The recently introduced regular season games played in the UK as part of the NFL International series is not the first time that pro football from across the Atlantic has touched down on these shores. During the 1980’s American Football enjoyed unprecedented levels of success within the United Kingdom, largely thanks to the television station Channel 4. They became the first channel to broadcast NFL games on terrestrial television shortly after launching in 1982, giving British sports fans the opportunity to witness the excitement that American Football had to offer.
As a result, the popularity of American Football in the UK and Ireland enjoyed huge growth throughout the decade, with many supporters adopting teams from the NFL to follow on TV each week. Due to the success of teams like the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins during the decade, many British fans still follow these teams now as a result of the early TV coverage of the sport.As the popularity of the sport continued to grow, the NFL introduced the American Bowl series in 1986. The American Bowl involved a number of NFL teams playing a pre season game played outside of the USA for the first time, allowing, fans from new markets for the sport to enjoy the live game day experience.
Countries who hosted American Bowl games included the United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, Germany and Spain.The last American Bowl game played in Europe was in 1997 when the Pittsburgh Steelers took on the Chicago Bears at Croke Park in Dublin. A total of nine American Bowl games took place between 1986 and 1997 in the UK and Ireland involving 14 NFL Franchises.