overwhelming number of registered ticket requests. More than half a million requests were received within 72 hours of the NFL's announcement of the game in February.
"Today's first sale was exclusively to fans in the United Kingdom and Europe," said Alistair Kirkwood, managing director of NFL United Kingdom. "The speed in which such a large number of tickets were snapped up through our partners at Ticketmaster demonstrates the great excitement and appetite for the game in this country. We know that the last few tickets available in this first batch will be gone very soon."
Sales in the United States to Dolphins and Giants fans are expected to begin within a week, with additional tickets being released to fans in the United Kingdom next month.
"Those who missed out this time around have the opportunity to be selected to participate in the next sale," said Kirkwood. "This experience proves to us that fans will have to be quick to secure the remaining seats.
"This is a game for hard-core fans from all over the world. It will be unique to any regular-season game because it is an opportunity for fans of the sport on a global basis to meet up and celebrate the game. Obviously the predominant number of fans will be from the UK, but there will be large numbers from the U.S. and Europe as well."
Speaking at a press conference in New York, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone was enthusiastic about interest in the historic event.
"What this clearly shows is that there is huge potential in Britain and wider in Europe for American football to have a huge impact," said Livingstone. "We want to see the NFL come back to London again and again. We'll always make the NFL welcome. I think the game will trigger massive interest in Britain."
