2019 NFL SEASON GETS UNDERWAY

The 2019 NFL season starts soon as we begin the long run towards Super Bowl LIV, the 54th Super Bowl and the 50th modern-era National Football League (NFL) championship game, will decide the league champion for the league's 2019 and 100th season. Yes this is 100th season in the history of the National Football League (NFL) and it will all begin with the 'Kickoff Game' on September 5th at 8:20 p.m. EDT. The game will feature the Chicago Bears hosting the Green Bay Packers and will be televised stateside on NBC. While many don't understand this sport I've been a big fan since it was first shown regularly on UK Tv (Channel 4) back in the '80s. Can still recall the Bonnie Tyler theme tune ... but I digress, having also been to see games live if you take time to watch the different plays each player has a role and in that respect has similarities to Rugby but of course people just moan about the amount of protection being worn. Hey if you had a 300lb tackle hitting you at speed you soon be reaching for the shoulder pads too. Anyway on with the season, sure helps the weekends and I just wish it was back on one of the UK Free channels as we don't all subscribe to Sky. 

We do have the BBC showing highlights and features twice a week though which is welcome, I believe they will have two of the International games LIVE (usually on BBC2) but that's not confirmed yet I do recommend the NFL Show on Saturday night / Sunday morning after Match of the Day, the presenters Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora are knowledgeable and very entertaining usually at the expense of host Mark Chapman. There is a further show on Tuesday nights too on BBC [NFL This Week] which will start next week and review the games played in week 1 so give them a go or catch up on the BBC iPlayer. 

Here are the opening Week One fixtures 
(the away team is named first as is the tradition in most USA Sports);
Week 1

NFL International Series 2019

This International Series has been a huge success over the past few years and with live TV coverage and packed stadiums can surely only continue to grow the sport further in the UK. There continues to be plenty of talk about the potential for a UK Franchise of our own in the NFL and with Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan committed to having his team here each season it's surely only a matter of time till this happens. Until then we'll enjoy these games now hosted at Wembley and now they have sorted out their stadium issues Tottenham Hotspur will welcome fans this season. 

This will be the first year when NFL games will be played at the NEW Spurs stadium at White Hart Lane. We are back to having four games in London again and the sport continues to grow here in the UK again. Fixtures are already selling well and are confirmed again as follows;

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
6 October 2019
  - Chicago Bears vs Oakland Raiders
13 October 2019
 - Carolina Panthers vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Wembley Stadium27 October 2019  
  - Cincinnati Bengals vs Los Angeles Rams
3 November 2019 
  - Houston Texans vs Jacksonville Jaguars

The season will then play out at Super Bowl LIV which will be held on February 2nd 2020 at the Miami Gardens in Florida. This will be the 11th Super Bowl hosted by the South Florida region and the sixth Super Bowl hosted in Miami Gardens, with the last one being Super Bowl XLIV ten years earlier. Who will stop Tom Brady and his all conquering Patriots from another win? Not sure but whatever happens we hope its a lot more exciting than last years 13-3 event which was so dull.